| |
|
HOW
TO TELL TIDES BY THE MOON
There
are many ways to find out the position of the tide, one in particular
is by the moon and where the position of the moon is in the sky.
When the moon starts to rise the tide will be half way in, so after
three hours of the moon rising it will be a quarter of the way in
the sky this means that the tide is high tide or full tide.
Then after around six hours when the moon is three quarters of the
way in the sky it is now be low tide.
When the moon sets again we are now moving back into the tide being
half way in. When the moon is full (white Moon) or new moon (Black
moon) the tides are in (High) around 9:00-9:30.
When the moon is full or new moon (Black moon) the tides are out (Low)
around 3:00-3:30.
When the moon is a quarter moon it is opposite to tides of full moons.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
MOON
PHASE
Moon Phases are a great way to finding the right
tides to go crabbing, when looking for a good time to go crabbing
judging by the moon is one way to nearly be assured to get a good
tide for crabs.
When crabbing you want to look for big tides to get the smells of
your bait in the pot moving down and around the water ways. You may
need a weight of some sort in your pot to hold it to the bottom if
you are having troubles keeping them in one place.
When looking for the right moons you need to look for the first quarters
and the last quarters. When the moon is only a quarter moon there
is roughly seven days until the full moon. Two days after the first
quarter is generally a great day to go crabbing as the tides will
be making which means that you will have big tides.
Once the moon then becomes full and starts coming back down again
to a quarter moon again two days after the last quarter is again another
great day for crabbing.
So working with the first quarters and last quarters are your best
bet to have good tides n nice high tides to get the run in the water.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
BIG
TIDES
When crabbing you want to look for big tides to get the smells of
your bait in the pot moving down and around the water ways. You
may need a weight of some sort in your pot to hold it to the bottom
if you are having troubles keeping them in one place.
When looking for the right moons you need to look for the first
quarters and the last quarters. When the moon is only a quarter
moon there is roughly seven days until the full moon. Two days after
the first quarter is generally a great day to go crabbing as the
tides will be making which means that you will have big tides.
Once the moon then becomes full and starts coming back down again
to a quarter moon again two days after the last quarter is again
another great day for crabbing.
So working with the first quarters and last quarters are your best
bet to have good tides n nice high tides to get the run in the water. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
BE
AWARE OF WHAT IS AROUND YOU
Keeping an eye out of the wetlands and surroundings around your waterways
Always observe and keep note of the surrounding areas around
your waterways such as run off and wetlands as these areas are a big
help to you in successfully catching crabs.
If you find a lot of moisture and water lying in these areas this
is a good thing as all the water holding in these areas run into your
creek systems which works as a great food chain or food source for
all of your wildlife in the water.
All wildlife will go to where there is a food source so if you have
run offs into creeks this will attract prawns and small fish which
then will attract larger predators which are the ones you are chasing
such as Mud crabs, fish etc.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
BAIT
When crabbing bait is one of the most important elements of being
a successful crabber, you must always keep in mind you are planning
on eating these crabs so don't use bait that goes rotten quick because
when the crab eats the bait it filters through the gills of the crab
and threw its body so you don't want to be eating something with a
rotten taste.
Good bait to use and how long they last roughly:
Roo Tail (2 days)
Mullet heads or whole mullet (1 day)
Fish frames (2 days) Tuna or shark is great for this as they have
a lot of oils
Cat fish (1day)
Baits that are popular but are not so good to use:
Chicken frames ( >1day) as these go rotten very quickly
Cat or dog food (>1day) Makes a crab sick
Pork (>1day) Makes a crab sick
Make sure you are checking your baits every tide, as baits can be
eaten very quickly and you also want to keep the smell of fresh bait
in the water to give you more chances of catching those monster crabs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
STORING
FRESH LIVE CRABS - HOT TIPS
When
storing fresh live mud crabs store them either in a wet hessian bag
or in a box or tub with eyes facing up so that it keeps the moisture
in the crab and place a wet hessian bag over them.
