Dungeness crab are abundant in Possession Sound and can be caught when the season is open. They are fairly easy to catch, if you know how, and are absolutely delicious. If you like that frozen and thawed crab in the grocery store, you will love this!
You need a Washington State shellfish license to catch crab. Each license holder can retain up to 5 crabs. Click here for information, closures, etc. Watch the website above for openings and closings, usually announced a week or two in advance. Wildlife agents come by frequently and are serious about the rules.
We have a couple of crab pots, ropes and floats hanging under the deck when in season. Go ahead and use them, but please keep track of them. At times, the tidal currents are strong enough to carry them away. You'll catch the most crab by returning every hour or so to check on them.
Large Dungeness crabs become active and move around when the current is nearly still. This is when they will walk onto a crab pot. When the current is strong, you will generally only catch small ones. At the Whidbey Island Beach House, the current stops between about half an hour before high tide and about an hour after low tide. Tides at the Beach House. The crabbing is generally good about one hour on either side of these times.
The way a crab pot works is that bait (typically fish heads or the cheapest chicken you can find) is put into a cage in the center of the net. The pot is dropped into the water (30 to 40 feet deep) where it lays on the bottom. Crabs come walking along the bottom looking for food and enter the cage but can't get out.
A rope, about 40 feet long, is tied between a float and the pot. It is important that the depth of the water is less than the length of the rope. If the water is too deep, the float will keep the pot from going to the bottom, preventing the crabs from reaching it and allowing the whole rig to drift away in the current. The float should be floating freely with loose rope after the pot has made it to the bottom.
Expect to find lots of crabs (up to 20 at a time) when you pull up the pots, but most will be too small or female. Gently put everything but the large males back in the water. The crabs can pinch very hard, so be careful.. The best place to grab them is from behind. Gloves give a measure of protection because they allow you to get your finger out if you do get pinched.
Put the crabs you catch into a large bucket or ice chest with no lid. Soak a cloth or paper in salt water and cover the crabs. Keep them out of the sun whenever possible. They should live for at least 3 or 4 hours while you prepare for your feast. Do not immerse the crabs in water as they may not get enough oxygen to survive.
The simplest method of cooking crab is to take a large pot (in the kitchen cupboard), put about 2 inches of water in it and bring it to a full boil. Put a crab in the pot and close the lid (it won't be happy, but the steam acts fast). Once the pot is boiling again, add the next crab, and so on. Let the pot boil for 20 minutes after the last crab was put in. Dinner is ready.
While the method above seems to work OK, more experienced crabbers tell us it is better to get a large pot of salt water (from the Sound) boiling and then immerse the crabs in the water. The flavor is intense with the natural seasoning.
Most everything on a crab is edible, but most people prefer to just eat the meat. The legs and claws are pretty obvious (there are tools in the silverware drawer), but the shell is more challenging. At the back of the shell, where the top meets the bottom, force the handle end of a fork in between. Twist the fork handle and pop off the shell. Discard the shell and all the green or brown stuff (some people eat it, but most prefer to avoid it). Pull the gills (soft protrusions about 30mm long and 5mm diameter) off of the body and wipe or rinse way any remaining green or brown stuff.