Fishing on the River

A few weekends ago we headed down to the river, by Ant & Jac's house. The weekend weather report promised sunshine and cool spring breezes. We lugged chairs, fishing rods, bait, our tackle box, sweatshirts, and the pup down to the docks.

Sahara didn't quite know what to make of the metal dock at first, but was soon running up and down, peeking over the edge.

Ant & Jac had already started crabbing, paddling around the islands, in the coves where fish and crabs like to hide. A few days earlier, the boys had been fishing and instead of fish, they kept pulling up crabs...so Ant & Jac got two crabbing cages and they set out to catch some for dinner on their boat.

Martin stopped at a little Bait & Tackle shop in Westport, where an old man stands behind the counter and tells you where, when, and with what you should be fishing with depending on the day. It's a quaint little place that has no set hours and smells like the salty ocean. The owner and Martin chatted about fishing, spots around town, and where on the river we would get lucky. He walked out with a small white cardboard box, filled with seaweed and...gulp...sea worms! These were the grossest worms I have ever seen and I refused to touch them. Their alien-like mouths came out with pinchers and made my stomach turn at the sight of them. Needless to say, Martin was the one baiting the hooks. :)

As we sat on the dock and watched the fog roll in and the sun settle into the clouds, Martin cast his line and immediately the line got dragged out. His fishing rod bent and he reeled in with a look of disbelief on his face.

Wiggling and fighting with all it's might, he reeled in a pretty decent sized Striper. Not big enough to keep...but he was pretty excited.

Although fish are not the cutest of animals they can be rather pretty. This one had really delicate fins that were a pretty pale green and it's skin was silvery. Martin took the hook out and quickly put him back into the water, where he flipped his tail and took off back to the bottom of the river.

We didn't have much luck Saturday and ended up with two crabs, which were delicious! So, we headed back to the docks on Sunday. The boys were intent upon catching more crabs and fish. It turned out that all we caught Sunday were crabs. And it seemed like almost every time we pulled up the cages, there was a crab crawling around, sometimes big enough to keep, sometimes tiny and we let them scurry back into the water.

I have lots of memories of going fishing. Early mornings in Maine on the lake with my Dad, paddling quietly so as not to scare the fish. Camping when all three of us girls were small, casting and reeling, casting and reeling, with our tiny Barbie fishing poles and fake lures.

I have never gone crabbing though. It was so much fun! The crabbing cages are pyramid shaped and when pulled tight the sides come together at the top, trapping the crabs inside where the bait is. Lex was very interested in these things we called crabs, he even chased a few off the dock when we pulled the cages up to let the little ones go.

Ant used chicken gizzards (yuck!) as bait. It actually says that the more rotten they are...the better. They were fresh, thank goodness...so Ant tried chicken gizzards AND pieces of clam. He strung the bait onto the cage bottom, and this is how the cage settles on the bottom of the river, waiting for unsuspecting crabs to crawl into the middle and get scooped up when you pull the string tight.

Sahara was in time-out during several points of the day...she wanted to eat the chicken gizzards...and the worms...and the clam pieces...basically she wanted to eat everything. She eventually stayed in the chair all by herself, just watching...until something new caught her attention that is.

The crabs we caught were blue crabs, with colorful bursts of bright blue and green on their claws and shells. Some of them were pretty darn big, especially considering it is very early in the season for crabbing.

Martin and I, in case we didn't have any luck Sunday with the whole "catching dinner" idea, stopped by our local seafood shop and picked out three lobsters for Ant, Jac, and me. Oh yeah, and we picked up a giant steak for Martin, since seafood makes him gag. :)

The lobsters were fun, we picked them up and let them flap their tails. The shop we got them from has the freshest seafood, straight from the ocean from local fishermen.

It amazes me how when you steam them the blues, browns, and black speckled shells turns into a vibrant red.

There is nothing like the smell of melted butter, Old Bay, fresh seafood, and steaming baked potatoes.

We spread out crisp newspaper, got out the mallet and claw crackers, and Martin took his steak off the grill. We went to work cracking, digging for meat, and dismembering our lobsters and crabs. We made quite a mess!

This was my lobster, and it was so yummy. Sweet and buttery.

And these were the twelve crabs that we caught! We definitely had some luck on our side.

Everyone was pretty tired after spending the whole day on the water. Sahara was tuckered out, and apparently so was Martin. I love that we live so close to the water and it is just a five minute drive to the river or the ocean. The boys are all excited for a summer full of fishing...and hopefully more crabbing!