Catching the Crabs: August 2014

7.5 inch Sook! Had to set it free though.

From the main drag, Ocean City, MD looks a bit over run with mid-rise condo/apartments, crab shack restaurants, and beach town retail. That said, there's a pier crabbers paradise hidden away in the city recreation center and it's great if you have a family. After spending most of the day in Assateague, we drove about 45 minutes north to Northside Park. It's the location of the town hall and a well-manicured park area. Let your kids go play in the playground and walk down the quarter mile pier (at least it feels that long). The sunset is amazing and I believe they do fireworks every sunday night off the pier. I couldn't recommend this play more!

Ratings: (1-5 High)

Opportunity: 3 - Lots of sooks and small crabs! Too bad you can't take home sooks.
Location: 5 - Free easy parking, great area if you are bringing kids (playgrounds), and stunning pier.
Value: 5 - It's all free!

Gear Used:

6 x Two-Ring Wire Crab Net (18-Inch)
6 x 50 feet lengths of braided nylon 1/4 inch rope
Lots of raw chicken legs

Time/Tide:

We crabbed for about 2 hours into the early evening.
Low Tide 1:49pm, High Tide 8:20am

Where to Go:

We arrive from Ocean City Expressway, and drove north to the park. It doesn't take too long to make it up there and traffic wasn't bad.

1 - Gorgeous Pier! Excellent sunsets!

2 - Closest parking to the pier. All free!

3 - Town Center (Bathrooms within!)

4 - Playgound for the kids

Crabs Caught:

We caught about 4 baby crabs and a 7.5 inch sook! We were crabbing at low tide so the deepest it got was about 3 feet. People were actually wading in the water. Pretty interesting to watch.

Other Photos:

Crish or Crishing [v] 1: to catch a fish while crabbing.
(Origin of Crishing- When the wife pulls up a fish instead of a crab. First known Use: 2014)

I personally am not too fond of the beach. Sure it makes a nice desktop background or wall print, but outside of the discipline of photography, the beach is fraught with little tensions for a hyper-paranoid type A personality. First off, who knows what's swimming in the waves that you're wading into? Megalodon! And to dispel the myth of "sharks don't swim close to shore", it's clearly documented on video here and here. That said, we went to Assateague National Park on Shark Week -- perhaps the most inauspicious day to drag paranoia into opaque beach waters. Have I mentioned that bull sharks are also on the rise in the mid-atlantic? Anyhow, back to the crabbing part!

Assateague Island National Park (not to be confused with Assateague State Park, which is on the left side of the fork when you cross the bridge) is a bit of a drag to get into. Long car lines to get into an over-packed parking lot with tourists holding up the queue by leaving their cars to take pictures of wild ponies/horses. I believe it was $15 to get into the park for a 7 day pass. Tip #1: bring your own food. Once inside, there's only a tiny convenience store to get some grub. If you resort to eating at the cafe, I hope you like Cheez-its and Ice cream. there are opportunities to do some pier crabbing. We did not encounter the giant flies like many tripadvisor reviewers noted, but I'd still recommend bringing a can of deet in your car anyway.

After a few hours on the beach, we made our way to Ferry Landing for the crabbing! While not a lot of parking spaces, not that many people come to Assateague to go crabbing. Ergo, plenty of parking availability.

Ratings: (1-5 High)

Opportunity: 3 - Lots of little crabs and fish!
Location: 5 - A clean,well kept park pier. Easily accessible with plenty of parking.
Value: 3 - Worth it only if you also plan to utilize the beach.

Gear Used:

4 x Two-Ring Wire Crab Net (18-Inch)
4 x 50 feet lengths of braided nylon 1/4 inch rope
Lots of raw chicken legs

Time/Tide:

We crabbed for about 2 hours in the early afternoon.
Low Tide 11:47am, High Tide 6:08pm,

Where to Go:

We came in from Verrazano Bridge off 611 (Stephen Decatur Hwy).You'll encounter a fork when you cross the bridge. If you want to check out the state park (beach & camping), stay on the left of the fork. If you want to go crabbing, hang a right!

7206 National Seashore Lane, Berlin, MD 21811


[Credit to Google Maps]

[Credit to Google Maps]

Ferry Land [Credit o Google Maps]

1 - Ferry Landing. This is where we crabbed.

2 - Another crabbing location opportunity

3 - Saw people pulling up baby crabs on this corner here.

4 - Great pier where you can actually see the crabs and fish crawling/swimming into your nets. Lots of people also wade into the water to crab/fish/clam

5 - Portable Potty. Hand sanitizer gel inside, important!

Crabs Caught:

We caught about 10 baby crabs and a lot of minnows! The waters are pretty brackish so you're not going to get the deep blue crabs here. They'll be more on the brownish side.