The summer season is almost here!

As we eagerly await the WDFW dates, it’s finally time to start getting ready to smash this years crab season.

Of all the fishing and hunting seasons of Washington state, my favorite is by far the Dungeness Crab. The Puget sound has some of the best crabbing the ocean has to offer, and right at our back door!

The joy of being on the water, excitement of pulling up a full pot, not even mentioning the delicious meat they provide. It takes a bit of effort, but it is well worth it and with the proper preparation a full set of delectable Dungeness is right around the corner!

There are three main ways to catch crab:

• Boat– The best way hands down is from a boat or kayak.
• Dock– If you don’t have floating access your next step is to find a public fishing dock that goes as deep as you can find.
• Beach– The last way is simply combing the beach at as low a tide as you can find. The crabs bury themselves in the mud around clumps of eel grass and sometimes you can find your limit within 45 minutes at the right beach!

As per WDFW regulations each person is allowed 2 units of gear per person these generally include:

• Pots– Designed to sit for long periods of time, up to overnight and keep crabs captive and patiently waiting for you
• Rings/traps– Have to be checked and maintained but takes crabs far less time to enter and hence can be a much faster option.

Check out https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfishing-regulations for any additional gear questions and it’s a good idea to double check their website prior to going out for the day or any updates.

Each pot should have a decent amount of high quality bait. The bait is one of the most important aspects of getting a good haul. Think smell. Contrary to popular belief, crabs don’t actually prefer rotting bait. The fresher the better. Some quick examples of good bait are:

• Trout/salmon heads– After a day fishing I fillet the trout and keep the fillets in one bag and the heads, guts, and skeleton in another for use as excellent crab bait.
• Clams– Clamming is another fantastic sport in itself. Clams are a natural food for crabs, and the performance of it shows.
• Bottom fish such as ling cod or flounder– If you enjoy fishing just as much as I do, keep it up and use the heads and guts the same you would for salmon.
• Smelly Jelly– This stuff is legit. I’ve forgotten my bait at home and used this smeared on the bait bag and still caught crabs. Best when smeared with other bait.

Tried and true. Load up your pots with good quality bait in a mesh bait bag. The mesh keeps the crabs from eating all the bait too fast and keeps it in one place. If you have a ton of bait, it can be very effective to zip tie a large piece of fish or meat from the ceiling of the pot and let the crabs feast.

Once you’re all geared up its time to hit the water!

Puget sound has hundreds if not thousands of excellent beaches and places to get your limit. Just like any of the best fishing spots, some of these locations are heavily guarded secrets, with old salty crabbers taking their spots to the grave.

Ideal pot soak time is 2-4 hours but overnight can work just fine, although after a while many crabs can figure out how to escape. Daily limit per person is 5 dungeness and make sure you have your catch record card with you and fill out your catch every time. Tickets are not fun (I’ve been there).

Start with the beaches close by to you, look at the depths and make sure you have enough line on your pot! My favorite depths range from 20 to 75 feet, I’ll go more in depth another time(pun intended), but this is the simplest and very effective.

Keep your captured crabs in a bucket without water. If kept submerged in an enclosed space, they will actually drown once they use up all of the oxygen in the water, they can survive for hours in the open air however!

Once home the best way is to boil your crabs whole. Some folks prefer to clean the crabs before but I’ve done both and the taste is far superior when cooked whole.

Crabbing is all about experimenting, its an art and a science and can take years to master, fortunately there are lots of excellent resources to explore more of the crabbing universe and we will do our best to get you up to speed!

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Happy crabbing and eating! – Spencer