When’s The Best Time To Go Crabbing?

Whenever I go crabbing, I usually don’t pay attention to the time or where I am. I’ve always assumed my pier was a great spot and that’s that. After doing the research, I may think again about when and where I go crabbing. 

I was curious so I did some research. 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. 

Plan your crabbing trip with the tides

Blue Crabs are smart creatures. Instead of relying on their legs to move around like other species of crabs, they use their two back fins to swim. Not only that, but they also utilize the tides to glide through the water much faster than they ever would using their tiny legs. This allows Blue Crabs to travel far distances and cover large areas of water. 

Knowing this simple fact about Blue Crabs can be very beneficial to us recreational crabbers. We can utilize the times when the tides make blue crabs active in order to catch the most crabs in the shortest amount of time.  

Your goal, as the crabber, is to catch crabs as they move with the tides. During incoming high tide, crabs are hyperactive and your traps will pull up more crabs than during slack tide. 

The trick to utilizing the tides is to go crabbing when the tide is moving water from saltier waters towards you. Crabs tend to congregate near the shore in salty waters. So, when the tide brings that water to you, that’s when you want to go crabbing. 

To get the tides for your area, you need to Google the phrase “tides for my area.” You’ll find plenty of tide websites. Find one that gives you a tidal chart.  

It will look something like this:

With this information, we can plan the best day and time to go crabbing. You want a day where the tide:

1. Is experiencing the largest change from high to low tide
2. Has the shortest slack tide (the time between high and low tide)
3. Is within your state’s allotted timeframe to go crabbing. 

For this map, I would choose to go crabbing on June 17th from 1 PM to 7 PM. During this time, the tide experiences a 2.5 ft change, the greatest change during this 3 day period. It’s within Delaware’s crabbing regulations (you cannot crab at night in Delaware). 

Knowing where to go crab is just as important as knowing when to go crabbing. I’ve put together a list of public spots to set crab traps for each U.S. Costal State whether you want to go crabbing from a boat, a pier, a shoreline, even a bridge! Click here to read my complete crabbing spot index.

Is incoming high tide better than incoming low tide for crabbing?

This depends on where you are. If you are crabbing in waters that are more inland, you would want to go crabbing when the water is approaching high tide. During that time, the water is moving inland from saltier waters, which contain more crabs than freshwater runoff from the mainland. 

If you’re near the mouth of an estuary or much closer to the ocean, crabbing during incoming low or high tide will be just as effective. Enough crabs congregate in that area, to begin with, so the incoming low tide will also bring a slew of crabs waiting to be caught. 

If you want to be smart about crabbing, look up the tides for your area beforehand and go crabbing when the time is right. You’ll end up with more crabs and an overall more enjoyable experience. 

There are lots of other factors that make up “the best time to go crabbing.” Let’s look into what they are.

Seasonality

This one seems obvious, but it’s important to know what time of year is best for crabbing. 

Here’s all you need to know: when the water’s warm, it’s time to crab. Basically the summer or whenever it’s hot out. For me in Maryland, my seasons a little shorter (About June – September) than someone who lives in Florida, who could crab year round. 

Remember to use your best judgement! If the water isn’t cold, you should be fine! 

State Regulated Crabbing Seasons

Just because the water’s warm doesn’t mean you can just go crabbing whenever. Most states have set crabbing seasons us recreational crabbers must follow.

I’ve scoured the internet and found the recreational crabbing seasons for each coastal state. (Note: Laws are subject to change! Check with local authorities for the most accurate information. If dates are inaccurate, please contact me and I’ll change them.)

• Maine’s Crabbing Season: illegal to catch crabs  December 1 – April 30 (Source)
• New Hampshire’s Crabbing Season: Legal to catch crabs year round (Source)
• Massachusetts Crabbing Season: Illegal to catch crabs January 1 – April 30 (Source)
• Rhode Island: Legal to catch crabs year round (Source)
• Connecticut: Illegal to catch crabs December 1 – April 30 (Source)
• New York: Legal to catch crabs year round (Source)
• New Jersey: Illegal to catch crabs December 1- March 14 (Source)
• Delaware: Illegal to catch crabs December 1 – March 1 with crab pots, other gear is legal year-round (Source)
• Maryland: Illegal to catch crabs December 16 – March 31 (Source)
• Virginia: Illegal to catch crabs December 1 – March 16 (Source)
• North Carolina: Illegal to catch crabs April 1 – April 30 (Source)
• South Carolina: Illegal to catch crabs October 2 – May 14 (Source)
• Georgia: Legal to catch crabs year round (Source)
• Florida: Illegal to catch crabs September 20 – October 4 (Source)
• Alabama: Illegal to catch egg-bearing females Jan 15 – May 15 (Source) 
• Mississippi: Illegal to catch crabs January 1 – March 31 (Source)
• Louisianna: Legal to catch crabs year round (Source)
• Texas: Illegal to catch crabs February 15 – 24 (Source)
• California: Illegal to catch crabs October 29 – November 5 (Source)
• Oregon: Legal to catch crabs year round (Source)
• Washington State: Season varies by location, check this link.
  
• Hawaii: Varies by species, check this link.

Keep in mind that these numbers are subject to change by each state’s legislature. To keep up with the ever-changing crabbing laws, I made a directory to each state’s DNR websites, which you can view here. I know people who have been fined hundreds of dollars for not following crabbing regulations. So, make sure to read up!

At Night? 

Now that you know the best time to crab is between two hours before and after high tide. So if high tide is at night, I should go crabbing then, right?

Wrong.

Crabbing at night in most states is illegal. It’s legal in a few, but not all. Check with your local law office for the time of day regulation.

I can say from experience that crabbing at night is a real headache. It’s dark, cold, and I don’t get as much fun out of crabbing during the day. 

You’re perfectly fine dropping a crab pot in the water and leaving it overnight, but don’t use a hand-line at 2 in the morning, it’s pretty bleak. 

To play it safe, I would only crab after sunrise and be finished before sunset.

Weather

Let me tell you a secret: it’s not about the weather, it’s about the water. You can have overcast days, windy days, sunny days, even snowy days.

As long as the water temperature is right, there will be crabs. 

I recommend only crabbing when the weather is best for you, the crabber. You will have a much better experience, and catching the crab will be so much easier.