From MD/Va to Texas #8: Another wonderful day at Lake Bob Sandlin State Park. To try our hand at crappie fishing. Was a bit frustrating at first because a couple of other guys were...

alaskanaturally Loc: Maryland, Virginia, Ma, RI, Me, Tx, Fl, Ak

Another wonderful day at Lake Bob Sandlin State Park. To try our hand at crappie fishing.

Was a bit frustrating at first because a couple of other guys were catching a few and we didn't.
Turns out the guys just live a few miles away and have been fishing here all their lives.

But with careful observations of their methods, we finally caught on..

Wound up with a nice batch of fish including one of the largest crappie we've ever caught.

Flounder taking it easy after we finally caught fish. She was quite nervous until we did.

Fried crappie and roe for dinner tonight.

Wv mike Loc: Parkersburg area. Wv

Good catch and thumbs up on the roe

NJ219bands Loc: New Jersey

Nice 👍

Whitey Loc: Southeast ohio

alaskanaturally wrote:

Another wonderful day at Lake Bob Sandlin State Pa... (show quote)

Thems some nice one 👍. I can't say I've ate the roe myself.

alaskanaturally Loc: Maryland, Virginia, Ma, RI, Me, Tx, Fl, Ak

Whitey wrote:

Thems some nice one 👍. I can't say I've ate the roe myself.

Roe is the best part.

bapabear Loc: Blaine, Washington

Great job. It shows good fishing ability when you tae the time to watch the details of other. Way to go.
I have a question from your photo. I have caught a lot of crappie over the years and never a red tint one before. Is that something local, or just poor past observation on my part? That roe makes my mouth water. How do you prepare yours?

alaskanaturally Loc: Maryland, Virginia, Ma, RI, Me, Tx, Fl, Ak

bapabear wrote:

Great job. It shows good fishing ability when you tae the time to watch the details of other. Way to go.
I have a question from your photo. I have caught a lot of crappie over the years and never a red tint one before. Is that something local, or just poor past observation on my part? That roe makes my mouth water. How do you prepare yours?

We do catch an occasional crappie with that tint in many different areas. Think the phone exaggerated the color of this one.

With small roe sacks from crappie, white perch, etc., we dust them with flour, garlic powder, salt and other spices. Fry lightly. Large sacks like from black drum, carp, cod, we also boil them.

bapabear Loc: Blaine, Washington

Thanks for the color info.
As for the roe, I do the same thing. I fry them in butter. Larger pieces I have cut small like crappie and fix the same, mainly carp and shad. I will have to try the boil thing. Do you do anything special like seasoning? Do you then just cut up and eat hot, or do something with the boiled roe first? Thanks so much for the reply.

alaskanaturally Loc: Maryland, Virginia, Ma, RI, Me, Tx, Fl, Ak

Good morning Bapa, we often boil big roe sacks in a fish broth made from crab and shrimp shells we catch. But any commercial broth would do. A thickener is added like corn starch, flour or konjac flour. This can be served hot or cold with horse radish.

At times fish balls are added to the broth.

bapabear Loc: Blaine, Washington

alaskanaturally wrote:

Good morning Bapa, we often boil big roe sacks in a fish broth made from crab and shrimp shells we catch. But any commercial broth would do. A thickener is added like corn starch, flour or konjac flour. This can be served hot or cold with horse radish.

At times fish balls are added to the broth.

Sorry to be a pain, but I am so impressed with your cooking skill. Would you be willing to share how you fix the broth. Do you just boil the shells or do you use part of the stuff inside? Any details would help. Thank you so much.

alaskanaturally Loc: Maryland, Virginia, Ma, RI, Me, Tx, Fl, Ak

Bapa, We spent many years as outdoor writers and always knew our job was to help folks enjoy the outdoors which includes cooking the catch.

All parts of the crab that are not eaten are used for the stock. Bring to a boil for 15 minutes then simmer for a few hours. You can make the stock stronger by evaporating it more. When finished, pour into canning jars and pressure can or freeze it for later use.

It even makes for a nice hot drink on a cold day.

bapabear Loc: Blaine, Washington

alaskanaturally wrote:

Bapa, We spent many years as outdoor writers and always knew our job was to help folks enjoy the outdoors which includes cooking the catch.

All parts of the crab that are not eaten are used for the stock. Bring to a boil for 15 minutes then simmer for a few hours. You can make the stock stronger by evaporating it more. When finished, pour into canning jars and pressure can or freeze it for later use.

It even makes for a nice hot drink on a cold day.

Thanks. I am assuming you are talking about steamed blue crabs. Hear on the west coast, most people boil their crabs. I still prefer to steam, though I usually clean first. The Maryland seasonings don't seem to penetrate into dungeness like it does blue crab.
In Alaska, I am sure you had access to dungeness. Would you recommend just throwing the raw shell and innards into boiling water, or just steam and treat like blue crab. I usually steam precleaned crab halves, as it is so much faster and cleaner than boiling (6 minutes). I do miss the roe, but we can't keep females anyway. Thanks for your input.

alaskanaturally Loc: Maryland, Virginia, Ma, RI, Me, Tx, Fl, Ak

bapabear wrote:

Thanks. I am assuming you are talking about steam... (show quote)

You are correct. We used to get lots of dungies on the mudflats off the Homer spit. That was a long time ago (1980s.) We were grad students at UAF and didn't have time to do fancy cooking and never attempted to make the stock. However, we do make it from Jonah crabs, which are similar, that we catch in Maine. It comes out just great. We boil all the versions of this stock.

bapabear Loc: Blaine, Washington

Thanks. Just a side note, I was at school in Castine Maine then moves to Southwest Harbor in the mid 80's, then moved onto a sailboat with family and took a year sailing from Maine to Florida. That exposes one to several different variety of crab. My favorite is still fresh tanner caught in Alaska. As you know, most Alaskans just boil their crab in saltwater without any seasoning. All the good stuff for the broth you are talking about is then thrown away.
I do have a Vietnamese friend who used to catch a bunch of shore crabs 1/2 to 1 inch from under the rocks. He would then put the crabs in a cheesecloth bag, crush them and boil them to make broth. It was outstanding. I expect that method has something to do with shore crabs now being protected hear in Washington.
I can't wait until our season opens in July so that I can try your method. Thanks again.

Jeremy Loc: America

bapabear wrote:

Thanks. I am assuming you are talking about steam... (show quote)

Steam is best unless have FRESH seawater available. Steam doesn’t wash the salt out of the crab.