Crabbing on Eastern Long Island

Flying Point Road curves along the Watermill side of little Mecox Bay on its way to the ocean.

Decisions, decisions

People and animals do a lot of different things in Mecox Bay, depending on the season. In spring, swans nest on its shores. In winter, when the water freezes solid, ice boaters race across the bay at breakneck speed. In fall, hunters shoot ducks and geese.

Summer belongs to the crabbers.

Crabbing restrictions in Mecox Bay

Some crabbers crab alone

Solo Crabber at the Bridge

Others crab in pairs

Two crabbers

and many crab in groups

A crabber in a wheel chair is just out of the frame.

There seem to be three common crabbing techniques. Some crabbers use a baited wire cage, something like a lobster trap, which is placed on the shallow bottom. The trapper watches and waits, peering into the water from the roadside, for a crab to wander in for a meal and spring the trap.

Watching and waiting

Other crabbers use a long-handled net, wading into the brackish water to stalk their scuttling prey.

Hunting crabs

And others use a chicken leg and a piece of string.

Day-after chicken bone with string

They just tie the chicken leg to the string and lower it to the floor of the bay. When a crab grabs hold, they reel it in.

Buckets fill up with crabs.

Emptying the net into the bucket

And at the end of the day, when the sun goes down,

Sunset over Mecox Bay

it’s time for the crabbers to eat some crab.

Explore posts in the same categories: 2010, In the Country, July, Wildlife/Natural History

Tags: crabbing, Long Island, Mecox Bay, summer on eastern Long Island, sunset, Watermill NY

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