On Tue, 27 Oct 2015 19:11:00 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:


My mother's family were watermen on the lower Chesapeake (a little
south of Harry). I saw them tonging oysters and running crab pots but
I never had the urge to do that for a living or even an odd job.


I haven't seen anyone tonging oysters for a couple of years, though I
know it is still being done. The crabbers, of course, are everywhere.
Both are tough ways to make a living.

Oysters are generally tonged when it is really too cold to watch ;-)


We buy softshells at least once a week from a reliable guy with a
refrigerator truck and a roadside electrical outlet in the parking lot
of a liquor store. Nice softshells run $3 to $4 each. Don't like banging
crabs with mallets for the little bit of meat they contain.

The people who owned the marina before my niece bought used to float
out softshells but it is a game of constant observation.
They pick out the "peelers" from the pots and put them in float boxes,
watching them constantly and snatching them out as soon as they molt.
Then they got packed in wet grass and sold.

I am not really a soft shell fan. I don't mind picking hard crabs tho.
It is really more of a social event than a meal. I always want a
burger or something afterwards.
A lot is in learning the trick. First off, there is no "banging". You
do it all with a dull paring knife. Some use a short piece of sawed
off broom stick to get the knife going but I never do.

I was in a "crab house" in Treasure Island once and drew a crowd,
showing everyone how to pick a crab, including the owners.
I learned the trick from my grand parents as they did from theirs.