2012 Crabbing Pt 1 - Thornham

So it's off to Thornham for the first crabbing trip of the year.  Hot sunny weather, a pack of super-cheap bacon, and the crab-catching kit and we're set.

The weather meant that Thornham tide gate was full of people dangling their lines, so we had to make do with a new perch, the sloping part of the gate.  That's not ideal, and our bucket made a dash for freedom, ending up plonked on the oozing tidal mud where it was too difficult and/or dangerous to retrieve (see above).

Our new vantage point also proved to be less fruitful than our usual place and we only caught three or four crabs - we also think that they were maybe full up from a whole day's worth of bait and weren't interested in ours!  But we still had a whole lot of fun and will be heading off to Wells next week for a crabbing and pie day!


p.s. anyone know a decent crabbing spot near Great Yarmouth?  Sam wants to take his mum when they go there to stay later in the summer....

Crabbing At Thornham

Our second expedition in search of crabs was to Thornham, and in particular the tidal sluice gate, which was a recommended hotspot for crabs.

Unlike Wells, the "teabags" with the stinky bacon inside worked much better here, and we hauled in several of the little blighters.  Thanks to the height of the flagstones above the water plenty of them also managed to let go and drop back into the brine before we got them in the bucket.

See the picture below - I wonder what it is about crabbing that inspires Sam to perform a Rigsby Off Of Rising Damp impersonation?

Thornham wild, exposed but beautiful.  We walked halfway along the causeway pausing only to snap the sluice gate we'd occupied.

The dark dot in the distance of this picture is an old chap plodding up the creek to reach his boat (top right), maybe to haul in another few bags of freshly caught cockles?