We're goin' crab daddy huntin'
All Grandpa wanted for his 105th birthday was to have a backyard campout and take the grandkids crab daddy fishing (or crawdads, to the rest of you) so that's what we did. 
How can you argue with a 105 year old man who is so obviously delighted at the prospect of a raw chicken leg and catching bugs to eat?
This was my first time fishing for crab daddies (dubbed Crab Daddies by my nephew Jacob, BTW) so I thought I'd chronicle it step-by-step. Step one involves tying the raw chicken to some twine (see birthday boy with raw chicken in photo 1). Next, all of the mighty crab daddy hunters gather to watch the raw chicken sink to the bottom where the good bugs live.
Then there is much playing with nets at the top of the water. This shouldn't disturb our prey any more than the divers who were cleaning out water junk from around the dock.
After a bit, you pull the string up. This must be done in a steady, medium pace so the dumb bugs don't realize they are on a raw chicken elevator to their death. You must also have your "net kid" handy for this part.
The net kid must carefully and gently put the net under the bugs at just the right moment. Too soon and you scare them off and if you wait too long, they realize they are on the elevator of death and jump off...
Scoop!
Pretty soon, you get yerself a bucket full of bottom-dwelling, garbage eating bugs. Yum!
If you get tired of being a "net kid" you can always play with the catch. Junior was the only kid brave enough to hold one this time.
No clever caption here- just a cute pic of two adorable cousins!
Any good crab daddy boil utilizes child labor to shuck the corn. (Look at Will in this picture- that kid kills me!)
Pretty soon, you have yourself a plate full of boiled up crab daddies. I think there were steps in between, but I don't' really remember what they were other than keeping Cyndi's Sis from playing in/drinking the disgusting crab daddy water while they waited to be boiled....
Bonus! Crab Daddy heads make adorable finger puppets!
Last step involves a swarm of children fighting over the hard-won morsels of crab daddy meat. Seriously- these kids go NUTS for it- especially mine. *Sigh*
3 comments:
One of my favorite posts! Great pix and great memories. I had the most fun...staying home with Bear and Sis and Abby who HATES anything remotely to do with crab-daddy fishing.
Matt says that in Oz they're called 'Balmain bugs'. That's just your bit of trivia for the day.
I never knew how they were caught, so great blog.
Absolutely loved this post. Apparently they're called "mud bugs" here. Go fig. What's your recipe?
Do you have family in Texas?
I'll have to try crab daddy fishing sometime. :) Thanks for the fun post.
Post a Comment