I went fishing today. It has been raining steadily for three days but the forecast was for slow clearing after midnignt last night. So I got up at 4 a.m., loaded up and and went to Edie Mae's bait shop and got three dozen of those 2 inch bullhead minnows that pond bass like. I drove on down the interstate sipping the last of the coffee and later made a stop at the official state rest stop. DAMM! As I pulled into the nearly empty lot next to a big new Yukon with the vanity "Bite Me" tag on the back and came to a stop, there in the front window lying on the passenger side dash is a whopping big tom CAT. Long hair, 1/2" fangs, yawning and stretching, ten poungs of pure hateful beast if there ever was. Crappy brown and long-haired too it was, looking me in the eye as I got out of the F-150. It was yowling too, stretching about in there, showing claws. I just smiled at it and went on in to get a brochure. I came out and no one was around in the whole place except the guy in the washroom with claw marks on his arms who looked like Michael Moore and was washing up. I got a minnow out of the bucket in the back, held it by its head so the tail was flopping like a crippled windshield wiper and waved it in front of the cat which immediately took an aggressive posture and started scratching on the padded dash. Laid the minnow down on the cowling and dipped up a couple more and showed them to the beast. Frantic scratching now, dash shredding a bit. Grabbed up a fistful out of the dipnet and dumped them in front of the beast going crazy. Lots of loud yowling and excited movements in there. It was still dark as I backed out and drove off. It was a good thing I had crickets. Bass like them too.

Dementious Superior! I'm proud of you, NS!

Hope Micheal like the mohair look, it goes with the build and slovenly ways.

Dan

Pres., TYHC

http://www.Didja.Ketchany?

I went fishing today too, but all I got was a case of Crabs! 17 nice sized Dungeness Crabs to be exact! We had to throw back about a hundred or so that were too small. Also one of our group caught a very small Ling Cod. I was with 2 guys who are supposed to be great hunters and fishermen but it took this old landlubber to identify it! derf

Derf,I'm kind of jealous,,but,,good going!!!I went on a charter last year,,,did a trotline for blue crab from 7-8:30 am,,,caught a bushel of good sized crabs,,,Spent the rest of the time trolling for stripers while the crabs were steaming,,,then while we were eating and picking,,,rather enjoyable day Ned,,your dedication is awesome!!!!!If I had a bucket of minnows,,,and heading to a good hole,,,that crat would be lucky for me to offer even a dead one.Have fun!!Clay

NSS: NICE! I couldn't waste more than 1-2 minnows myself, so I salute your dedication.

CB: Blue crabs!?!? A pot of 40 gets you what, a half pound of meat after boiling and picking on them with a dental pick? I did that exactly once...too much work for too little return! Maybe you get bigger ones up there that we get down here. Now a dungeness...mmmmmmmmm!

I always try to do good deeds when it comes to cats. N.S. Sherlock

OUTSTANDING JUST OUTSTANDING

For CDH and Clay, they are yummie in the extreme. And that is just how mother nature provided them, no seasoning whatever! derf

I would love to see the look on the cat lovers face after he found out his dash and god knows what else was shreaded.

I would like to have been there when the scruffy guy put one of his # 13 engineer boots up brown tom's furry little *ss launching the beast out beyond the dog walk'n'piss post. Too bad an understanding AR person didn't pull into the rest stop, see whatever happened, and report it as "the rest of the story".

Ned,,, ,CDH,,You're sort of right,,thats the case if you're picking "smalls" and "mediums",,,,,,If you're judicious,,,and stay with heavy crabs,,5 or 6 will fill your belly,,,and easy picking.Look at Derf's post,,,He pitched a hundred crabs that did'nt meet his approval,,And tickled to death with the 17 he brought home,There's a pro crabber,,I love eating tasty crabs,,seasoned blues,,,dungeoness,,,snow's,,,stone crab,And I pass on the butter,If I want butter,,,it's on toast,Not hiding the true sweet tender taste of good sea food!,,,,,,You have'nt had brunch untill you've had it at joe's stone crab house,,Have fun!!!!Clay

Clay,
Try http://www.suicidebridge.com on the way to OC or Hillside in Centreville...$16.95 for all you can eat, mostly mediums but great eats and the beer is cold too.

The ONLY time I went crabbing, unless you count crawfishing with a line, chicken leg, and dipnet, was one day when the fishing was slow. After wading for a couple of hours with no luck, and being sick of stepping on crabs in the seagrass, we got out the dipnet and started 'hunting' them.

5.5" spine to spine length is minimum legal here, and a 5 gallon bucket load went home with us. After boiling, picking, and making all into crab cakes, we had 2 baseball size lumps of crab cakes. Damn good eating, but WAY too much work.

1 good dungeness has more good eating than a 5 gal. bucket of blue crabs, with MUCH less work to get to the meat. I can eat them all day...but the blues can keep bottom feeding, I won't mess with them again!

BTW, I'd rather feed the minnows to the crat, complete with treble hook and steel leader. Attach a 4 oz. lead weight to the other end of the leader and see if the flailing leads to crat knocking itself silly.

http://www.crat-hammer.throw

CDH,

You're right...blues ain't worth it!!

