Let's Talk BBQ
Recipes => Recipes => Seafood => Topic started by: smoker pete on July 25, 2014, 11:26:21 AM
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Camp Hosting at Winchester Bay, OR and enjoying the fruits of my surroundings - Dungeness Crab!! For those who have eaten dungeness you know what I'm talking about and for those who haven't - well, you'll know when you do. They are, IMHO, the best crab around! Here's what 20 picked crabs look like. Time for some crab louie, crab cakes, crab salad sandwiches, and of course just crab with a home made cocktail sauce :P
(http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab105/papa_peter/Seafood/DungenessCrab/DungenessCrabs5_zpsfa218a3b.jpg)
Cooked and clean in a 5 gallon bucket
(http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab105/papa_peter/Seafood/DungenessCrab/DungenessCrabs3_zps30fc5851.jpg)
Time for some pickin ... ;D :P
(http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab105/papa_peter/Seafood/DungenessCrab/DungenessCrabs1_zpsd8b4ee24.jpg)
Winchester Bay RV Resort in Winchester, OR where we are Camp Hosting ... Salmon are starting to trickle in so yesterday I started pluggin - none yet but soon!! The RV park is the one closest to the ocean.
(http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab105/papa_peter/winchesterbay2_zps7633c7f3.jpg)
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That looks real Good. love dungeness crab. You get them in the bay or in the ocean
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That looks great, Pete. How did you catch them?
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Just let me know what time dinner is served.... ;D ;D ;D Looks dee-lish!
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I am so jealous!! I would love to live near someplace like that. Crabs, salmon, all good!!
Art
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You are a lucky man!
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yea looks good!!! I never had Dungeness Crab but sure will if I ever get the chance. Don
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You are a lucky man!
Yes you are!
I want fresh crab like that!
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The crab looks and sounds great! What a super location. Look forward to your salmon stories - love to catch salmon on a fly.
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You need my address Pete?
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The crab looks and sounds great! What a super location. Look forward to your salmon stories - love to catch salmon on a fly.
x2
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That looks real Good. love dungeness crab. You get them in the bay or in the ocean
We got them in the bay off the crabbing pier. If you look above the RV park half out to the ocean you'll see a pier and jetty. The bigger ones come in with the tides. We used chicken quarters for bait - No smokinKat, I would never use your quarters for bait ;D
(http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab105/papa_peter/Seafood/DungenessCrab/winchesterbayCrop_zpsd403ba9c.jpg)
(http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab105/papa_peter/Seafood/DungenessCrab/crabPier2_zps0ba0b191.jpg)
That looks great, Pete. How did you catch them?
We used crab traps (like the old roach motel - "... they check in but they can't check out! ..." 8) and we also use crab rings. The traps stay in the water for 45-60 minutes and the rings get checked every 15-20 minutes. You're allowed to use 3 traps per person (ring/trap combo) and the limit is 12 male crabs per day, minimum size 5 ¾ inches.
(http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab105/papa_peter/Seafood/DungenessCrab/crabTrap1_zpsdf568c22.jpg)
(http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab105/papa_peter/Seafood/DungenessCrab/crabRing1_zpsfecfa463.jpg)
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The crab looks and sounds great! What a super location. Look forward to your salmon stories - love to catch salmon on a fly.
I bet a nice King (Chinook) Salmon on a fly would be quite the fight and enjoyment Doc. 2 days ago a 25 lb King was caught off the point. To the right of the RV park - within easy walking distance. Plugged yesterday with no results but it's early. The Chinooks are just starting to trickle in and the Silvers (Coho) will be in around mid August. Going to do a lot of plugging the next 3 days 8)
(http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab105/papa_peter/Seafood/DungenessCrab/winchesterbayCrop_zpsd403ba9c.jpg)
Another Camp Host caught an 18 lb Chinook yesterday in his boat up the Umpqua River which is what you see emptying into the ocean in the photo above. He was nice enough to share with us. I was going to do a chicken stir fry in the wok but decided to hot smoke these gorgeous filets instead!!
(http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab105/papa_peter/Seafood/DBsalmon07252014/salmon1_zps4882fb98.jpg)
It doesn't get any better than this ... We are truly blessed!! :)
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Looks great, Pete - we need to go down to Winchester one of these days - the area looks really nice, and having crab is the icing on the cake!
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Those filets look sooooo good!
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Very cool; Dungeness Crab for the price of a couple chicken leg quarters! My wife who grew up partially in Alaska loves Dungeness Crab.
Do you have to get any kind of permit to trap them?
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Looks great, Pete - we need to go down to Winchester one of these days - the area looks really nice, and having crab is the icing on the cake!
Best time for crab and salmon is late August and September 8) 8)
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Looks great, Pete - we need to go down to Winchester one of these days - the area looks really nice, and having crab is the icing on the cake!
Best time for crab and salmon is late August and September 8) 8)
Are they full of meat this time of year ? I like going in November. Seem to be full of meat and shells are hard after molting.
Do you freeze crab? I have not tried. Rummor is it doesn't freeze well. Heard freeze in milk helps. Like to freeze some of I could. Guess I should give it a shot.
