Crabbing and Fishing in Corpus Christi (Galveston: legal, castles, friendly)

[Guerinat]

My family and I will be in Corpus next week. I am interested in fishing and crabbing with my 5 and 1 year old. Any suggestions as to where this can be done? Given their ages and my lack of experience, I am looking for a very simple and kid-friendly location. Also, any suggestions on how to crab? I would like to tie a string with some turkey necks and see what we get for a great experience for son and daughter. Does this work?
I sincerely appreciate ANY suggestions and information you can provide.

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by Guerinat

My family and I will be in Corpus next week. I am interested in fishing and crabbing with my 5 and 1 year old. Any suggestions as to where this can be done? Given their ages and my lack of experience, I am looking for a very simple and kid-friendly location. Also, any suggestions on how to crab? I would like to tie a string with some turkey necks and see what we get for a great experience for son and daughter. Does this work?
I sincerely appreciate ANY suggestions and information you can provide.

I used to crab that way as a kid. I have a lot of very clear memories from about 5 years old of doing that stuff. Lots of fun, but chicken necks will be cheaper. It's more economical of your time and energy to put out crab traps, but this way is a lot more fun for kids.

We used to take a set of 5-10 bamboo poles (later 1.5" galvanized poles), wade out to the second bar at Galveston (you can go to the first bar if your kids are smaller and numerous), drive the poles into the sand at the top of the bar, string a line horizontally between the poles, then tie the chicken necks to one end of a length of string and the other to the "horizontal line" so that they would dangle underwater just a bit above the bottom. Then we would wade back to shore and build sand castles for a while to let the necks soak. When we thought enough time had passed, we would wade back out with a net and a cooler partially filled with seawater so that it would float upright. Ever, ever so carefully and slowly we would lift each chicken neck and ever, ever so carefully and slowly maneuver the net under the chicken neck before quickly bringing the net to the surface. If you touch the crab with the net or jostle the chicken neck before you're ready to bring everything out of the water, the crab let go and swim off in a hurry, so be stealthy and skillful. It's a real kick for little kids when the first net comes up with three blue crab in it. Sometimes you'll catch a rock crab (which I don't think is legal to keep... You're supposed to snap one of the pincers off and throw 'em back, but be careful - those are some seriously powerful pincers and could probably sever a little kid's finger). Invert the net into the cooler, encourage the crab to let go by gently jostling and CLOSE THE LID. Last time I checked (which was many years ago so double check with TP&W), you're allowed to keep male and female blue crab, but only if the females do not have eggs. You'll know it if you pull a female with eggs.

I've done this many times and never been unable to collect enough crab to have a boil for five or six people. Could be luck, though so YMMV...