Crab is the biggest single block of season searches in the country, and the answer changes more between states than any other species on this list: year-round in Louisiana, a fixed April-to-December window in Maryland, and in Washington a set of dates that do not exist until the agency announces them each summer.
State by state
Each block is one rule as the agency writes it, with the calendar band underneath. Where a state runs the same species on two different calendars — inshore against offshore, one peninsula against the other — both are here, because that is exactly the distinction people get wrong.
Washington WDFW
Puget Sound (Marine Areas 4 east through 13)
No date to look up. Summer dates are announced around June and winter dates around September.
Two short seasons, not one: a summer opening in July and August and a winter opening roughly October to December where quota is left. Several areas have been closed outright to let Dungeness recover, and some open only a few days a week. Every crabber needs a Puget Sound crab endorsement on their licence and a catch record card, whatever their age.
- Size
- Male Dungeness only, 6¼" across the back; red rock crab of either sex at 5".
- Limit
- Set with the season each year, by marine area.
Coastal waters (Marine Areas 1 to 3, and 4 west of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line)
Open all year, with pot gear closed from September to November to keep soft-shelled crabs from dying in the pots. The contrast with Puget Sound is the single most useful thing to know about crabbing this state.
- Size
- Male Dungeness 6¼" across the back.
- Limit
- Standard coastal recreational limits; no catch record card required.
Read on 2026-09-14 from Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Florida FWC
Statewide
Open all year with five traps per person, pulled by hand in daylight. What closes is the traps, not the season: Florida runs ten-day regional trap closures to clear derelict gear, on the east coast in even years and the west coast in odd ones, and you can still crab those weeks with a dip net.
- Size
- No size limit.
- Limit
- 10 gallons whole per person per day. Egg-bearing crabs may not be kept.
Read on 2026-09-14 from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Louisiana LDWF
Statewide
Recreational blue crab harvest is open all year. The restrictions that bite are gear and hours: no baiting, tending or pulling traps at night, and traps must carry the licence number and a six-inch float. Traps also come out for the derelict trap clean-up closures.
- Size
- No recreational minimum size.
- Limit
- No recreational bag limit. Ten traps per licensed crabber.
Read on 2026-09-14 from Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
Maryland MD DNR
Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries
The size step on July 15 is the rule most casual crabbers miss: a crab that was legal on Sunday is undersized on Wednesday. Gear hours are limited in the tributaries — half an hour after sunrise to sunset in April and from October to December 15, half an hour before sunrise to sunset from May to September — but handlines and dip nets may be worked around the clock.
- Size
- Male hard crabs 5" from April 1 to July 14, then 5¼" from July 15 to December 15. Peelers 3¼" then 3½". Soft crabs 3½" all season.
- Limit
- Without a licence, 2 dozen male hard crabs or 1 dozen peelers and soft crabs combined. With a licence, 1 bushel or 6 dozen male hard crabs plus 2 dozen peelers or softs.
Atlantic coastal bays
The coastal bays run sixteen days longer than the Chesapeake and the sizes do not step the same way. If you crab on both sides of the state, they are two different rulebooks.
- Size
- Hard crabs 5", soft crabs 3½", peelers 3¼" to July 14 and 3½" after. No minimum size on mature females.
- Limit
- One bushel per person, two bushels per boat, or 6 dozen and 12 dozen respectively if you are not measuring by the bushel.
Read on 2026-09-14 from Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Read in the eRegulations edition of the official Maryland fishing and crabbing guide, the designated publisher for MD DNR.
South Carolina SCDNR
Statewide
SCDNR regulates recreational crabbing with sizes, pot numbers and bushel limits rather than with a season: a base recreational saltwater licence covers two pots, and a five-dollar endorsement raises that to five. We have not found a published closed season, so this page does not claim one — check the crustacean regulations before you set pots.
- Size
- No crabs smaller than 5 inches point to point.
- Limit
- One bushel per person per day and two bushels per boat, in force since 2025.
Read on 2026-09-14 from South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.
New Jersey NJ Fish and Wildlife
Crab pots and trot lines
The regulation reads that no licence holder may set a crab pot "except between April 6 to December 4 in Delaware Bay and between March 15 and November 30 in all other waters". Pots may be tended around the clock outside Delaware Bay, but only from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. inside it, and every pot must be checked and emptied at least once every 72 hours. Pots and trot lines need their own licence — single hand lines and collapsible traps do not.
- Limit
- One bushel a day. Egg-bearing females must be released immediately.
Delaware Bay, crab pots and trot lines
Three weeks later in and four days later out than the rest of the state, and the only waters where tending hours are restricted: 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. prevailing time. A pot is capped at 30 inches a side with mesh no smaller than an inch, and a non-commercial trot line at 150 feet with 25 baits.
- Limit
- One bushel a day.
Read on 2026-09-14 from New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife.
Hawaii Hawaii DAR
Pāpaʻi kualoa, the Kona crab
Closed May to September, a month longer than the lobster. No spearing. The other crabs are managed by size instead: Samoan crab at six inches across the back with no females taken, and the white or haole crab at four inches with no egg-bearing females.
- Size
- 4 inches carapace length.
Read on 2026-09-14 from Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources.
How to read these dates
A season date is one of four things, and confusing them is how people end up on the water on the wrong day. Some are fixed and will be the same next year. Some are written as a rule — a weekday rather than a date — and we calculate those for 2026 from the regulation instead of copying a figure that goes stale. Some do not exist until the agency announces them, and no amount of searching will produce next season's date early. And some states simply do not close a season for this species, managing it with sizes and limits instead.
On this page 2 of the rules fall into the last two groups, and their calendar band is left empty on purpose. An empty band means nobody has published a date, which is different from the season being shut — and a page that paints both the same colour is telling you something it does not know.
Questions
When is crab season?
It depends entirely on the state: Washington is set each year by the agency, Florida is open all year, Louisiana is open all year. There is no national crab season, and the dates below are the ones each agency publishes.
Can I keep crab outside the season?
No. Where a season is closed, harvest is closed, and in several states the water stays open for catch-and-release. Sizes and bag limits apply on top of the season and are listed per state above.
Why does this page not give a date for every state?
Because 2 of the rules listed here are not published as dates at all. The agency either sets them each year or regulates the fishery with sizes and limits instead of a calendar. Publishing a made-up window for those would be the easiest thing on this page and the most dishonest.
Compiled and checked by Pablo Ruiz Quintero. Dates move: tell us if one has and it goes in the verification log.