Crabbing with my son

This weekend I took my son crabbing for the first time. It was actually the first time for both of us so we were at a pretty even level of knowledge.  I love learning new things along side my kids! We pulled into our crabbing launch point and lo and behold the parking lot was covered with kayaker cars bearing stickers like TKAA, Werner Paddles, Angling Addict, HOOK1. Immediately the fishing bug started nagging in my head.. I should be out there fishing and learning what I can from these guys. I turned to my son who beamed with excitement, eager to get on the water "kayak crabbing" with his Dad and all those thoughts were of fishing along side of Rob Choi and who knows who elses were gone (for the moment).  We loaded up our little Hobie Kona tandem yak with our home made crab lines attached to 6 inch sections of pool noodle and our hand weaved crab net and headed out. we paddled around for a bit until we felt that we had found a good spot out of the channel that looked particularly crabby. We dropped our lines and waited for a bit before we started to reel them in. My son handled the dip net expertly as I slowly brought up the drumstick. I was very impressed with his skill at this since it was difficult for him to see the baited end. We caught several real small ones that slipped through the net but then we did manage to catch this nice sized female. I was able to explain the difference between the male and the famale crab to him and we let her go so she could have lots of crab babies in the future. It was a great day on the water and a good time bonding and learning the strengths of my son.

On a side note: Let me give a quick review on my new knife, the Dexter Russell 41842-6 - 6" Beef Skinning Knife (06325). This knife is amazing. After trying my hand at filleting the last reds I caught, I decided I needed a new approach for this hard scaled creature. My little filet knife just didn't do the trick. Six inches of cutting fury! I was able to carve up a couple of reds I caught on Sunday like they were made of butter bones and all. I highly reccomend this knife for the tougher scaled saltwater fish. One downside is that it is carbon steel so it will rust if you dont keep it clean and dry but the blade comes sharp and the ability it brings to the cutting table is something I dont want to live without anymore.  

It also has the distinction of being made in the USA with this nice little DTOM branded into the handle. I love it!