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Fishing News
Todays Crimptoon
Securing An Amateur Fishing Future
There is growing concern that the recreational fishing sector is being left behind when it comes to getting its voice heard on management issues.
Commercial Fishers and Iwi have managed to get the ear of the those who walk the corridors of power in Wellington, leaving amateur fishers out in the cold.
A proposal has been presented to parliament, which outlines ways of bringing all clubs and organisations together under one umbrella to better promote the recreational fishing cause.
The attached document looks at the reasons why changes are needed, how they can be implemented, and the possible costs to those of us who fish.
Please feel free to forward it to anyone you feel may be interested.
 Download: Click here for the full report
Missus' Stockings Caught Crabs
By Hugh Roberts
Crabbing is productive and great fun, with something caught most outings and as a bonus, the meat is sweet and tender. Paddle crabs are plentiful off Rabbit Island near Nelson from the inter-tidal zone to a depth of 10m. They tend to be more active in the early evening and at night.
Three to four Crab is an easy number to handle, as they collapse to about an inch thick and don't take up a lot of room in the boat. If a boat is not available, they can be walked out at low tide and collected at the next low tide, or easily set and retrieved using a canoe.
The pot comes with a bag to put the bait in, which is best attached to the centre of the pot at the top, with a sinker in it so it hangs down inside the pot. Frozen fish carcasses are good bait, but don't use the excellent Salmon Burley that is available because the crabs just sit downstream of the pot and scoff it as it drifts past. The pots also sometimes need to be weighted a little to keep them on the sea floor.
To prepare the crabs for cooking, humanely kill them by putting them on ice for a couple of hours. On the underside of the crab there is an inverted vee section of shell. If this is lifted and pealed downwards and then lifted and pulled up and over the back of the crab, it will remove the back shell and most of the gut in one motion. Any remaining gills are easily removed and the crabs can be cleaned in seawater. It really is essential that seawater is used for cleaning and cooking as this retains the sea food flavour.
There are a number of ideas on how to cook crabs, but the quickest is to boil them for six minutes. On our last biannual shopping expedition to Christchurch (I am made to go as I can't be trusted at home by myself for too long) I ended up in a sushi bar having a disjointed but entertaining conversation with an old Asian bloke. Among the many things I think we discussed was crabs and how best to cook them. His preferred method was to steam them whole for 40 minutes. I have tried a lot of ways and my is to prepare the crabs first and then steam them for 30 minutes, using a couple of cups of water with a 1/2 tsp of mustard added. When done, cool in the fridge for an hour or so, then pick the meat out of the body and squeeze it out of the legs and claws. Arrange the meat on a plate with a small bowl of black bean sauce. Crab presented this way is considered a delicacy in Thailand.
Sometimes when rod fishing, I find crabs hanging on to the bait and letting go just as they near the surface, so I tie a small amount of binding twine around one of the baited hooks. This has two benefits: one, it stops the crabs from swiping the bait and two, it snags them long enough to be brought aboard. I have been experimenting with the missus' stockings lately with interesting results (instead of binding twine)! The crabs get hooked in the nylon long enough for them to be bought aboard and are easier to untangle.
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Daryl Crimp Cartoonist -
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