Do any surf perch fishing down there?
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Do you have to get any kind of permit to trap them?
Yes I had to buy a "Non-Resident Annual Shellfish License" but it was only $20.50 for the whole year. I believe the break even point is 4 days. After that you might as well get the yearly license.
Are they full of meat this time of year ? I like going in November. Seem to be full of meat and shells are hard after molting.
Some are soft shells and are molting like you said. It takes them a while to grow into their new shells but the amount of meat varies. Even the soft shells still hold plenty of meat. By November they'll have grown into their new shells and will for sure be full.
Do you freeze crab? I have not tried. Rummor is it doesn't freeze well. Heard freeze in milk helps. Like to freeze some of I could. Guess I should give it a shot.
I froze a batch and then thawed it out just to test it and although it will never quite taste as good a fresh it's still pretty good actually. Most people that come here just for the crab do freeze them or else it'll spoil in no time. There seems to be an abundant amount of crab this year.
Do any surf perch fishing down there?
I have not but that doesn't mean there aren't any around here. Have used ghost shrimp to fish for Flounder which many local say reside in the bay in the range of 3-4 lbs. So far I've lost some bait but have also caught a few crabs (none big enough to keep). I think the Flounder are there. I just need to find sandy areas that don't have crabs.
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Excellent post...Oregon is my home state and my family used to go the cost crabbing every year....
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That RV park looks great, Pete, is it difficult to get a reservation this time of the year?
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I am really enjoying this thread... :)
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That RV park looks great, Pete, is it difficult to get a reservation this time of the year?
Not really - Tuesday to next Sunday is booked solid because of http://dunefest.com/ (http://dunefest.com/) but after that they have space available. If you have any kind of ATV, dune buggy, off road motorcycle, etc this is the RV park to be in. The Oregon dunes start here and work their way down to Coos Bay about 25 miles. Lots of fun in the sand, crabbing, fishing, etc ...
If you're interested pz just google Winchester Bay RV Resort and give them a call. We'll be here till the end of August. The weather for the next 10 days is going to be sunny between 68-70ºF - back home it was 102ºF yesterday!! 8) ... I'll keep the light on for ya and have some crab & salmon ready ;D ;D
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Thanks, Pete, I mentioned it to the wife and she's definitely interested.
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I think this is going to work out, Pete - my wife's daughter is coming to town the first week in August so we need to be here, but after that we're planning to make the trip down to Winchester to spend about 4 nights there. Looking forward to meeting you with good food and good times - and hoping you can teach us some crabbing techniques (we've not done that before)! We'll bring salmon candy, smoked Gouda (alder), and gravlax :)
We also pack a mini Green Egg and an Anova sous vide circulator so we'll bring a few boneless ribeyes as well
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I think this is going to work out, Pete - my wife's daughter is coming to town the first week in August so we need to be here, but after that we're planning to make the trip down to Winchester to spend about 4 nights there. Looking forward to meeting you with good food and good times - and hoping you can teach us some crabbing techniques (we've not done that before)! We'll bring salmon candy, smoked Gouda (alder), and gravlax :)
We also pack a mini Green Egg and an Anova sous vide circulator so we'll bring a few boneless ribeyes as well
Sounds great pz!! :) 8) We're in site #38 till the end of August. When you make your reservations see how close you can get to us. What size rig do you have? Check out the map - we're in the section that's called "small interior site" but they are all 40 ft pull thrus in this area. Looking forward to meeting you guys. Please keep me updated ;D
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Looks like we have tentative plans for the night of the 3rd or the 4th depending on what is available at that time. Our rig is relatively small - a 32-foot fiver, and we don't mind back-ins if they have a good view ;D Will try to get a spot near you ;)
Will keep you posted - we're excited to be coming to the Oregon coast and visiting with a fellow LTBBQ member!
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Anticipating some good stories and pictures!
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Anticipating some good stories and pictures!
You got it Doc!
Right now the count is Crabs: 20 and Salmon: 0. Plugged for another 4 hours yesterday with no results but I'll keep at it and it is still early.
I do need to go get more crabs though. Instead of going to the store to get some I just need to set the traps ;D
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What a life! I love the Oregon coast so much!
That salmon is just beautiful, I sure hope you can catch some! Making me hungry for dungeness, for sure! I sure miss the days when my dad would bring home garbage sacks stuffed full of king crab legs off his boats in AK.
I'm closing on the sale of my little rental house right around the first of the month, otherwise I might have just packed James up to go visit with you and pz for a night or two! :) Sure ya'll will have some fun-- look forward to pictures! :)
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we lived in Aloha for 4 years back in the 80's. Oregon is so nice. love all the fresh fruit, berries and seafood there. we use to take the kids to the Portland zoo all the time. love the Tillamook factory tour also. the coast in Oregon is some of the best I have ever seen. I bet Beaverton got real big. it was just starting to grow back then. :)
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It has, for sure-- Beaverton, Hillsboro, and Aloha have just kinda of oozed together into one giant suburb of Portland!
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Great looking crabs and salmon, nothing like getting them fresh from the sea. ;)