Non-Fish Fishing

The next time you take the kids out fishing, leave the rods at home.

by Alan Jones

April 1, 2006

Fishing has long been a great family-bonding activity, but occasionally it's a tedious one - sometimes fish don't cooperate, and kids are notoriously impatient. Try taking the family out for some "non-fish" fishing to vary your onboard time together. Aside from the fact that you don't need a special boat, the real reason is action: You can almost always catch crabs, and with scallops and lobster, any activity that gets kids in the water is a good one.

Spiny Lobster
Equipment needed: Snorkel, mask, fins, tickle stick, measuring device, dive flag, small hand net.

Habitat: Lobster seem to know their position in the food chain, so during daylight hours they hide in any available protected area such as coral reefs, grassy ledges, rock piles and mangroves.

Where to find them: Although you can find Caribbean spiny lobster from the northern coast of South America all the way to Virginia, the best place to snorkel for them is in the Florida Keys.

When to catch them: There's a special two-day "mini-season" July 26-27, and the regular season runs from August 6 through March 31.

How to catch them: To successfully capture a lobster, you need to practice your snorkeling skills until you can hold your breath when diving for at least 30 seconds. Lobsters try to remain hidden, but often betray their presence by the pair of black antennae tips that will
usually protrude from their "hidey-hole." When you spot one, take your "tickle stick," which is a dowel about a yard long, and tap the rear of the lobster. It'll think something is behind it and will move out into the open. With the other hand, place the net just behind the lobster, then over the top, pinning it to the sea floor. With the net still in place, grab the lobster with a gloved hand (they don't have claws) and put it into your collection net or take it to the boat.

How to cook them: To prepare spiny lobster before cooking, simply twist off the tail and de-vein them using a section of a broken off antennae. You can boil them by cooking them for 15 minutes in salty water, but a better way is to split the tail (scratch a groove on the top of the shell, place a kitchen knife in it, and with the other hand bang the top of the knife to split it), brush on olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and place the lobster on a medium-hot barbecue grill - meat side down - until the tiny fins on the side are crispy. Serve with garlic butter.

Blue Crabs
Equipment needed: A roll of nylon string, six chicken necks, mesh chum bag, one can of Kozy Kitten Fish Dinner cat food, and a dip net.

Habitat: Blue crabs can be found almost everywhere on the coastal areas of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Where to catch them: Probably the single best place to catch blue crabs is an area adjacent to a fish cleaning station in less than 20 feet of water. During the commercial crabbing season, anywhere you see an abundance of crab traps is usually a good general habitat, but don't crowd the traps or disturb them in any way, or you're likely to have an angry crabber on your hands (cover the kids' ears).

When to catch them: Crabs will begin to actively feed whenever the water rises above 55 degrees Fahrenheit, and the biggest ones are usually caught in late fall.

How to catch them: The blue crab is one of the most fun species for kids as young as 3 years old to "fish" for. Anchor your boat from the bow and stern to inhibit swinging. Take a can of Kozy Kitten cat food and punch several holes in it with a can opener, place it in a chum bag, and suspend it just off the bottom to attract crabs. Tie a chicken neck to a piece of string and tell the kids to drop it to the bottom. When they feel a gentle tug on the line, have them pull it up slow and easy, and there should be a blue crab holding onto the bait with its claw. Don't pull the crab out of the water or it will drop off; instead, dip it with the net and place in a cooler that has a wet burlap bag at the bottom with a small baggie of ice to keep crabs from overheating. Don't fill the cooler with ice or put the crabs in a bucket of water or they'll die.

How to cook them: Crabs should be steamed, not boiled. Take one part water, one part apple cider vinegar, and one part flat beer and add several tablespoons of Old Bay seasoning. Add crabs - sprinkling with additional Old Bay - and steam for 20-30 minutes until all of the crabs are bright red. Cover a table with newspaper and dig in. For a lesson on how to properly pick and eat crabs, check out www.vims.edu/adv/ed /crab/pick.html.

Scallops
Equipment needed: Snorkel, mask, old tennis shoes or dive booties, mesh collection bag, cooler with ice.

Habitat: Bay scallops are found in shallow, coastal estuaries that have good water quality and healthy beds of eelgrass, manatee grass, or turtle grass, which makes them a good indicator of the state of the environment in the places they're found.

Where to find them: Although their range stretches from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico, one of the best places to find scallops is on the west central coast of Florida around the small town of Steinhatchee. During the scalloping season here, you won't have any problem finding them ... just look where the 200 or so boats are clustered together. Try to find an area that hasn't been picked over yet.

When to catch them: The scalloping season on the west coast of Florida is from July 1 until September 10.

How to catch them: Catching scallops is the summertime equivalent of an Easter egg hunt.
Although it takes many years to develop the proper capturing technique, here it goes: When you see one, grab it. The best time to go for them is low tide when you can find them in water that's three or four feet deep, so you can wade around with your head in the water wearing a mask and snorkel. Scallops are one of the few bivalves that don't attach themselves to a structure, but instead swim free, by opening and closing their shells. They also have rows of blue eyes that can see predators, but their usual response to being touched is to close up. Most people tie a mesh orange or potato bag to their belt loop and pop them in as they find one. When you're done collecting, place them on ice to make cleaning them easier. If your kids are squeamish about handling them, they can use a small aquarium net. Since you're bent over, it's a good idea to wear a shirt to avoid a painful sunburn on your back.

How to cook them: To properly clean a scallop in preparation for cooking, partially pry it open with a sharpened spoon and scrape the little white muscle off of the top of the shell. Next, remove the black membrane covering the meat, and then scrape it from the shell with your spoon (for a more detailed explanation, see www.afn.org/~gofc/Cleaning.html). Don't overcook them, or they'll resemble pencil erasers. Coat with butter and broil on high or sauté in hot pan for two minutes. Even very young kids will enjoy these activities, and there's nothing better than dinner that you catch yourself. Make sure to check your local laws to make sure you're in accordance with the regulations.