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Crab Season

Northern California - Half Moon Bay

Sports fisherman rush to the Coast to catch crab before the commercial season.

There are two crabbing seasons that overlap one another; sport and commercial crabbing.

Northern California Sport Crabbing

For sport fishermen, the crab season opened Nov. 4, 2013, giving recreational anglers roughly a two-week jump on the commercial crabbers. Highway 1 was lined with vehicles, their boat trailers emptied as sport crabbers got an early start on the season. The parking lot was also full of trailers and the crab pots being readied by the commercial fisherman awaiting their opening day.

Sports crabbers on private boats can keep up to 10 Dungeness crabs per day of either sex if they reach the minimum size limit of 5 3/4, or six if fishing from a party boat south of Mendocino County.

For those without boats, the party boats at Pillar Point harbor are ready to take on sports fishemen and get them out into the deeper waters. The pier at Pacifica is the only pier in the area that allows for crabbing for the sports fisherman. Here are some of the party boats available.

Commercial Crabbing

The commercial Crab season opens on November 15, for the Central Coast up to the North Bay’s Russian River. The season runs through June. Commercial crab fishermen have been getting their pots ready at Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay and along the Bay Area coast.

Soon you’ll be able to stroll down the Pillar Point Harbor pier and grab a sack of crab to take home, dine at one of the local restaurants who serve fresh caught crab, or purchase some Crab at Princeton Seafood Market. As for cooking your crab yourself, here is a good link Pamela Hamilton at Pillar Point RB Parks helps you out.

Happy Crabbing!