Crabbing in Washington and Oregon: Seasons, Limits, Best Tides

Dungeness crab is the easiest way to put a Northwest seafood dinner on the table without a charter. A ring net off a public pier works. So does a pot dropped from a kayak. What makes crabbing confusing is that Washington and Oregon run it on completely different logic. Washington regulates by marine area and season, with a catch card in Puget Sound. Oregon keeps its bays open all year and saves its restrictions for the ocean.

Here is how each state works, the limits that matter at the rail, and how to time the tide so your gear is actually fishing.

When is Washington crabbing season?

It depends on where you drop the pot. Washington splits crabbing into Puget Sound and the coast, and the two have nothing in common on timing.

Puget Sound. According to the WDFW crab page, the summer season typically starts in July and runs through Labor Day. A winter season follows, from the day after Labor Day through the end of December, but only in marine areas where quota is left after summer. Recreational crabbing is closed in Puget Sound the rest of the year. WDFW usually announces summer details in June and winter details in September, so the “2026 schedule” you’re searching for is really two announcements a few months apart.

Not every area gets both seasons. For the 2026 winter season, WDFW lists most Puget Sound areas open daily Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, with Areas 8-1 and 8-2 opening Oct. 10. Areas 10 (Seattle and Bremerton) and 11 (Tacoma and Vashon Island) had no winter season announced, and Area 12 south of Ayock Point and Area 13 (South Puget Sound) were closed until further notice to help Dungeness recover. Check WDFW’s marine area pages for your water before every trip; these lines move.

The coast and Columbia River. Coastal pot seasons vary by area. WDFW lists many areas open Dec. 1 through Sept. 15, Willapa Bay Area 2-1 opening Nov. 15, and the Columbia River open year-round. The fall pot closures exist to protect soft-shell crab after the molt. During those closures, snares, foldable traps, and ring nets that lie flat on the bottom are still legal, but hoop nets and dome pots that don’t lie flat are not.

Washington crab limits and size rules

The limits differ between Puget Sound and the coast, which catches people who crab both.

Area	Dungeness	Red rock	Catch card
Puget Sound	5 per day, males only, 6 1/4 in. minimum	6 per day, either sex, 5 in. minimum	Required
Coast (Areas 1-3, and 4 west of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line)	6 per day, males only, 6 in. minimum	6 per day, either sex, 5 in. minimum	Not required
Columbia River	12 per day, males only, 5 3/4 in. minimum	See current rules	Not required

Sources: the Washington crab rules for Puget Sound and the WDFW coastal crabbing page for the coast and Columbia. Puget Sound also allows 6 Tanner crab at 4 1/2 inches. All crab kept must be hard-shelled; release every female Dungeness and every soft-shell crab.

Gear rules that apply everywhere in Washington:

• Mark unattended gear with a buoy that is half red and half white, with your first and last name and permanent address.
• Every crab, shrimp, and crawfish pot needs a biodegradable rot cord so a lost pot stops fishing.
• Never set pots in ferry or shipping lanes or near ferry terminals.

The Puget Sound catch record card

If you crab in Puget Sound, two things are required no matter your age: a Puget Sound crab endorsement and a Dungeness crab catch record card. Anyone 16 or older also needs a Washington fishing license. Per WDFW’s current fees, the endorsement is $11.89 added to an annual license, or $5.05 with a temporary license.

The card has its own rules:

• Record immediately, in ink. Each Dungeness you keep goes on the card as soon as it’s in your bucket, not when you get home.
• Summer and winter are separate cards. Any crab kept after Labor Day goes on a winter card.
• Report even if you got nothing. Summer cards can be reported online from the day after Labor Day through Oct. 1; winter cards from Jan. 1 through Feb. 1. You can report online, through the MyWDFW or Fish Washington apps, at a regional office, or by mail. See the Dungeness catch record card page.
• Miss it and pay. Failing to report carries a $10 penalty.

Those reports are how WDFW sets next year’s quota by marine area. Skipping them is part of why some areas end up with short or no winter seasons.

Oregon crabbing regulations

Oregon is simpler. Per ODFW’s shellfish regulations:

• Where and when: Bays, beaches, estuaries, tide pools, piers, and jetties are open to crabbing all year, 24 hours a day. The ocean is closed to all crabbing Oct. 16 through Nov. 30.
• Dungeness limit: 12 per day, males only.
• Dungeness size: 5 3/4 inches minimum, measured in a straight line across the back, just in front of the points (not including them).
• Red rock crab: 24 per day, any size or sex.
• Gear: No more than 3 rings, baited lines, or pots per person.
• License: Everyone 12 and older needs a shellfish license.

Oregon crabbing license cost

ODFW’s recreational fee schedule lists these 2026 shellfish license prices, with the agent fee included:

License	2026 price
Resident annual shellfish	$13.00
Nonresident annual shellfish	$37.00
Nonresident 3-day shellfish	$25.00

The schedule steps up again in 2028 and 2030, so confirm at purchase. One common question: Oregon’s new Ocean Endorsement is not required if you are only taking shellfish, including Dungeness from the ocean. The shellfish license covers it.

What is the best tide for crabbing?

Slack tide. ODFW says it directly in its seasonal guide: crabbers have the best luck during slack tide, the peak of high or low water when the current stops.

Why it matters:

• Your gear stays where you put it. In a strong ebb or flood, rings tip and pots drift or roll, and a ring net on its side catches nothing.
• Crab move to the bait. In slack water crab can walk and feed without being swept along, so a fresh-baited ring fills faster.
• You can pull cleanly. Ring nets have to come up fast and level or the crab swim out. That’s much easier without current pulling the line sideways.

The classic bay plan is to set an hour or so before high slack, pull every 15 to 30 minutes for ring nets (longer soaks for pots), and keep going into the first part of the ebb. High slack also pushes salt water deep into a bay, which keeps crab active farther inside. Fall is often the best crabbing of the year in Oregon bays, and the large bays like Tillamook, Yaquina, and Coos fish best year-round.

Two cautions. First, slack doesn’t happen at the moment of high or low printed in the tide table for every spot in a bay; current can lag the height change, especially near the mouth. Second, the ebb at a bar is where conditions turn dangerous. If you’re crabbing near the mouth of the Columbia or any coastal bar, read our guide to bar crossing conditions first.

Biotoxins and cleaning crab

Domoic acid concentrates in a crab’s guts, not its meat. The Oregon Department of Agriculture’s shellfish closures page advises always gutting crab and throwing away the “butter” before cooking, and discarding the cooking liquid. As of ODA’s Oct. 19, 2026 update, sport crab harvest was open along the entire Oregon coast. Advisories can change any week, so check ODA or call the shellfish safety hotline at 1-800-448-2474. In Washington, the Department of Health shellfish safety map covers beach closures statewide.

Check it in Baseline Maps

Baseline Maps shows WA marine area boundaries with their regulations on the map, NOAA tide predictions (with current and slack timing where NOAA has a current station nearby), and a WA and OR biotoxin closure map, so you can pick the water, the tide, and the safety status from one screen. Plan the slack before you load the truck. First week free on the annual plan, then $34.99/year or $7.99/month.

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