Crab Pots Are Ready But Are The Crabs

Crab pot season in the State of Delaware started March first

Crabbing with pots starts March first in Delaware. The water temperatures are never that warm for any crabs to emerge from their dormant state. When the water drops below fifty degrees crabs dig into the bottom to wait for warmer water.

On occasion after some heavy storm surge we will find crabs like this one the beach. They are dug up by the heavy waves and deposited onto the beach. You can crab all winter just not with crab pots. In some of the shallow areas of the inland bays you can catch crabs all winter long when it is mild.

Get your crab pots ready, make sure you have the turtle guards or excluders. They are available at any bait shop and required by the State of Delaware. We found a lot of dead turtles and bones in old crab pots. A turtle trapped in a crab pot will drown.

I spent a day with the University of Delaware and DNREC Enforcement collecting ghost crab pots near Dewey Beach. There were 320 old crab pots or ghost crab pots in one cove near the Rusty Rudder. Many of us don’t even bother to crab until after the first or even second shed. The blue crabs, when they first emerge are full of mud and taste a little off.