Crabbing On the Mission River

The Mission River is about thirty miles west of us. It enters Mission Bay, where several of our friends had been guided with great success. So we made several trips to the fish the Mission River, a new place for us, trying to learn something about the river and its connecting bay. The first was with our friend Captain John and the other was a shore fishing attempt where the main purpose was to trap crabs for a crab boil.

On the first trip John took us in his boat and we launched at the well maintained boat ramp. Heading up the river we quickly arrived at a place where a set of gates formed a narrow opening, almost like what I would call a wing dam on the Mississippi River.

It looked just like many I had seen near Grand Isle, Louisiana, places where Gary had taken me after speckled trout. Putting on a popping cork and a chartreuse jig I made my first cast and started to work it across the opening. Pausing every few feet the bobber suddenly disappeared and I was on a fish with my first cast! Fighting it in I measured the fish and sure enough it was half an inch short of the keeper slot size. C

Thinking we were really going to catch a lot of fish we all cast and cast but no more trout! Heading downstream we went to our second spot where we anchored and caught red after red, but again they were all small. Roy caught a black drum and again it was just under the legal size.

Being bothered by blue crabs we decided to return another day with crabs traps and nets, hoping for enough to have a crab boil. A few days later four of us arrived armed with chicken necks, smelly dead mullet and high hopes.

Soon we were catching crabs but many were too small. They have to measure five inches across the widest part of the dorsal caprice. As the day wore on they did start to get bigger and we did manage to catch fifteen legal blue crabs. Now if you have ever eaten blue crab you know that fifteen crabs won’t go very far so I called Renita and had her buy shrimp, Cajun sausage, corn on the cob, and red potatoes.

That night we gathered together and before long the pot was a boiling! Half an hour later all was ready and we gathered round to enjoy a taste of south Texas. After demonstrating how to open a cooked crab, everyone dived into the rich crab and shrimp. Life here is about letting the good times roll and a boil is certainly a good time! Clear skies