Take The Kids Crabbing

If you're looking for a fun, easy, and inexpensive outing with the kids, take them crabbing!  All you really need is a 20' piece of string, a piece of raw chicken, a catch net (Amelia Island Bait and Tackle), and a bucket.  My grandkids were in town recently for a short visit and I like to get them out of the house so we picked up some picnic items and headed out to Goffinsville Park on a low and incoming tide. It's easy!

We set up 4 stations, pushing a wooden stake into the mud and making  a loop on our string then we tossed a chicken leg tied to the other end out into the river. After all 4 stations were baited we moved back and forth and
check each one. There was a crab attached almost every time! Slowly ease the string in and be ready with the catch net. Most were small but we did get some of edible size.

Another "crab angler" was there and her technique was to use just a 8 piece of string. She'd toss it out and let the crabs come to it. Her net was stouter than ours and seemed to hold up better. We did find that we could lay our net on the river bottom and drag the crab up close then scoop it up rather than jabbing at it.

An added bonus was that there were tons of small conch's with crabs in them that could be picked up easily. All of the Blue Crabs that we caught along with the conchs were released. Once they get bigger maybe we'll crank up the steamer! 

After a couple of hours of fun at the waters edge, we moved up to the picnic tables and had a good picnic. Great times with kids can be had here at Amelia Island, Florida.