HOW TO BE A SEA SCROUNGE
(Page 6 of 9)
The so-called soft-shelled crabs are really just blues that
have moulted out of their shells. Until their new coverings
harden the crabs are sluggish and helpless and can be
picked up without fear. Look for them on the bottom under
large rocks where they sometimes hide.
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Once the craw (a sac located just behind the eyestalks) and
devil's fingers or lungs (spongy strips found under the
tips of the upper shell) are removed, the entire
soft-shelled crab can be sauteed in butter, broiled or
dipped in egg and bread crumbs and fried. Fried soft-shell
makes a great sandwich on a hard roll spread with
mayonnaise, sprinkled with a little cayenne pepper and
garnished with lettuce or nasturtium leaves.
Hard shell or soft, though, remember to always check local
limits and regulations before harvesting crabs and
never cook or eat a dead crustacean.
POLE FISHING
There's nothing like a simple 10-15 foot bamboo pole for
fishing off docks or in coves, inlets and estuaries . . .
no need to lay out lots of bread for swanky rods, reels and
lures. Tie a hook to your cane pole with 15 feet or so of
line, bait it with a fish head, a worm or some meat and
dangle that hook in the water. It'll do just as well as the
fancy rigs and can be put together, complete with snap-on
bobber, for less than $5.00.
A myriad of fishes—including mullet, bluefish, sea
bass, flounder and fluke in the ocean . . . and perch,
black bass, crappie and catfish in the brackish
backwaters—can be caught in sea scrounge territory.
While the sport fisherman might get bigger thrills and tell
bigger tales, the sea scrounger gets better meals for less
money in a shorter time.
Some of the best pole fishing can be done from wharves,
expecially around the canneries of New England . . . on
good days you'll take smelt and pollack as fast as you can
get your hook in and out of the water. Bait with whelk foot
or some other tough meat—so you can catch several
fish on the same piece of bait—and set your snap-on
bobber to hold the hook at a depth of 4 to 8 feet.
Two more fish that can be found around wharves, as well as
among the rocks along the coast, are the cunner and the
tautog. The cunner is aggressive and hits the hook hard . .
. while the larger tautog is a cautious sneak who darts out
from his hiding place to take a quick nibble at your bait
before scooting back to cover. Fish for both close to the
bottom using a small hook baited with just about anything.
These four fish are all very tasty and easy to prepare. Cut
the heads and tails off your smelt, squeeze them from the
tail forward to eviscerate them, and fry in butter. Smelt
are also good if you roll them in egg and bread-crumbs
before tossing them in the pan. The other three are best
filleted: split them down the back on either side of the
dorsal fins and along each side approximately in the
middle, then remove the boneless sections of meat from the
upper halves of the bodies. They can be baked, boiled,
fried or corned.
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