When crabs are tied and in a wet hessian bag if the bag was to dry
out do not dunk them in water make sure you just dribble water over
the bags because mud crabs can drown.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
HOW
TO CLEAN GREEN CRAB
Now the following is telling you how to glean a green
crab and this is carried out when you want to smoke a crab, chilly
a crab in a wok, or sometimes they are boiled and steamed but are
cleaned before cooking. You will need to cook the crab within a couple
of hours of cleaning the crab and will need to be keeping it on ice
or refrigerated.
1. Place some salty water in a bin with a good quantity of ice, if
the water is warm and a lot of ice is used then it is a good idea
to sprinkle and mix in to the water more salt ( it is hard to have
too much salt in the water as the crabs only absorb a certain amount
of salt)
2. Once the water is cold then place the crabs into the water and
the crabs will slowly slow down, they are put to sleep in a very slow
but humane way. Now if you have a large amount of crabs in the bin
you may have to add more ice and maybe more salt.
3. Leave the crabs in the ice slurry water for at least 20 minutes
this will make sure they are not alive and make it easier to pull
them apart.
4. Grab a crab from the slurry water and untie the string then turn
the crab onto its back and you will see the ‘V’ of the
male crab. Lift this flap, you will see at the base of this flap it
is attached to the back of the crabs shell. Place your thumb in the
gap that is now presented between the body of the crab and the shell
off the crab. Hold the body of the crab firmly with one hand and hold
your thumb under the crab shell and fingers over the crab shell and
firmly pull the shell away from the body of the crab.
5. Once shell of crab has been removed you will see the insides of
the crab, either side of the crab you will see long while/grey gills
attached to the top of the inside shell. Pull all the gills of that
you see on the top on the crab’s body and also the small long
gills of cartilage with small hairs attached that you will find under
the gills.
6. You can now start removing any other bits of UN wanted shell from
around the crab such as the two mouth flaps and the front of the crab
shell, just grab these firmly and pull them away from the crab’s
body.
7. Next you will need to rinse your crab, return it to the ice slurry
water to rinse your crab and it will help keep the salty flavour.
Now you can give them just quick under the tap removing the guts and
insides that you can see running down the centre of the body.
8. It is important now that the crab in iced or refrigerated an remain
cold until ready to cook.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
HOW
TO CLEAN A COOKED CRAB
Here is a step by step way of cleaning a cooked
mud crab
1. Firstly once the crab has been cooked turn the crab onto its
back and you will see the ‘V’ of the male crab. Lift
this flap, you will see at the base of this flap it is attached
to the back of the crabs shell. Place your thumb in the gap that
is now presented between the body of the crab and the shell off
the crab. Hold the body of the crab firmly with one hand and hold
your thumb under the crab shell and fingers over the crab shell
and firmly pull the shell away from the body of the crab.
2. Once shell of crab has been removed you will see the insides
of the crab, either side of the crab you will see long while/grey
gills attached to the top of the inside shell. Pull all the gills
of that you see on the top on the crab’s body and also the
small long gills of cartilage with small hairs attached that you
will find under the gills.
3. You can now start removing any other bits of UN wanted shell
from around the crab such as the two mouth flaps and the front of
the crab shell, just grab these firmly and pull them away from the
crab’s body.
4. Next you will need to rinse your crab, if you have some fresh
salt water from the beach that is the best way to rinse your crab
and it will help keep the salty flavour. If you do not have this
just quickly give the crab a rinse under the tap removing the guts
and insides that you can see running down the centre of the body.
5. This will reveal nice white meat of the crab and you will see
the meat in either side of the crab’s body. Hold either side
of the crab’s body firmly and crack it in half. This will
give you two (2) separate side of the crab.
6. You Have now successfully cleaned your crab and it is ready to
be eaten, to crack the claws all you need is a butter knife or something
with a little bit of solid weight. Hold the crab claw firmly in
the palm of your hand and give the claw a good tap with the butter
knife.
7. Meat can be found through-out the whole crab so make sure you
pull the legs off and crack into them as well as the body and the
claws.
8. Happy Eating and ENJOY!!!
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
WHERE
TO CRAB - Central Coast
When crabbing it is always good to look for your mudding
mangrove banks mangroves are one of the best places you will find
mud crabs. Mud crabs use the mangroves as a form of protection against
any of the bigger predators, not only that it discusses them as well
for when they are hunter for their food.
