Hayden Davis, 11, of Arabi got quite the shock when she netted a giant blue crab during a family outing on April 19.
Hayden started out crabbing with her mom, Patricia, and her little brother, James, in Delacroix, but didn’t have much luck. They decided to head to Bayou Bienvenue and set up near the boat slips. The trio had three nets and used chicken legs tied on string to entice the crabs.
Jimmy Davis, Hayden’s dad, was driving back from a work trip in Florida at the time. He got a call from his family about the big catch.
“My daughter was pulling up one of the nets and screamed to my wife to grab a net because the crab was really big,” he said. “The net was twisted and the crab fell off. My wife didn’t believe her and she put the net back into the water to try again.
“In three to five minutes, she pulled the net out of the water again and it was hanging on the side of the net, so my wife grabbed a scoop net and put it under the crab as she brought it to land.”
The measurements
Jimmy Davis called the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to ask them about a record for blue crab. He was told to call back on Monday, but that he should keep the crab on ice and get it weighed on a certified scale.
“The next day, Easter Sunday, we went to Fisherman’s Friend Bait Shop and had it weighed,” he said. “It weighed 1 ¼ pounds. The man there said if we would have weighed it the day before it would have weighed more because they spit out all of the water from their bodies.
The freakishly big crustacean measured 19 9/16 inches from claw tip to claw tip and 8 3/8 inches from point to point on the shell.
Jimmy Davis called LDWF back on Monday and was told unfortunately there are no blue crab records kept.
Even though they’ll never know if Hayden’s crab is one of the biggest ever caught in Louisiana, her family will never forget that day.
“We have the crab in the freezer and plan on getting it mounted,” her dad said.
