We could not have chosen a more perfect day to visit Wells for our second crabbing expedition of the year. The weather was gorgeous and Wells looked absolutely splendid in the hazy sunshine.
The plan was to do some crabbing in the morning, stuff ourselves with fish and chips for dinner, then have another session on the quayside in the afternoon. First stop is the shoreline to fill your bucket with water...ooops, Sam looks like he's managed to catch himself in the net....
We've never seen so many people lining the harbour wall, there was hardly a vacant spot to be found. Ha! We have our own "secret" spot that nobody else ever thinks to use, so we took our place and soon began to reel in the swimmers.
Bowers the butchers had given us some offcuts of meat to use as bait (thanks chaps!) which we sliced up the night before then left in the sunlight as much as possible to enhance the "bouquet".
As usual we were using two methods of catching. Above is the basket, and Dad attaching some random meaty tubes and stuff as bait. It didn't half pong! The other method we try is to use small net bags with bait inside. This isn't quite as reliable usually, as the crafty crabs let go of the bags when they realise that they're out of the water and rapidly ascending skywards. It's best to have a net to use in tandem with the bags, and position it beneath them as soon as you can when reeling them in.
We had a pretty successful morning, considering the huge numbers of crabbers all competing for the same prey. Twelve (we think, although it's tricky counting them unless you keep a record as you go along) in the morning, but just three after dinner. Speaking to fellow crabbers along the quay this was a common tale - we reckon the crabs must have been feeling absolutely stuffed after so much feeding, and just couldn't eat another thing....
These little chaps are always happy to be released back to nature, and man alive, you should see the speed that some of them scuttle off towards the sea! Others quickly wiggle themselves into the mud to wait for time and tide to ensure their survival.
SPOT THE CRABS!
How many released crabs can you spot in this photo? The answer is at the bottom of the page, but don't scroll down until you've tried to find them all. No cheating!
Here's the meaty goodness that we used for bait, yum yum!
And the answer is - SIX! Did you spot them all?
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