Mangroves then become a great food source and one big giant food chain…
(Please elaborate)….
Around the Central Coast area holds some fantastic places to go crabbing
such as..
Coorooman Creek
Corio Bay
Pumpkin Creek
Ross Creek
Causeway Lake
Kinka Creek
Island Head
Fitzroy River
Port Alma
The Narrows
Port Clinton
Stanage Bay
And many more……
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
HOW
TO TIE A CRAB
1. Cut your bailing twine to roughly one (1) Meter long.
2. Hold the crab still on the ground by placing your foot on the
top of its shell and apply firm pressure so that the carb cannot
move. * being careful that the crab does not nip you in this process*
3. Once you have secured the crab, find the centre on the bailing
twine and bring the center of the twine to the front of the shell
slipping it under the front of the shell but above the claw joint.
4. With the two (2) tag ends of the twine one at a time bring them
around the claw arm and back up over the top of the claw making
sure that the twine is sitting in the joint where the top of the
claw meets the body of the claw. Then do the same with the other
tag end of the twine.
5. After you have both claws pulled into the crabs body keep pressure
on the twine so that the crab cannot move his claws and wiggle the
claws with your hands (making sure you do not put your finds between
the nippers) To make sure that the claws have been pulled into the
crabs body properly and will not be able to move them.
6. Then Bring your tag ends to the back of the shell (Keep applying
pressure to the ties so they don’t come loose at all).
7. Bring one tag down to the back of the crab shell and make sure
it goes under both of the back swimmer leg joints, this is so that
the crab can’t move his legs and the tie come loose.
8. Now you should have bot tags on the same side of the crab and
can be easily tied tightly beside your foot.
9. Tying the first granny knot is easy but make sure
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
There is many
ways of cooking a crab, here we will show you five (5) different ways
of cooking crabs and will also attach a link that will take you to
a recipe you can try for yourself at home. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
HOW
TO COOK A CRAB -
BOILING
MUDCRABS WHOLE
There is many ways of cooking a crab, here we will show you five (5)
different ways of cooking crabs and will also attach a link that will
take you to a recipe you can try for yourself at home.
BOILING MUDCRABS WHOLE:
*HINT* When boiling mud crabs it is always best to use the water out
of the creek the crabs came from to maintain the nice flavour of salt
through-out the crab.
When crabbing after tying your crabs up the best place to store your
crabs are in a wet sack/hessian bag. Before preparing your crabs for
boiling, remove them from the bag and check to make sure that your
crabs are moving and are alive. Please Note; if there are any limbs
that are not attached to a crab please dispose of and do not cook
as crab meat is very delicate and may have started to go off.
1. Fill a bucket/bin with salty water and ice (if not using salty
ocean water and you are using fresh water place a good amount of salt
in the water to make it salty.) This will keep your crabs tasting
nice and salty as they should be.
2. Once you have made you freezing cold salty ice water (Brine) place
the alive, healthy and tied crabs into the brine for 15 minutes. This
will slowly slow down the crabs and they will be put to sleep in a
very slow but humane way. Now if you have a large amount of crabs
in the bin you may have to add more ice and maybe more salt to maintain
the saltiness of the water.
3. While you wait for your crabs to chill begin boiling your salty
water in a big crab cooker.
4. Once the water is on the boil, remove your mud crabs from the brine
and place into the cooker basket or place straight into the cooker.
Now at this stage your water may stop boiling as you have put cold
crabs in.
5. Once the water begins to boil again start timing from this point.
6. Allow mud crabs to boil for 16 minutes.
7. After the 16 minutes is up take the crabs straight out of the boiler
and straight back into the ice brine again. The will stop the crab
from continuing to cook and also will slightly shrink the meat of
the crab so that the meat does not stick to the inside of the crab
shell. This makes the crab easier to eat and peel.
8. Finally after the crab has been chilled down again, you can now
begin to clean your crab ready for eating. (please refer to cleaning
a cooked crab on this page.)
9. If you have cooked more crabs then you can eat, to store un cleaned
crabs you must place in a esky or a container facing the eyes down.
