spanish are back
 

it's offical, the fishing season has started in north fl. water temp is up to 68, ling and pompano have started and spanish are in the bay. not the best table fair, butits good to pull in a fish after this winter..

http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/o...6/DSCF0497.jpg

http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/o...6/DSCF0498.jpg

Nice catch , In NY I get em fresh from Fulton Market. I will drizzle some EVOO on em then rub basil/crush garlic with pinch of sea salt and beer of choice ...

I'll take some spanish any day. Nice catch! A sign of things to come!

"I will drizzle some EVOO on em then rub basil/crush garlic with pinch of sea salt and beer of choice ... "

i will try that, the meat seems very mushy to me, i usually put them in the crab traps and try to convert them to stone crab claws.

Convert them. LOL! The spanish are a little strong but I eat mullet and other sea critters. Grilled is best IMO with the EVOO and garlic. No comparison to stone crab or blues IMO. The only problem with crabs is after an hour of eating you still feel like eating a ham sammich.

I personally like to eat the spanish macks. Soak em in saltwater overnight in the fridge to brine em, then I fry em using yellow corn meal in 400 degree vegetable oil for about 4-6 minutes and they come out great everytime. The wife is a picky fish eater and even she chomps right down on em. I've even gotten her to eat fried bluefish by doing it this way(after cutting the blood strip out of them first of course).

I like to put king mack in the traps. I have some frozen spanish to put in there this summer.

If you can convert spanish into claws that is a great trade :clap:

eat 'em, dont eat 'em...... i bet them things are stupid on a 4 pound spinner.

Nice spaniards Phat. Fried,grilled,cut up for the crab traps? I have visions of them brined,rigged and waiting their turn on a 50wide for the guy in the blue suit and pointy nose. Fish On!! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

ctt, they are a blast on a light spinning rod, but these were caught by trolling with spoons. if we can find the school concentrated in one area, you can cut power and drift through and cast to them. some people like to fly fish for them, but conditions have to be right. i catch them later in the season sometimes when trout fishing with live bait on 10 lb power pro, closest i'll get to bonefishing.
bonita , i'll save some for mr grouper, too..

Ferm this sounds good, I will give it a try, you are correct they can be 'fishy" if not done correctly. Your recipe to brine it removes any chances of this happening. Good glass of beer or wine you go to go..

We jig them on teaser rigs just like Ling and Whiting. If you're into them doubles and triples are common. I use ground up Macks, cooked rice and niblets corn, frozen into chum logs for winter flounder, and then later in the year I use them for chum and chunk bait for Blues.

http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/o...6/DSCF0500.jpg

Spanish converted to Stone crabs works great. this is from 1 trap, lost 3 to poachers and 1 to my own boat skills(ran over my own trap line)...

Wow that's a good haul from one trap. I see you broke off the left pincher....are the crabs born right-clawed? If not they are now! J/K

That's awesome Phat. Keep these crab pix coming. Also if you have any info on the proper way to break the pincher off without injuring the crab I'd be interested - being a rookie who does get stoners occasionally in my blue crab trap. I've only harvested one stoner and the pincher came off pretty easy. Hope I did it right. :head:

in florida you can harvest both claws. i hold the crab by its claws and his back to me, apply down pressure to both claws and take the one that pops off first. i know some people take a pair of garden shears and cut them at the joint, they all taste great..

I don't know what I was looking at yesterday...those are obviously not all left claws. Thanks for the info.

Saw a food network show the other day about Joe's Stone Crab in Miami. They said the crabs grow the claws back in 1 1/2-2 years. Does it take that long? Can you only take off one claw at a time or can you leave the poor critters without any claws at all? Can you eat any other part of the crab?

you can take both at one time and some say it's actually better for the crab. with one claw they will still try to defend territory and fight other crabs, but with both gone, they hunker down in the mud and wait until they get a new set. i don't know how long they take to regenerate, but a year and half seems reasonable. all you eat is the claws. on the blue crab, you eat the claws and the body meat

Stone crabs are awesome cause they are a renewable resource. On blue crabs I just about don't care to pick thru all the body meat, but love the claws.