Summer is winding down and almost everybody will be eating crabs Labor Day weekend. Crabs are meant to be steamed, not boiled.Most people season the crabs before cooking. I personally don’t since none of the seasoning actually gets in the crab. It gets on your hands and that is what you taste.The best thing I have found to steam them in is a clam steamer. You can pick one up at RW’s or at Allisons.I usually put about 2 inches of water in the bottom. When the water really starts to boil then I cut the heat back just a little (still need to make steam) and put the top part of the steamer with the crabs already in it over the bottom half. Then put the top on and let them cook for about a half an hour.When they are done I put Old Bay on the table and the people around my table season the crabs as they pick them. I like mine dipped in butter but most people like vinegar.What I really think is good is some garlic sea salt and black pepper ground in the butter.

The Reedville Fishermen's Museum is doing much to preserve our local heritage.Along Millionaire’s Row of Victorian-era mansions sits the museum whose membership is near 1000. The majority of this membership is from the people who have recently made the Northern Neck their home and have volunteered their time in helping to build the museum. 

I’ve lived here all my life and I volunteer one afternoon a month to work as a docent. I am amazed at the quality of the displays and learning experience offered there. 

The Reedville Modelers, a group at the museum, have done a fabulous job on the most recent display, Spirit of 1607-8. This display gives tribute to John Smith’s exploration of the Chesapeake Bay and Northern Neck. 

One of the activities that occur at the museum is “Cocktails on the Creek”. Each Friday members bring their own beverages, hor-douvre or appetizer. It is a great way to meet and make new friends. 

Other activities include photography, boat-building classes, lectures, the annual antique and classic boat show (Sept 7-9, 2007), and the annual oyster roast.

The 2 boats pictured above are the skipjack, Claud W. Somers and the deck bock, Elva C. With the help of 2 local railways and their owners the volunteers that work in the museums boat shop restored these 2 boats.  

In 2005 these two boats were placed the Virginia Historic Landmark Register and the National Register of Historic Places.  This alone should speak volumes to how import Reedville and the fishing industry have been in our nation’s history.

  These post that I have been writing about crabs and peelers are probably in reverse order for most people to understand what a peeler is.  Crabs don't grow like people or most other animals.  Crabs grow by shedding their old outer body. In other words they peel their old shell.   A lot of times people see me throwing my small crabs back overboard (a crab needs to be 5 in. to be legal).  They later thank me for doing this when they start catching some large crabs.  They really think that the small crabs have fed and grown but that's not the case.  It just is that larger crabs have moved in to that part of the water.   For a crab to grow the crab must shed its old shell.  When it does this it grows about one-third in size.  The picture in this post shows the old shell that the crab came out of and size it is after it sheds.  

The Accredited Buyer Representative designation is the benchmark of excellence in buyer representation.  It is a designation held by less than 5% of all members of the National Association of Realtors. There are 4 requirements that must be met in order to receive this designation but being a good buyer ' s rep in the Northern Neck means more than meeting those 4 requirements. Most of my clients are looking to buy waterfront property.  They need an agent who really knows the water and what waters are navigable.  Just because a property has a pier and there is 5 ft. of water at the end of that pier does not mean that you will have good navigable water to the river or Bay.  There are many creeks here in the Northern Neck that have good deep water. Some of these creeks have very limited access in reaching the open water of a river or the Bay. Some are so limited that you would be lucky to float a bar of Ivory Soap at low tide into the open water.As most people who visit this site know I am an Accredited Buyer Representative who knows the waters here in the Northern Neck and Bay.

I've received several e-mails from my blog post about peelers.  When peelers hit it's not just in the Northern Neck but it's all up and down the Chesapeake Bay.  The pictures for this blog post are of the male crab carrying the female crab.  This is what is called a "Doubler".

A lot of peelers are starting to show up in the crab pots here in the Northern Neck.  A peeler is a crab that is ready to shed and become a soft crab.  Almost all of the peelers right now are female.  You can tell a peeler by a small red line inside its backfin and if it is a female the apron will be a dark color.

When a female crab gets ready to shed for the last time in her life she will mate.  When she is close to being ready to shed her old shell a male crab will pick her up and carry her underneath him. If you have seen doublers as they are called then you know what I am talking about.  After she sheds they will mate. 

The male nature tickles me. When you pull a crab pot if there are any doublers you will see them as the crab pot comes out of the water.  Now the female crab can be carried by a big male crab or a small one and this is where the male nature shows up. 

If it's a big mature crab he will let go of her but if it's a small crab watch out.  He doesn't let go for anything.  Sometimes he will even hold on to her the whole time you're shaking all of the crabs out of the pot and he will fall out of the pot still holding her.  When you go to pick him up he will try to fight you while still holding her. What does that sound like to you?

Well the male is not all bad. If the female peeler is not caught in a crab pot she and the male will mate as soon a she sheds her shell and is a soft crab.  After they mate the male crab will turn her back over and continue to carry her until her shell has hardened and she can defend for herself.

I try to have some crab pots over board while crabs are running. Since I use to crab commercially I have a license that allows me to put over more than the 2 crab pots anyone is allowed.

For the last couple of months I've been thinking of buying another boat.  I already have 2 boats.  I use one of them for crabbing and the river and the other boat I use in the Chesapeake Bay.  The boat that I have been using in the Bay is 28 ft. It's kind of low sided and light but it's pretty fast.  All of that is good as long as it doesn't get rough. Well I've been caught out there several times this year when it got rough and each time I was 10 to 20 miles from home. I hate to admit this but I'm getting old and being beat up in a boat is not something that I felt as though I could do any more so I started looking for a new one. I called places up and down the Bay asking questions to whoever would listen about the type of boat I was looking for.Well I finally found one in Gloucester that met my desires. She is a 35 ft. Evans, built in Crisfield, MD and powered with a 3208 Cat diesel.If you noticed above I said, "She is". A boat is a she so she needs a she name.This presents a problem. I have always said that you shouldn't name a boat after your wife. That’s like getting your girlfriends name tattooed on your arm. You know what I mean. If you break up with her you're always reminded by the tattoo. Same thing is true with a boat. You could sell the boat but that would be like selling your dog.I thought that I could name her “Plaintiff” after all my wives and it would cover me of anything in the future. That sounded like pretty good logic until I thought with a name like that someone might think I was a lawyer.I’ve been called some pretty bad things before but never a lawyer.Well I ended up naming her “Carol M” after my oldest daughter Carol Mead.Saturday I bought her up the Bay at 16 knots turning 2500 RPMs in 2-3 foot seas and I was just as comfortable as I would have been at home in the recliner.