After the checkride: Fresh catch

How

Seafood spots by region

Blue crabs: Head to coastal airports in Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Blue crabs can live up to 24 hours out of water if they are kept cool and moist; transport in a cool, well-ventilated container such as a bushel basket. Hard-shell crabs can be steamed and eaten after they are dead, but any resident of Maryland’s Eastern Shore will tell you they just don’t taste as good and should be steamed alive. Soft-shell crabs can be purchased live, or cleaned and ready to cook. Note: Fall is the season for stone crabs; look for them in Florida.

Lobsters: Maine, of course, as well as Connecticut and New York. Lobsters can be stored alive up to two days when wrapped in damp paper with ice packs, but ideally, they should be eaten the same day you get them.

Crawfish: Head to airports in Louisiana, along the Gulf Coast, and Texas for these lobster-like freshwater crustaceans. They are delicious in soups, bisques, and etouffees, and they are a staple of low country “boils”—feasts of boiled seafood, corn on the cob, and potatoes.