CrabbingInTheHood.com

Yes, it’s true. I can’t deny it. I love crabs. And not just any ole’ crabs, mind you. But Dungeness Crabs. The delicious ‘mouth-watering’ variety that is plentiful here in the scenic Pacific Northwest.

When the crabbing season rolls around here on the Puget Sound WA, you can typically find me out cruising the deep, clear waters of Hood Canal in my trusty C-Dory, in search of the illusive ‘Dungies.’

As real estate professionals and blogging enthusiasts, we hear so much about ‘branding’ and how to effectively distinguish yourself from the masses.

In his book, “Realty Blogging,” well-know social media expert, Paul Cheney, talks about the importance of ‘Branding’ in your blog.

I’m wondering if using a crab may not necessarily be the most effective kind of ‘branding.’ Do I really want to be known as the “Crabby” real estate guy? Some crusty, hard-shelled bottom feeder? I mean, seriously, it’s nothing glamorous like “The Deadliest Catch.” About the most dangerous thing that’s happened to me is when I forgot to put the boat plugs in. I have the scar to prove it too!

I guess you can probably get away with such seemingly unprofessional ’branding’ on various social networking platforms like MySpace or Facebook. I’ve had a MySpace account for quite a while, but it’s not something I use for attracting business per se.

I know it may seem silly or unprofessional to some. But crabbin’ is one of my passions. There is something very primal and relaxing to me about being out on the ocean. All the stresses of my day quickly fall away the minute my boat’s in the water. The view of the massive Olympic Mountain Range rising up dramatically from the shore reminds me that there’s a much greater design and purpose behind this life that we live.

So yeah, I love crabs! It’s just one of the many reasons why I love living here on the Kitsap Peninsula in beautiful Washington State.

But you don’t have to worry. I doubt I’d ever go so far as to have a picture of a crab on my business cards. But I may just include a really great recipe for crab cakes in my next newsletter!

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Rich Jacobson is a licensed real estate professional providing empowerment and relentless representation for his clients of residential properties and vacant land throughout all of Kitsap County WA and portions of Pierce, Mason, and Jefferson Counties. You can also find him at KitsapLife.com and SOUNDBITEBLOG, or by email at rich@windermere.com

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One of the best things I enjoy about living  out on the beautiful Kitsap Peninsula here in scenic Washington State, is taking my 16 ft. C-Dory out on the Hood Canal, part of the extensive inland waterways of Puget Sound. The Hood Canal is a long, deep, narrow strip of water wedged in between the Kitsap Peninsula and the picturesque Olympic Peninsula. The Olympic Mountain Range rises up rather dramatically from the edge of the water. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking.!

One of the many benefits of boating on the Hood Canal is recreational crabbing. The Dungeness Crab is the prized catch in these waters. The season typically opens the first week of July and runs through Labor Day weekend. The Washington Department of Fish & Game is extremely active in monitoring sports fishing in our state, so you better be in compliance with all current rules and regulations! (WA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife)

We launch our boat out at Miami Beach in Seabeck WA. We learned through experience to be mindful of the tide schedule. If you go out too close to low tide, you will have a rough time getting your boat down the ramp. So we usually launch an hour or two before the peak of high tide. (WA Tide Schedules)

Once on the water, we head over towards Dabob Bay, just around the Toandoes Peninsula, and prepare to lower our crab pots. You can purchase crabbing gear from the Sportsman Warehouse in Silverdale. You can figure on spending a minimum of $80 per rig, including the crap pot (cage), buoy & flag, 100′ of weighted line, bait box, and weights. Being bottom-dwellers, crabs will eat just about anything, but they seem to be partial to salmon guts. Several of our area supermarkets (Silverdale Red Apple Market and Central Market in Poulsbo WA) save the guts when they clean the fish, and sell them for crab bait.

We lower the crab pots (usually in about 60 to 100 feet of water) and then head over to Pleasant Harbor, a quaint little port nestled on the Olympic side. They have a convenience store, pizza parlor, and deck overlooking the harbor. We’ll grab some cold drinks, pork-out on pizza, and catch some rays as we wait a couple hours in hopeful expectation that our pots will fill up.

We head back and pull up our crab pots, carefully extracting the prized booty. We prefer to clean the crabs while we’re out on the water. It makes for less clean-up later and allows you to put more edible crab into the pot when cooking. We also bring salt water back with us, to use for boiling the crab in. Some people prefer to use fresh water and add a crab boil spice pouch. I have found that boiling the crab in saltwater gives it a really great natural flavor. There is a difference of opinion on how long to boil the crab. I have found that 12 to 15 minutes after reaching boiling point is more than enough time. I’ll drain the water, and put the crab into a big stainless bowl, covering it with ice to cool it quickly. Some people like to dip their crab in melted butter, but I prefer to eat it right out of the shell.

There are few things better in life than spending a few relaxing hours out on the Hood Canal, bringing home some fresh crab, and porking out!

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Rich Jacobson is a licensed real estate professional providing empowerment and relentless representation for his clients of residential properties and vacant land throughout all of Kitsap County WA and portions of Pierce, Mason, and Jefferson Counties. You can also find him at KitsapLife.com, and SOUNDBITEBLOG.

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