Florida Crabbing Season: Blue Crab, Stone Crab and Land Crab

Quick answer: Blue crab has no closed season in Florida, but standard traps close for up to 10 days a year in half the state: the east coast in even years, the west coast in odd years. Stone crab season runs October 15 to May 1, claws at least 2 7/8 inches. Blue land crabs are closed July 1 to October 31.

How to use it

Pick the crab (blue crab, stone crab or blue land crab), where you crab (31 places from Pensacola to Amelia Island, the Keys and the St. Johns River) and the day; today is filled in. For blue crab, say how you crab: a standard trap, a trap attached to your dock, or a net, fold-up trap or line. The answer says whether you may, until when, or when it opens. For stone crab you can type a claw’s length (2 7/8, 3 in or 75 mm) and see whether it is legal. Below it: that place’s crab dates for the year, and the rules in the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) own words, with the license.

Blue crab: open all year, except the trap closures

FWC sets no season and no size limit for blue crab: the limit is “10 gallons whole per harvester per day”, and “Harvest of egg-bearing crabs prohibited”. What closes is the standard trap. “These six regional closures last up to 10 days and prohibit recreational and commercial harvest of blue crabs with traps in these areas”, and “The closures alternate coasts every year with closures on the east coast of Florida occurring during the even numbered years and closures on the west coast occurring on the odd years.” They exist to find lost and abandoned traps. A net still works: “The harvest of blue crabs by other gear, such as dip nets and fold-up traps, is permitted during the closures”, and “Traps that are attached to private property such as a dock are not included in the closures.” In the Gulf there is one more: “Sept. 20 – Oct. 4: closed to traps in Gulf state waters beyond 3 miles and in federal waters.”

The counties are the ones FWC’s own words cover, read along the coast; the St. Johns River system has its own January closure, and the Ochlockonee River and Bay go with Hernando through Wakulla. Up to 5 traps a person, pulled by hand “only during daylight hours”, each marked with your name, address and FWC’s free trap registration number, which anyone 16 or older needs “(including those normally exempt from needing a license)”. “Crab snares are not considered legal gear for blue crabs in Florida.”

Stone crab: October 15 to May 1, claws only

The season is “Open Oct. 15 – May 1 (closed on May 2)”. “Traps may be placed in the water 10 days prior to the opening of the season, but once placed, you may not tend to the traps until the start of the season”, so from October 5 your traps can soak, and on October 15 you may pull them. You keep the claws, never the crab: “Minimum Size Limit: 2 7/8 inches; only claws may be harvested”, measured “by a straight line from the elbow to the tip of the lower immovable finger” (2 7/8 inches is 73.025 mm). “Both claws of a stone crab may be harvested lawfully if they are of legal size”, though FWC explains that a crab left with one claw feeds and regrows faster. The limit is “1 gallon of claws per person or 2 gallons per vessel, whichever is less”, and no claws from a crab carrying eggs.

Blue land crab: closed July 1 to October 31

Blue land crabs live ashore, so the rules are their own: “Harvest Seasons: Closed July 1- October 31”, “Daily Bag Limit: 20 per person”, “Legal Gear: by hand, landing or dip net”, and “Illegal Gear: traps, bleach or any other chemical solution”. Never from a road: no one may take them “on, upon or from the right-of-way of any federal, state or county-maintained road, whether paved or otherwise, or from any state park.”

The license

“A saltwater fishing license is required to attempt to take any native or nonnative marine organisms, such as crabs, lobsters, and marine plants.” A visitor pays $17 for 3 days, $30 for 7 days or $47 a year; a resident $17 a year, or nothing for the shoreline license when crabbing from land. Under 16 you need none. The free trap registration comes on top, for anyone 16 or older who sets a blue or stone crab trap.

Worked examples

Fort Myers on July 12, 2027, with a trap. Closed: Broward through Pasco counties close July 10–19 in odd years. Traps reopen July 20, in 8 days; a dip net or a trap on your dock is fine now.

Jacksonville’s beaches on August 25, 2026. Closed to traps: the Georgia line through Volusia County closes August 20–29 in even years. They reopen August 30, in 5 days.

Cedar Key on September 25, 2026. Open near shore; beyond 3 miles in the Gulf, traps are closed September 20 to October 4. The next closure there is July 20–29, 2027.

Stone crab on October 5, 2026. Not yet: the season opens October 15, in 10 days, but your traps may go in the water today.

Blue land crab on October 5, 2026. Closed until November 1, in 27 days.

A 73 mm stone crab claw. Too short, by 0.025 mm: 2 7/8 inches is 73.025 mm.

Common mistakes

• Thinking the trap closure stops all crabbing. Dip nets, drop nets, fold-up traps and lines stay legal, and so does a trap on your dock.
• Looking up the wrong year. Each region closes every other year: the east coast in even years, the west coast in odd years.
• Pulling stone crab traps before October 15. They may go in from October 5, but you may not tend them until the season opens.
• Keeping a stone crab. Only the claws, at least 2 7/8 inches from the elbow to the tip of the lower finger.
• Catching land crabs by the road in summer. They are closed July 1 to October 31, and never from a road’s right-of-way or a state park.
• Using a crab snare. FWC does not count it as legal gear for blue crabs.

Plan the rest of the trip

Read whether the St. Johns River is fresh or salt water, what lives in the Banana River lagoon, Florida’s east coast or west coast, Cape Coral or Fort Myers and Key West’s seafood shacks. For fish, the Florida Fish Seasons checker does the same by town; the Florida Fishing License checker says which license you need, Florida Tide Times has the tides, and the Florida Lobster Season and Florida Scallop Season checkers the other shellfish.