Crabbing Off The Docks

On Sunday morning after breakfast Boyd and Kevin got the nets from the warehouse and all the things they needed for crabbing and fishing and then headed to the docks.  They got a crabbing license, bought some fish heads for the nets, and found a good spot to catch them some crabs.

Julie stayed back at grandpa's for a while before she met up with Kevin and Boyd at the docks with her kids for some crabbing fun.  Averee and Hayden liked helping "kick" the crabs that are too small back into water and watch all the action.  Their were also sea lions in the water that would come up to us and say "feed me."  At least that is what I think that they are saying.  It is so much fun to see them up close and personal in the ocean right off the docks.  It's like being at Sea World, but much cheaper.

After my dad, grandpa, and I went on our "tour of Coos Bay" trip we went and dropped off my grandpa at his house.  He didn't want to go to the docks but my mom did so we picked her up and headed to the docks to check out the crabbing action.

We found them quickly and they had already caught one really big crab.  They had three nets and were catching a lot of crabs each time.  But you can only take the crabs that are big enough and male.
So we have a ruler type thing to measure the crabs to make sure they are big enough to keep.
If you flip a crab over then you can tell if it's a male or female by the shape and size of the middle of their shell.

I was pretty much a big baby the whole time and didn't want to hold the crabs.  My dad tried to get me to hold the really big one, but I really didn't want to.  I was being chicken.  I know that I have held crabs before so I don't know why I was being such a chicken this time.  I don't regret not holding a crab, but maybe next time I will be more brave and at least try...maybe.
My mom and dad didn't stay for very long.  They left me there with the men and kids and went for a drive around the bay.  They missed out on some good times.

Kevin and Boyd did most the work but one time Boyd had me pull one of the nets.  I tried to pull it up super fast and then dump out the crabs away from me.  One of the crabs came out of the net by my feet and it totally made me jump and scream like a little girl.  Wearing flip flops wasn't a very good idea.  I was paranoid the whole time that I was going to get my little toes pinched. 
My toes were fine.  They only ended up with the one crab from the whole trip.  Normally it wouldn't be worth it to cook just one crab but Kevin really wanted to eat it.  So we took it back to grandpa's and after lunch Kevin cooked his crab and he and my mom enjoyed it.
Crabbing is pretty fun.  I sat and enjoyed the sun shine on the water.  I am glad that I went and look forward to taking my family crabbing in the future.