fishing for Dungeness Crab

The early morning of Christmas Eve day is the time to catch some crab for our traditional Christmas Eve Dinner. Freshly cooked Dungeness crab on Christmas Eve has been our family's traditional dinner for over 40 years........... and this year grandchildren Francesca and Jean-Luc will help me catch and cook the crab ....Francesca and Jean-Luc believe in Santa Claus and they also believe Dungeness crab live in green plastic buckets in Grandpa's back yard....... lets go fishing.

"Let's find a good fishing spot Jean-Luc"

this looks like a great spot

"I can see them Sister! big ones"


Jean Luc catches the first one

now Francesca snags a big one

Jean-Luc has a crab biting off his line

Time for Grandpa to cook a few

"wow........ we have a lot of crab here"

"which one is yours Jean Luc"?

"I'm going to eat this one"

Good job kids

A hard day fishing is over...lets go eat some crab

Where did you buy those buckets? Mine are usually empty...I must be shopping in the wrong stores!

Nice photos. Looks like you all had fun!

Great photos! Thanks for sharing with those here in crab-less northern Illinois!

And you didn't invite me... makes me sad... ::frowns::

Are the kids really adventuresome enough to actually eat the crabs, too? That would be wonderfully progressive of them.

Where did you find live ones?

Is that how you catch them, string with a washer on them, man o man I have been trying shrimp or squid no wonder I can't catch them.

Looks like a lot of fun with the grand kids, what fun!!

quote:

Pwingsx Posted - 01/04/2007 : 13:55:22
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Are the kids really adventuresome enough to actually eat the crabs, too? That would be wonderfully progressive of them.

Pwingsx: ............... Francesca is very adventuresome but eats only white bread and peanut butter,

Jean-Luc who just turned 3 is another story, this kids will eat every thing. Yes he truly loves eating crab with the big boys.
As we were putting the crab on ice that day he kept ripping off the small back legs and crunching down on them with his teeth to show his sister that there's "chicken" in side the bones.

Great shots of the kids having a ball. Thanks for sharing!

MikeS.

quote:

Michael Hoffman Posted - 01/04/2007 : 13:59:07
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Where did you find live ones?

Michael: ............... most all Asian markets in the Bay area sell live sea food. Because the Dungeness crab is so plentiful here outside the Golden Gate it has become an Asian favorite. Forty years ago crab was only a Italian San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf kind of thing.

Today, San Jose has the largest Vietnamese community in the US and good for me they love crab.
Dungeness crab season begins in late November just in time for Christmas. Price varies with the winter storm conditions and high seas. If the crab traps sit out at sea where the fishermen cant get to them they become filled with crustaceans. Two days after a major storm the markets are loaded with crab and the price can be as low as $1.99 a pound. I paid a premium for the crab pictured above because they were all over 2 pounds each. That day the price was $3.45 . .................................. Frank

Thanks. I didn't realize you were located in that area. For some reason I thought you were on the East Coast, and I've never seen live ones offered here in the midwest or on the East Coast.