FISHING CREEK — Joel Hayden’s investment, tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of yellow-painted wire cages, is spread across his lawn in neat stacks. Just beyond the water’s edge, his paycheck is burrowed in the mud.
It’s the eve of blue crab season for watermen like the 28-year-old Hoopers Island native, and he is sparing no expense to prepare. After all, here at the southern edge of Maryland’s share of the Chesapeake Bay, there is only a short springtime window before the biggest crabs head north to fresher waters.
Next month, Hayden will begin scattering hundreds of the handmade crab pots around nearby creeks. If there are as many of the blue-legged crustaceans as watermen and scientists expect, it will be a busy start to the season.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: The Baltimore Sun
