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Where can I find crabs?

RNCollins

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I’m from NY State and I was thinking of going down towards southern NJ, Maryland, or Delaware for a quick weekend with friends, one of whom desperately loves crabs. Are they available this time of year?

Does anyone have any suggestions? @tschwa2, do you have any ideas? Are there any points of interest in this area for this time of year? Would Cape May NJ Be a good choice?

Thanks for your help!
 
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billymach4

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tschwa2

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You pretty much have to be within a 15 minute drive of Maryland. So DC and VA suburbs and Delaware beaches- Rehoboth and South. Even in Maryland expect to pay close to $100 a dozen for decent crabs this year. I doubt Cape May would have any. Virginia Beach had 3 crab houses (vs 20+ in Ocean City, MD). I went with the one with the best reviews and they were good tasting but light as a feather at $80 a dozen. The ones in Ocean City this summer at $110 per dozen are similar to the ones that were around $59 in the last 2 years.
 

tschwa2

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I enjoy hand crabbing but you won't catch big ones and you won't have the cookware and seasoning to do it properly.
 

geist1223

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Patti went to buy Crab Cakes for dinner a few weeks ago. They were about $20 each. We had Salmon Burgers for dinner. They were about $5 each.
 

wackymother

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We just got home from Ocean City. We got take-out crabs from Bahama's for $39 a dozen plus 1/2 pound of steamed shrimp. The crabs were medium but pretty heavy and good. Usually we buy much larger crabs (for more money per crab), but this was a good special. We brought in a coupon from one of the local tourist papers, but they had a sign with the same special out front. Bahama's (in Fenwick) and Crabs to Go (on the mainland) are our favorite places to get crabs to take out.
 

tschwa2

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We just got home from Ocean City. We got take-out crabs from Bahama's for $39 a dozen plus 1/2 pound of steamed shrimp. The crabs were medium but pretty heavy and good. Usually we buy much larger crabs (for more money per crab), but this was a good special. We brought in a coupon from one of the local tourist papers, but they had a sign with the same special out front. Bahama's (in Fenwick) and Crabs to Go (on the mainland) are our favorite places to get crabs to take out.
Bonus at Bahama's is no sales tax in delaware. I am not crazy about their seasoning. OCM has been my favorite the last couple of years but on longer trips or off season when they aren't open I try others. Higgens in April was the biggest disappointment.
 

pedro47

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For a dozen of male Jimmie crabs in Tidewater Virginia, you are looking to pay at least $39.00 or more for one dozen of male crabs. Plus, they are steam and season

The big male Jimmie crabs in our area are going to Northetn Virginia and Washington DC, where there are selling for a must higher cost .
 
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AnnaS

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Deleted - thought looking to go crabbing not looking for a meal or crabs to take home :cautious::giggle:
 
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KProuty

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Bonus at Bahama's is no sales tax in delaware. I am not crazy about their seasoning. OCM has been my favorite the last couple of years but on longer trips or off season when they aren't open I try others. Higgens in April was the biggest disappointment.

What is OCM? We stopped in Ocean City last year on our way to Hilton Head and ate at the Crab Factory, I think it was called, it was great.

Another year, on our way to Williamsburg, we stopped at Edward's Seafood fish market on Onley MD for a dozen crabs, put them in a cooler, and ate them when we got to the timeshare. I brought mallets and newspaper with me from home.

Anyhow, it would be hard to pass the Crab Factory (crab soup was divine, we took a quart with us to eat at the hotel - we always bring a cooler!) but if it was for something really good...

And what other seasoning can there be besides Old Bay? Isn't there a law that that IS the seasoning for crabs?
 

wackymother

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And what other seasoning can there be besides Old Bay? Isn't there a law that that IS the seasoning for crabs?

The guy at Bahama's was actually opening a 50-pound box of seasoning while I waited for my crabs this time. It was from a restaurant supply place and I'm not sure if it was Bahama's own specific mix...but probably it's just a generic version of Old Bay.

Their seasoning is very similar to Old Bay but...what do you think, tschwa2? Saltier? Hotter? It's definitely very salty.
 

wackymother

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BTW, Bahama's does a beautiful job packing crabs for travel. We forgot to do it this time, but usually we call the day before and pick up crabs for home as we leave. They put the cooked crabs in a good insulated cooler with ice so they're perfect when we get home. No extra charge!
 

wackymother

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Anyhow, it would be hard to pass the Crab Factory (crab soup was divine, we took a quart with us to eat at the hotel - we always bring a cooler!) but if it was for something really good...

