Hooping SB Pier 10/4/07

[CoffeaRobusta]

The dog told us to try hooping at Seal Beach last night. Seriously we asked her to choose between Balboa, HB, and SB and she chose SB. Well we get out there after dinner around 8:00 and fish and hoop. Slow on the fishing and slow on the hooping but did manage a to catch a shorty halibut in the hoop net! Also caught a halibut and staghorn sculpin on the rods. Was ready to pack it up and on the last pull came up with a legal bug (about 1/4 inch over legal) with a nice sized tail. Woooohooo! I haven't handled a lot of lobsters yet (count 'em 2) and I had a hard time hanging on to him with all that tail flipping but managed to get him into the cooler. Little bugger even drew blood on me with the spines on his antenea. This was at about 1:00 AM. Guys farther down the pier where hooping too and caught a 4" rock crab. Mmmmmmm...crab.

By the time we got home it was near 2:00 and I had to work the next day. MY GF won't let me kill em by boiling them alive but it seemed really hazardous to stick a knife in them while there thrashing all about. Put him the freezer for 15 minutes but he was still pretty active. So I just left him in the freezer for three hours and when I got up for work I put him in the fridge. He wasn't frozen through yet. But I plan on cooking him up tonight.

MY GF is pretty sensitive so I am looking for the safest and most humane way of killing a bug without spoiling the meat. Any suggestions?

This guys lobster is so docile compared to the one I had!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT0xWoXV6xI

[CoffeaRobusta]

Mmmmmmm.......just ate the bug. So much meat i could only eat half the tail. I boiled the tail but not long enough. It was still transparent inside but I ate the strands that came from the carapace while i cut the rest of the tail in half and stuck it in the oven brushed with butter to finish it off. The rest of the tail was good but a little tough. I guess i cooked it too long. Will have to catch more in order to perfect the technique. She was a tasty little bug....i feel honored.

[mg2969]

WTG
What did you use for bait ?

How many hoops did you have down ?

[CoffeaRobusta]

old frozen mackerel and only one hoop. I guess I got lucky.

[Funjunkie74]

In Japan, they'll soak any fish, crab or lobster in sake (rice wine) and get it drunk and eventually die.

Can't think of a better way to go!!

FJ74 :twisted:

[rockbass]

The usual method to prepare the bug is to twist off the tail while the creature is still alive-use gloves to handle the bug. Divers gloves,leather gloves, even thick kitchen gloves work well.If the thought of twisting off the tail of a live bug isn't appealing, drop the bug in fresh water to kill it- but I have read that when a lobster dies, it releases toxins into its body which taints the meat. After the twist, run an antennae up the bugs anal cavity, twist and pull out the mud vein- if you cook the tail with the mud vein intact, it will taste muddy (but that's not mud that you're tasting....) :oops: