A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
For tens of thousands of people on the Chesapeake Bay, summer means catching and eating blue crabs. NPR's Frank Langfitt recently tried his hand with the help of a local crabber.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: So it's a little after 5 o'clock in the morning here along the Chesapeake Bay. The sun is not up yet and we're heading out to catch some crabs.
JACK TORNEY: My name is Jack Torney.
LANGFITT: Torney's 23, crabs commercially near Annapolis and likes to head out early to claim the best spots. Torney catches crabs on what's called a trotline.
TORNEY: What is on the lines is fresh razor clams. This is some of the best bait there is for catching Maryland blue crabs.
LANGFITT: Torney drops a line in the length of eight football fields into the brown brackish water.
(SOUNDBITE OF LINE RUNNING UP ROLLER)
LANGFITT: A half hour later, we're pulling the line up on a roller along the side of the boat. Little mesh bags of bait surface every 16 feet, sometimes with crabs attached.
So Jack is steering with his left hand, and in his right is a mesh net. And what he does is he dips it into the water and catches the crab before the crab can release from the bait.
(SOUNDBITE OF BOAT ENGINE)
LANGFITT: The bay and its tidal tributary stretch more than 11,000 miles. People crab recreationally all over the shoreline. They use metal cages called crab pots, but trotlining is much more fun. You catch the crabs one by one.
TORNEY: So, if you'd like - dip this line.
LANGFITT: Sure. Let's try it.
Torney hands me the net. We stare at the surface, waiting for the white flash of the crab's belly as it emerges from the water.
TORNEY: Right there. It's a big one.
LANGFITT: Oh, I missed it. I missed it. I was too slow. I was too slow.
TORNEY: A little too slow, but also, you ain't dig deep enough under him.
LANGFITT: I did not go deep enough to get him.
The line moves fast. Crabs have great vision and can drop off quickly. Torney coaches me. He says sometimes you have to dip the net three feet below the surface to catch them.
TORNEY: Right there, that's a crab.
LANGFITT: Ooh. I get - I did...
TORNEY: No way. You got him, man. I...
LANGFITT: I got him. Yeah, I finally went deeper, like you told me to. I just got to go really deep.
TORNEY: Yes. You got to dig deep, deep underneath of them.
LANGFITT: I just got him. When I caught him, you couldn't even see him. It was so - he was so far down in...
TORNEY: Yeah.
LANGFITT: ...In the water. It was so murky.
TORNEY: Let me speed up just so tad, so you...
LANGFITT: Oh, I got him. I got him. I got him.
TORNEY: Oh, that's a doubler. Doubler.
LANGFITT: A doubler.
TORNEY: Yes.
LANGFITT: Awesome.
I have no idea what a doubler is. Turns out it's a male crab carrying a female underneath.
This is fun. I really love this part of it. I love the hunting for the crabs.
TORNEY: I agree. That's one of my favorite parts, too.
LANGFITT: Part of it I wasn't...
TORNEY: Right there. Right there.
LANGFITT: Ooh, got him.
We continue down the line. I get faster, dig deeper.
Oh, he's pretty big. That's a jumbo.
TORNEY: Right there, right there.
LANGFITT: Oh.
After 10 minutes, I'm already tired, but I've also brought in a dozen crabs.
Frank Langfitt, NPR News, on the Chesapeake Bay.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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