Although stone crabs range from Texas to the Carolinas, their center of abundance is in Florida — and this is also where most of them are eaten. Unlike most other crabs, we eat only the claws of stone crabs. The animals themselves are released to hopefully grow another set of tasty claws.
This year there are a few changes to the harvesting of stone crabs. Harvesters age 16 or older will have to complete a free online course about trap registration. After completion of the course, you will get a unique number that must be labeled on all your traps.
The same registration goes for blue crabs as well, and you will use the same number on the blue crab trap. The only difference is if you are fishing for stone crabs, your registration number will need to have an S in front of the number (blue crab traps get a letter B).
I guess the idea behind all this is for the FWC to gather information to make future stock management and assessment decisions. To register, go to GoOutdoorsFlorida.com and add the registration to your account upon completion.
The FWC also changed the size limit by adding an eighth-inch to the minimum length that the claws must be to be harvestable. I know that’s not much of a size change, but it could change the market. That’s good news for guys like me who get requests for them during the season.
This season began Oct. 15 and will run until May 2, 2021. The bag limit is one gallon of claws per person of 2 gallons per vessel, and you can harvest both claws from a crab if they are legal size. The crab must be immediately returned to the water, and it’s best if you do that right where it was trapped so they can go back to good habitat.
If you are going to go set your own stone crab traps, I’d suggest reading the specifications that the FWC has on what is a legal trap setup (http://bit.ly/3p7f5Su). I was surprised at how specific the requirements are: Overall volume of the trap, the size of the entrance, and even the size of the buoy, which must have a legible “R” that has to be at least 2 inches tall. You can only have five traps per registered harvester. The same goes with blue crab traps.
Personally I don’t set crab traps of any kind anymore behind my house because seems like every time I did, I would get a visit from an otter that would open my traps and steal my crabs and any bait that might be left. I even zip-tied them, but he chewed right through that. When I used wire, there were teeth marks on the wire where they had tried to get in. I gave up. If I need crabs, I’ll seek out one of the local commercial sources.
When it comes to preparing stone crab claws for a meal — well, that’s easy. Bought claws are already cooked, so just keep them nice and cold until you’re ready to eat them. Don’t wait too long. They seem to have a very short shelf life in your fridge or cooler. I wouldn’t keep them around more than two days.
If you’re catching your own, keep the claws cold but not too cold, and cook them as soon as possible. Claws that are frozen raw or even iced down too cold will stick the shell after cooking, which makes eating them difficult, messy and wasteful. The best way to cook them is simple steaming — no need to boil.
When you do go buy some stone crabs, bring your wallet because they aren’t cheap. Today the average price for medium size is $28 per pound and goes all the way up to $55 a pound for the colossal size claws (which I’ve only seen a few times). Wow!
Personally, I think the best value for price made is in the mediums as far as meat versus shell goes. Those bigger claws are heavy and sometimes just one or two claws can weigh over a pound. It’s much easier to share a few medium size claws than trying to take turns diving into one large claw.
I personally don’t like to reheat stone crab claws; the texture gets stringy and it changes the flavor. Some of you might thing that they a great right out of the steamer, but I think they’re better served chilled with a cold beer. As far as a sauce goes, I like to serve them traditionally with key lime mustard sauce. It’s the perfect complement to the sweet flavor of the stone crab and it’s easy to make.
Chef Tim Spain is a Florida native and has years of experience cooking professionally, both in restaurants and in private settings. He offers private catering and personal culinary classes. For more info, visit ChefTimSpain.com or call 406-580-1994.
October 22, 2020 at 05:00AM
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