>>>what a feast.<<<
They sure were. I didn’t even start to list all that people brought - just their specialty... I have tried to do that a couple of years ago, but everybody is so busy and in such a hurry... Just not the same...
>>>clam chowder from fresh dug clams <<<
Clam bakes were big around here. But we don’t have the lobsters, just a lot of Blue Crab... Good, but not like a good lobster.
>>>It’s funny, after age 70 the license is free and you are allowed to take a helper. <<<
Here, I can fish, hunt, clam and crab without any license or permit... Here the helper has to be 12 or under...
>>>they just walk all over covering up the holes and the few they dig usually end up having broken shells. After offering once, they decide that it’s too hard work and never go again. Been clamming all my life<<<
Those Quahogs are a bit different than our clamming is -
here we use a clam rake. I thought it was easier seeing the holes and digging them, but here you can either feel with your feet for them and dive down, or the usual way is to have a long tined rake that has a chicken wire basket on the back. Our clams are in about 3-4 feet of water.
Blue Crab is a BIG item around here. There is a definite art to picking crabs. If you don’t know how, you just might starve to death while eating... LOL
Oysters used to be big around here, but they are getting harder to get any quantity of them now.
Up until this year, I did a bit of surf fishing - have gotten tags so I could take my Jeep out on the beach, but they have raised the rate to $180 a year, so I will just walk thank you... Usually would get enough flounder, sea trout and blues to freeze for the winter, but they seem to be getting scarce the last couple of years. (or maybe it is my fishing...)
As our extended family have moved, we have tried to keep up with them - one cousin is in Indianapolis with her husband and 4 kids... When I have a particularly good crabbing session, I try to send them a half bushel of crabs next day air... A couple of years ago, they got their crabs and were at a cabin by a lake in Indiana. Well, they proceeded to steam and eat their crabs and the neighbor kept going back and forth from his dock to his car, would drive off for a while, then come back to the dock. After several trips like this, he finally came over and asked ‘What did you use for bait to catch those crabs? I have been going and getting everything I could think of for bait, but just can’t seem to catch any’.. He really couldn’t contain himself... Then finally told him how he got them.
Would love to get crabs. The crabs around here have very little meat in them but hubby is persistent and can get a fair quantity of meat from a dozen crabs. Like you say, I would starve to death trying to get a meal from them. Fresh crab rolls are my favorite. I prefer them to either lobster or shrimp. He also picks the meat from lobster bodies. It is so sweet and tender, but requires more patience then I have. Some fish markets give the bodies away or charge very little for them. Love your crab story. As we live in a tourist area, I could go on and on about the gullible tourists here in the summer. The tourists seem to head for the working piers and the questions they ask just call for stupid answers.