Every savory dish is improved by the addition of one of two ingredients: bacon or crabmeat. But the latter requires a bank loan to buy, whether it’s still contained in the critters that grew it or packed in a small tub at a supermarket.

But on our most recent outing, my son, Joel, and I caught our own, and we spent almost no money to do it — other than about $6 on three packs of the chicken drumettes we used as bait. We didn’t even have boat-fuel expense, as we filled a Coleman with the tasty crustaceans while standing on side of a gravel road.

The crabs weren’t big — they never are in this particular area — but they were absurdly plentiful. We caught as many as five on a single retrieve of our strings, and didn’t have to wait more than a couple minutes at any point for a crab to find our bait.

We also brought nets, and placed an underwater camera on one to see what was happening on the water bottom. Surveying the video, we saw a school of bream move in first to chomp on the chicken before a crab barged in and claimed ownership of the bait. It was fascinating to watch, and clips of the footage are included in the video below.

Best of all, we caught all we wanted by 9 a.m., so we packed up and headed home, easily beating the scorching summer heat. For us, it was the latest demonstration of what makes South Louisiana the best place to live on the planet.

Like the video? Please give it a thumbs-up, and subscribe to the Marsh Man Masson channel on YouTube. Also, leave a comment below or on the YouTube page. Do you like to target crabs in the summertime? What’s your preferred technique? Do you do it roadside, on a beach or on a boat?