Crabbing at DeBordieu: Hand Lining Blue Crabs in the Pawleys Island and Georgetown, SC area

We chose to make a busy 4th of July week even busier by taking the kids out in the boat late Saturday afternoon. Our mission...catch crabs on hand lines. This was a first time for my children and wife. I bought the appropriate tools which can be found at some of our local hardware stores like Pawleys Island Supplies (they even have the hand lines made for sale). The hand lines simply consist of a cotton string wrapped around a stick. You tie on a piece of chicken neck (or a wing) with a weight. A crab net is the last necessity. Toss the chicken in the water and wait for the slight tug from the crab. Slowly pull in the line and net the crabs. We had non stop action and lots of family fun.

Picking the crab is the unglamorous job (thank you Wynne). You can see below the lovely results FRESH CRAB CAKES! Dinner started with eating the crab claws. We then had the cakes with fresh corn on the cob, tomato pie, chilled cucumber salad, a fine rose wine, and blue berry pie!