Crabbing

I would never have thought to go crabbing while on Kiawah Island but it is a perfect way to involve the whole family on a great activity.  It sounds like it is easy to do and not that expensive either.  First, you need to review the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources guidelines on crab regulations.  This is just to keep you out of trouble.  Second, you will need to get your equipment and bait.  You can get some inexpensive crab line and weights at the sport store located at Freshfields Village.  Crabs will eat any kind of meat but the recommended bait is boney chicken parts such as wings or necks.  You just need to make sure you get meat with bone interconnected to make it easier to fasten your line to your bait.  Then you will need to find a good crabbing location.  The ideal place would be near tidal salt or brackish waters, which are located near docks, bridges, and boat landings.  You can go to the Kiawah river boat lands since you can sit down on clean places and plus you are sage from marsh predators.  You will want to knot the crab line around your bait securely.  The weights will help keep the line from being too high up in the water.  You will then throw one end of the line into the water and hold on to the other end of the line.  Then it is the waiting game for the crabs to find your bait.  You will feel some tension on the line.  Next, you will want to slowly pull up the line hand over hand.  Once the crab and bait are closer to the surface, you will need some assistance with pulling in the crab with a net.  You can keep your crabs cold in a cooler or a bucket.  By doing this activity as a family, you also have dinner but you will not want to wait too long to cook the crabs.  This is because they will not last long out of water. Go get those crabs!