Fishing Victoria Forum

Went down earlier today to Rosebud and Rye pier for some potential squid fishing. Rosebud had 2 fishers - donuts all day. Wind was cold we decided to go check out Rye since I find it productive even on not-ideal weather. Oddly enough when we got there, there was a large group of people at the very end looking all excited. Upon closer inspection, it turned out they were using hoop nets to go crabbing. They had stumbled on the great spider crab migration.

These crabs look ugly, and a quick google online apparently showed them as "unedidble". Yet all the locals crabbing told us they taste great when treated right. Upon closer inspection, the single reference to them being unedible was posted from a website called "scuba doctor" who just so happened to organize scuba diving trips to view said crabs. Go figure.

Excited that there may be crabs, we raced off to the nearest tackle shops to find hoop nets. Both the local tackle shops in Rye were closed so we ended up going to the Kmart of all places for nets. A hoop net and a chicken carcass shopping later, we returned to Rye.

Absolutely crazy. Didn't take long to get our quota. Looking forward to delicious crab soup.

Intertidale zone ???
PM bugs for a good receipe
Should place the upside down, per bug
Gra

It would be interesting if you can post back after eating them and report on how they taste, also what preparing and cooking method you used ...

Let us know how they taste!

I'd heard the issue was that there was stuff all meat in them

Interested to see how they taste, agree with hearing there were slim on the meat.

Here is some great footage 4K footage of the 2017 Port Phillip Spider Crab migration by Brett Vercoe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sUfTdrpew4

Texas wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 01, 2020 12:10 am

Intertidale zone ???
PM bugs for a good receipe
Should place the upside down, per bug
Gra

That's a good point. We double checked the depth (>2m) so it's not in the intertidal zone. As you'll see below, recipe can wait. If I ever catch a big mud/sand crab though, will definitely pm for a recipe

After Cajun boiling them, I can see why they have the reputation they have. What makes them unappealing is their spiky appearance as well as seaweed growing all over them, giving a dirty appearance. After a humane quick boil and clean, followed by a full Cajun spice treatment NOLA style, we gave it a try.

There is no nice way of putting it- there is very little crab meat. These crabs have tiny pincers so it's a lot of effort for a little bit of crab meat. What meat we did extract was delicious. Just not much at all and definitely not worth the effort if it's just for meat.

However, we cook a lot so we know to open up the crab and it turns out it has a decent amount of crab roe. For those who are curious, I've attached a link to a summary. It's basically the raw ingredient used for crab caviar which adds a ton of flavor to both French and Japanese soups.

https://onthegas.org/food/crab-roe

Cooked crab roe, like sea urchin uni and fish caviar, are an acquired taste. I personally find the salty flavor essential for a good seafood bisque or an additional "umami" depth in seafood miso soup base. Needless to say, seafood bisque will be on the menu at home for a while

Overall, it was a lot of fun catching them. It's so satisfying to pull up a ring net to see actual real crabs in them . Great photos to share with family and friends. They do require a lot of work to clean, and there is little meat to be had. However, there is a reasonable amount of roe in each crab and if that's part of your cuisine, then these crabs are an accessible and fresh way to acquire it.

Glad you had a lot of fun catching them.
I remember crabbing in winter with the old man and being excited to pull up the nets for sand crabs when growing up in SA

Had bream roe (fried in butter) before, it was delicious
Gra

Plenty of infor on how to cook them, also i trust the scuba doctor for their main buissness part but research and 0 other papers? Doubt.

Good luck with finding fish when you next go out.