I want to learn everything about everything - salt, fresh, crabs, oysters,
shrimp.

This will take many years to perfect this. If you don't mind taking a ride
to Louisiana try emailing and ask him when his next fishing
school is. He does one on sal****er fishing and he is does one once a year
on bass fishing. He phone number is 504-340-1843. His classes are usually
in the New Orleans area which is about 2 to 3 hours from Mobile depending on
how you drive.

To learn about oyster fishing you need to take a ride to Pointe a la Hache
and see the oyster boats when they are harvesting. They unload at the dock
with sacks of them into 18 wheelers. There is a processing house on the
other side of the levee from the dock. If you can get a ride in a boat out
into the marsh you will see some oyster reefs just below the water line.
Most reefs are marked with white PVC poles. When they are harvested, the
oyster boat drops a dredge a circles the reef several times. The dredge is
then lifted and the oysters are then separated into individual pieces. They
usually come up in big chunks. They are then placed in burlap sacks for
storage. The old fashion way of harvesting oysters was with the use of long
handle tongs. The boat would pull up to a reef and the men would work these
tongs on the oyster reef breaking it apart and bring it up to the boat for
harvesting. Oyster season is usually in the summer months.

Crab: Crabbing can be done by several methods. Commercial fisherman
usually us traps. Individuals can use a circle net to catch them or by
using the line method. A good circle net would be made with stainless steel
rings and good quality netting. There would be two large rings of the same
size. Netting would be sewn between the rings to create three to four inch
side when lifted. The top ring would have 4 lines that come up to a small
float. The float has to be big enough to lift the lines but not the sides
of the net. A longer floating rope that will reach the surface or to where
you want to tie off to is then attached to the float. If not tying it off
to a secure object, then another float is attached to the top of the
floating rope at the surface. Just make sure you leave enough slack to keep
the net from being lifted from tide or wave action. If using the line
method, just tie a chicken neck to the string and let it sit suspended in
the water just above the bottom. After sitting a while get a dip net and
place it in the water about 12 inches away from the string. Do not lower
the net all the way to the bottom only about 6 inches or so in the water.
Now the most important thing is to slowly raise the net. When it gets close
to the surface if you see a crab holding own then bring the net underneath
it and scoop it into the net. This method requires wading in the water or
by working off of a pier that you can reach down into the water.

I hope this helps you visualize some of this.

Sarge