About 20 years ago we lived in Homer, AK, I was flying part 135 in the bush and you could buy a dungeness for a buck and tiger shrimp for a buck fifty a pound. Catch Halibut, salmon, rainbows, char, silvers and the kings in Cook Inlet, dig razor clams and steamers and pick mussels at low tide. Then there was the 25 cent subsistance license that allowed you to hunt moose, caribou, deer, black bear and all the small game you can carry. And, if that was not good enough....the permanent fund paid you each year just for living there. WE left Alaska in January of '89, two months before the Exxon Valdez was ripped open, because the economy was so bad I couldn't find a job. Sweet crude was selling for $13 a barrel. You bet your ass I regret leaving!!!

So, now I eat BLUE crabs and think about dunges!!

A little speculation on my part: Because I never met an Alaskan crab I liked down here I'm quite fond of Blue Crabs if they have any size at all. Stonies are a lot better but Blues are just dandy. I think the Alaskan crabs lose a lot in shipping by the time they get here, and maybe from the processing. Seldom does the commercial process benefit sea food IMO. Like to try some of it fresh one day though...

Dan

Pres., TYHC

http://www.LikeTheLocal.Stuff

Only Alaskan crab I've encountered here in south Texas was a FORMER member of our hunting lease. After that experience, I'd have to render the opinion that Alaskan crabs are long on asshole and short on meat.

Incidentally the previous posting without words-not sure how that happened.

You beat me to it dustoffer.

Clay, we were real fussy about the size. If they were even close to the guage but a bit bigger they went home to the sea! On our next outing we will know exactly where to find them,I won't forget the transducer for the depthsounder , and we will do a shoreline crabfest of our own since we have the necessary pot and cooker(courtesy of my salvage business). Now if it would only quit bloody raining! derf

I'm with you on that one Derf,,,,Life's too short to piss around picking dinky crabs!!!!!Clay

Don't know how many of you are familiar with Stone Crabs, a delicious treat from the Gulf and Atlantic shallows. Law allows the harvest of a single claw off the crab, rest has to go back in the drink. Don't know how they are sized from a commercial standpoint, just know it takes a hammer to crack the claw. Lots of sweet meat in each, worth the effort. Anyway, I wound up face to face with one years back, about the size of an NFL football. That's body size, not claw size. "HA!" sez me, "I'll just rip off a claw and throw him back in!" Well, easyiest way is to grab a claw in each hand and twist, one or the other will pop off first. "Ha!" sez the crab. He clenched his claws and had each of Dan's thumbs securely locked in the first joint against the shell. It was a long wait before he relaxed. My "friends" thought it amusing. When I finally freed myself I chucked the whole thing in the hot water. Yep, one day I broke the law. Feeling returned to my thumbs about 3 days later. Amazing how strong they are. Even more amazing is what a bunch of assholes my "friends" were.

Dan

Pres., TYHC

http://www.Crustacean.Thumbcuffs

Dan,

Try a rubber high voltage lineman glove next time....if they grab you, just take the glove off.

Gulf shrimp loose a bunch of their flavor when you freeze em too. They taste twice as good when you get them off the boat in Tarpon Springs or maybe Yankeetown and throw them right into the pot!!

Ref: Alaska assholes....there certainly are some...mostly societal drop-outs who couldn't deal with the assholes in the lower 48. As the natives used to say "Alaska....where men are men and so are the women!!!"

Perhaps it was the beer?

Lowrider49, I can assure you that rubber gloves will not help with a full grown Stony. They are not fast at all, rather slothlike in their movement actually, that being made up for by brute strength. There was a lot more to the story above that I left out for brevity's sake. One of the other offenses being the destruction of half a pair of fine Italian $200 shoes, and crush trauma to the big toe contained within. Not mine mind you, 'cause I have more sense than to try a gentle nudge with my foot to keep it away from my lovely girlfriend in formal dress after the party. Kid lost his toenail from the experience, and bled a bit as well. The offending claw, pincer part anyway, was about the size of the average womans hand, girth of about 8-10". They are big. They are strong. I would like to attach one to a crat's ass one day, just to watch the fun. Probably Clay has seen 'em before, not many from up nawth are familiar. Best eating crab on the planet IMO.

NS, off topic but I want to thank you again for that link. Certainly is a pretty flinter, I'll let you know what developes. I'm kinda stuck on the .36, looking for a bit more versatility in the field. Right or wrong I think the .32 is a bit small for anything but small game. I'd like to mix it up with 'yotes too.

Dan

Pres., TYHC

http://www.Diversified.Subjects

Here we are only allowed to keep one claw also...and it must be the left (or right, I forget, but it is specified). If someone got to it first...too bad. it must also be over XX inches, fixed pincer to joint length.

Yeah, damn good eating!

I'm surprised the kid didn't lose the toe. A good sized stone or blue crab can take off a finger if it gets a good grip!

http://www.ouch.mytoe

DD broke a law?? Must have been a scout interlude! derf

DD,

That's a helluva crab!! That's not what I was thinking of...forget the lineman glove on that sucker!!

Good luck on the storm!!