Thursday, April 13, 2017

Crabbing With The Kids In South Devon



Crabbing Fun!

On our trip to South Devon this week, we've finally had a go at Crabbing in both Torquay and Teignmouth.

We've watched people crabbing before but never actually done it ourselves as we thought it wouldn't hold our attention for long and might involve lots of standing around waiting, we couldn't have been more wrong.

Our crabbing kit included;




  • A see through crab bucket
  • Sea water
  • Bait (bacon worked beat but also fish heads and tinned pilchards)
  • A crabbing net

On our first attempt in Torquay we couldn't believe that within seconds we had caught our first crabs and within about half an hour we had caught 21 decent sized crabs, some gigantic ones as well as two quite large fish!




Our next crabbing trip was in the harbour at Teignmouth where we were on a rather large harbour edge with a bit of a scary drop, in a gorgeous setting with deeper water. The crabs were a little harder to catch there as you couldn't see the net in the water but once again we did really well and caught another 20 odd crabs, some were super strong and hung on to the bottom as we pulled it out.




If you're visiting the coast and hear of a good crabbing spot I'd really recomend it as a family activity. This was great fun and easily one of our holiday highlights, it's super cheap and the kids loved it. I think us parents enjoyed it even more.




I'm a little gutted we don't live closer to something like this at home as I would happily sit and do it every weekend, it's fun, cheap, fascinating and really satisfying. 

Of course the crabs went back in the sea afterwards but this was nearly as much fun as catching them and the kids loved waving them off on their way.




Crabbing Tips

  • Raw bacon works really well as Bait and is the nicest to handle compared to stinky fish. 
  • Nets with a spring loaded Bait holder work best and bring in the biggest best catch.
  • Look up local crabbing spots online and find out which places are safest for small children.
  • Crabbing in shallower water is easier.
  • Buy a large bucket or have more than one.




Have you tried crabbing before or would you like to have a go?