There is controversy on what time during the year is the best time to crab but the general consensus is late April to mid-May. However, you should always keep in mind the climate. If it’s still cold in mid-May for some odd reason, maybe there won’t be that many crabs frolicking around in the colder-than-normal waters.

Expert Crabbers say that the best time to go crabbing is during slack tide. Slack tide usually starts 2 hours before high tide and lasts up until around 2 hours after. This is when the water moves the most, which makes sure you bring in the most crabs possible.

Raw chicken will do too, or really any raw poultry, but ideally you want something tough enough that the crab won’t tear it off, but not so firm that they won’t be able to latch onto it. They also leave the skin on – which seems to help keep the crab’s claw stuck on the bait.

Killing the crab prior to cooking is humane and instantaneous, but it also avoids the crab from shedding limbs through shock, which often happens when boiling alive. The stress of placing the crab in the boiling water alive can make the flesh tough.

Slack water (the time around high or low tide) is the best time to crab. During slack water, crabs are generally walking around and foraging since they are not getting pushed around by tidal exchange.

You don’t want to leave your crab traps in the water for more than six to eight hours, since once the bait is gone the crabs will turn on each other, often resulting in one large survivor-crab.

Daily creel limit: 50 crabs per day per person, not to exceed 100 crabs per vessel per day. No license is required for specified methods of crabbing.

Answer: There is no limit on the number of crab traps a recreational fisherman can use unless they are on a commercial passenger fishing vessel, in which case the vessel is limited to 60 traps for taking Dungeness crab (CCR Title 14, section 29.85(a)(4)).

The main rules relating to crab fishing are: No more than one crab trap can be used or be in the possession of a person at any time. A buoy, not less than 10cm diameter set above the surface of the water, must be attached to the crab trap. The crab trap must be clearly marked ‘CRAB TRAP’ with the persons name.

Dungeness crab

The daily bag limit is 10 crab, and the minimum size limit is 5¾ inches. Recreational crabbing is not allowed from vessels licensed for commercial Dungeness crab fishing.

A bushel of crabs refers to the wooden basket-like container that crabbers use to store crabs after they catch them. 1 bushel of crabs will typically contain 5.5 dozens of large crabs and 6-7 dozens of small-medium crabs.

Specify gender: Crab gender is easy to distinguish: male crabs (or “jimmies”) have a narrow, T-shaped “apron” on the back of their shell, while female crabs (“sooks”) have a wide apron. In addition, live females have red-tipped claws, while male claws are blue.

Which Blue Crab tastes better: female or male? Many believe that the female crab’s meat boasts denser, sweeter flavor, but agree that the amount of meat differs. Point-to-point comparison weighs the male crab at heavier, but flakier meat.

Male blue crabs are usually referred to as “Jimmy Crabs,” immature female crabs are called “she crabs” or “Sally” crabs, and mature females are called “sooks”.

The Colossal Red King Crab has the highest meat-to-shell ratio, making it the meatiest crab species on the market. A pound of king crab legs contains 60% to 75% of pure crab meat, which is double the amount of meat found in Snow and Dungeness Crabs.