spanish are back

[nymack66]

Originally Posted by THEFERMANATOR

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).

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..

[Destroyer]

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.

[phatdaddy]

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)...

[Blue_Runner]

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.

[phatdaddy]

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..

[Blue_Runner]

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

[nipper]

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?

[phatdaddy]

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

[Blue_Runner]

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.