I my late wife …...that was the [CROWN JEWEL} of all foods .
If I only caught one / I would cook it if she wasn,t home & it would be gone when she got home .if she was home . it was history .
True story ….….years ago when there was a huge set of bay scallops in the Salt ponds / the state sold commercial licenses for the 1st time in ???????? years …..……
I was shocked on out of nowhere came this hundreds of skiffs dredges out of no where ………
Me ,,I had gotten a few over the years by hand but I was clueless on this ...But I was real lucky …...my partner at the time / was the last of the 1/2 swamp yankees …….. there was a thing he didn,t know about hunting or fishing …………….. til then I had no idea he had 8 dredges …………. they had to be repaired from sitting / no worries ………… I was told My 20' Hawkline was the dredge boat . because or its high sides & 8' beam ///////////// he made a huge Cullen board /& we were set .
the season started some date in the fall with a 10 bushel per boat limit .
well needless to say ………… the old timers were on the trailers by 7am …………. 10 burlap bags is far more than ten bushels ……………………………….never in my life had I experienced something like this …...to cut this down ...we also had a by catch of undersized. quickly returned a few quahogs & depending on the day . some lobsters .&&&&&&&&&&&&& plenty of bluecrabs ………...I,ll never ever forget backing into the drive the 1st day & Sheila & the kids came running out to see our catch ...we told of our success & mentioned the crabs …………. GONE before we had the boat unhooked Sheila was in the kitchen ……………… if has digital camera,s back then .
Bullraking , clamming , crabbing with chicken necks of p#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g by net off the pilings / did a legal crab ever make it back to the sea .
I ain,t no saint , But its illegal to get them at night in RI ……...so go figure with RI .. the night time is the right time . even now I catch a few when green crabbing ..by catch goes home >>
In Conn .fishing is legal & Conn, stores have all set setup for night fishing ><<>
I know this went winded …….But It brought back a very happy time in [our] my life <><
spent a week around Newport Beach one July .but that another book .<.