The reason for this is that it allows any excess water that was used
during the cooking to be able to drain out of the crab. If you want
to clean your crabs to store them you must keep them refrigerated
at all times.
10. Please note* cooked crabs can be stored for up to 3 days.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
BOILING
MUDCRABS IN PIECES
*HINT* When boiling mud crabs it is always best to use the water
out of the creek the crabs came from to maintain the nice flavour
of salt through-out the crab.
When crabbing after tying your crabs up the best place to store
your crabs are in a wet sack/hessian bag. Before preparing your
crabs for boiling, remove them from the bag and check to make sure
that your crabs are moving and are alive. Please Note; if there
are any limbs that are not attached to a crab please dispose of
and do not cook as crab meat is very delicate and may have started
to go off.
1. Fill a bucket/bin
with salty water and ice (if not using salty ocean water and you
are using fresh water place a good amount of salt in the water to
make it salty.) This will keep your crabs tasting nice and salty
as they should be.
2. Once you have made you freezing cold salty ice water (Brine)
place the alive, healthy and tied crabs into the brine for 15 minutes.
This will slowly slow down the crabs and they will be put to sleep
in a very slow but humane way. Now if you have a large amount of
crabs in the bin you may have to add more ice and maybe more salt
to maintain the saltiness of the water.
3. While you wait for your crabs to chill begin boiling your salty
water in a big crab cooker
4. While your water is preparing to boil after 15 minutes of your
crabs being in the chilled water they are now asleep and ready to
be cleaned.
5. For cleaning a green crab instructions please refer to cleaning
a green crab on this page……after cleaning place back
into brine and wait for your water to boil.
6. Once crabs are cleaned and your water is boiling, remove your
mud crabs from the brine and place into the cooker basket or place
straight into the cooker. Now at this stage your water may stop
boiling as you have put cold crabs in.
7. Once the water begins to boil again start timing from this point.
8. Allow mud crabs to boil for between 10-12 minutes.
9. After 10-12minutes is up take the crabs straight out of the boiler
and straight back into the ice brine again. The will stop the crab
from continuing to cook and also will slightly shrink the meat of
the crab so that the meat does not stick to the inside of the crab
shell. This makes the crab easier to eat and peel
10. Finally after crabs have chilled they are now ready to be eating.
11. If storing a cleaned mud crab place into a container or on a
plate and keep refrigerated.
12. Please note* cooked crabs can be stored for up to 3 days.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
SMOKING
MUDCRABS
Another method of cooking crabs is by cooking them in a smoke oven
and this method is used for cooking fish and chicken and other meats
as well, if you like smoked fish you will like smoked crab. The
following will give you a step by step way to smoke mad and sand
crab.
1. Once you have set your smoker up, there a lot of different smokes
on the market. place the smoker in an area where it is cool and
preferably out of the wind.
2. Using the crab that was cleaned and washed you now have to prepare
the crab more, you will need to crack the nippers, legs and flippers.
This will allow the smoke to penetrate the hard shell of the crab
making it easier to cook.
3. Now the smoker is setup and the crab is prepared, place the crab
on the racks in the smoker, it is better if you spread them out
over the rack and not have them jammed in as this will allow the
smoke and heat to cook the crab equally. Please refer to the illustration
and see how I have set the crabs out.
The cooking times may vary depending on the amount of crab you have
in your smoker, but you will need to smoke the crabs for at least
14 minutes. You will then need to check the crab by tasting it (someone
has to do it) and maybe breaking a leg open to see if the meat is
cooked. After a period of time and you will be able to judge the
length of time and the colour of the meat to weather it is cooked
enough or not.
4. Once the crab has been cooked to your taste, take the crabs off
the heat and allow to cool. Once the crab has cooled you are now
able to prepare the meat ready for eating. Please keep in mind if
you are not eating the smoked crab straight away make sure you store
in a air tight container in the fridge or esky as the smoke smell
with go through out your refrigerated area.
5. ENJOY!!!!!!
STEAMING MUDCRABS
When steaming a mud crab…..
WOK COOKING PIECES OF MUDCRABS
When cooking a broken up mud crab in a wok or a hot pan…..
|
|
|
