Crab!

Rabbit and I rowed up to the buoy. As soon as he had rowed the dinghy right up to it, I seized the line and began to haul. The line dug into my hands and soon I had to hand it over to Rabbit. After switching multiple times, we finally got the large trap to the surface. We could see the bait and crabs in the trap but we could not get to them. Furthermore, we were drifting in the wind. Jack Rabbit held the trap close to the surface while I rowed to shore. I brought us in, stern to. He dropped the trap close to shore and we secured the dinghy on solid ground. We then dragged the trap out of the water and the Rabbit emptied five large Jaiba, rock crabs. We put the crabs in a bucket and tucked them under a bush before pushing off the dinghy, the trap in tow. Once we had put the trap out near the original place, we returned for our catch. With huge grins on our faces, we went back to Sila. They were so big that we could barely fit them all into our biggest pot.

That was the story of Sila's first ever crab catch. All the other crabs were given to us. We succeeded in hauling in one huge crab and four large ones as well as a few quarter sized ones that we threw back. This has, more than anything, renewed my confidence in catching fresh seafood. When I first put down the trap and brought up nothing, other than a rockfish, some starfish, and half a million little sea urchins, I wondered what I was doing wrong. How come I had caught no crabs when people had described having a trap packed in just a few hours? I now think that our problem was insufficient bait and lack of luck with where we placed the trap. Now, thanks to some fisherman who gave me not only bait, but also advice, I can look forward to a crabby baked macaroni and cheese for dinner tonight. - Porter