Good to hear that Crab Factory was good! I think we went there once years ago. I think they're known for their crab cakes? And that they had some financial struggles recently. But they looked like everything was going along well on this trip, tons of people every time we passed.
 

JeffC

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I’m from NY State and I was thinking of going down towards southern NJ, Maryland, or Delaware for a quick weekend with friends, one of whom desperately loves crabs. Are they available this time of year?

Does anyone have any suggestions? @tschwa2, do you have any ideas? Are there any points of interest in this area for this time of year? Would Cape May NJ Be a good choice?

Thanks for your help!
Anywhere from the Great South Bay down to the Chesapeake is prime crabbing territory. Are you going crabbing yourself or just looking for local places to buy? When I was a kid we used to crab 2 ways. We'd go out at night on the Connetquot River with battery powered spotlights and shine them at the water, the crabs would come up to the light and we'd scoop up them up with a net. The other way was to throw fish heads into a crab trap and drop it into the water from a pier or boat, then you'd come back later to pull the trap (and any crabs in it).
Supposedly around here, Long Island, its a good year for blue claws. My DW picked up 2 softshell crabs, already breaded and fried, from the local fish market for $10 each. That seemed high to me. Since you're from NY you might want check availability on Fire Island. With the recent storm there may be some vacancies. Just drive to the ferry docks in Bay Shore, they have boats going to all the towns on Fire Island. Good Luck.
 

tschwa2

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The guy at Bahama's was actually opening a 50-pound box of seasoning while I waited for my crabs this time. It was from a restaurant supply place and I'm not sure if it was Bahama's own specific mix...but probably it's just a generic version of Old Bay.

Their seasoning is very similar to Old Bay but...what do you think, tschwa2? Saltier? Hotter? It's definitely very salty.
Too salty. but my taste this year is still off, 6 months post covid and this summer was the first time I tried them in almost 6 years.
 

pedro47

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How much are male jimmie crabs in NJ and Maryland by the dozen?,
 

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wackymother

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How much are male jimmie crabs in NJ and Maryland by the dozen?,


I'm in northern NJ and you can't get crabs here except occasionally at Asian markets, live and ready to be cooked and seasoned at home. And they're not that big, bc I look every time I see them.
 

wackymother

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Our local crab / fishing person in Poquson & York County, Virginia are selling male jumbo jimmies by the bushel at $300 plus (cash price).

It seems like a lot...but jumbo...maybe it's not so bad.
 

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Crabs in the bay are being over harvested causing a spike in prices. There are simply not enough large enough.

DNR Survey: Chesapeake Bay crab population reaches 14-year low
 

tschwa2

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But a lot of crabs don't come from the bay. They come from the Carolinas and the gulf from both the Louisiana and Texas and then shipped to Maryland (and to a lesser extent NY)
 

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That's very true however, being from Maryland to even suggest getting a crab from anywhere other than the Chesapeake Bay is akin to blasphemy. :eek:
 

tschwa2

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That's very true however, being from Maryland to even suggest getting a crab from anywhere other than the Chesapeake Bay is akin to blasphemy. :eek:
Personally having done many taste tests, there really isn't that much difference. I even had to read a book on the summer reading list in high school called beautiful swimmers. The sweetness of Bay crabs comes from the ideal brackishness of the water and the gulf and the rivers near the oceans in the Carolinas do a pretty good job in many areas getting that mixture. I've had good and bad bay crabs and good and bad crabs from other places.

The blasphemy is ordering crab cakes outside of MD and getting blue crabs prepared outside of the delmarva area. Which I do all the time just to check if anything has changed and for the most part they have not.
 

WVBaker

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Personally having done many taste tests, there really isn't that much difference. I even had to read a book on the summer reading list in high school called beautiful swimmers. The sweetness of Bay crabs comes from the ideal brackishness of the water and the gulf and the rivers near the oceans in the Carolinas do a pretty good job in many areas getting that mixture. I've had good and bad bay crabs and good and bad crabs from other places.

The blasphemy is ordering crab cakes outside of MD and getting blue crabs prepared outside of the delmarva area. Which I do all the time just to check if anything has changed and for the most part they have not.

I appreciate your effort.

Being Baltimore, born and raised, I grew up with steamed crabs with Old Bay seasoning. Right or wrong, I was taught that it takes a great deal of history to make even a little tradition and with that, my loyalty has been earned. I'll stick with the irreplaceable Chesapeake Bay blue crab.

Good luck on your journey though. ;)
 
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