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California's Recreational Dungeness Crab Season Is Set to Open November 7
Openers have been delayed by whale-entanglement risk and domoic acid in recent years, so check the state's notices before setting a trap.
California's recreational Dungeness crab season is scheduled to reopen Saturday, November 7, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's regional fishing pages say. In most of the state it runs through June 30; in Del Norte, Humboldt and Mendocino counties, through July 30.
The scheduled date is not a guarantee. In recent seasons the department has restricted or delayed crab traps because of humpback whales and sea turtles near the coast, and state health agencies have delayed openers in Northern California when crab carried unhealthy levels of domoic acid. Sign up for the department's Whale Safe Fisheries notices and check its current notices before you go; you can also call the domoic acid closure line at 831-649-2883.
The daily bag limit is 10 crab with a minimum size of five and three-quarter inches across the shell, and anyone using a crab trap needs a recreational crab trap validation on top of a fishing license.
Correction, Nov. 2, 2026. Update: The state has since restricted crab traps for the opener and closed recreational crabbing north of Fort Bragg because of domoic acid. Hoop nets and snares are allowed elsewhere. See our November 2 story.
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