Can I Catch My Own Stone Crab in FL?
Yes. You are free to catch, cook and consume your own Stone Crab in FL, but you have to follow the rules, and there are a lot of them.
First, you need a valid saltwater fishing license with a valid stone crab endorsement.
Second, you need to be sure that stone crab is in season. In FL stone crab season is always October 15 – May 15. You are permitted to set lawful traps 10 days before season starts but you cannot pull the traps or harvest stone crab before the start of the season.
Third, you need to make sure that you do not use any unlawful means to catch your stone crab. You can “trap” them but you can’t use any device that can puncture, crush or injure a crabs body, such as a spear or a hooks.
Fourth you can drop traps pretty much anywhere, so long as it’s not inside of a navigational channel, but you can only lawfully pull your traps during daylight hours.
Fifth you need to be mindful of the size and the sex of the stone crab. Regardless of their size egg-bearing stone crab can never be caught and non-egg-bearing stone crab must have claws no smaller than 2 & 3/4″.
Finally, if they are of legal size, and while you can take both claws, doing so will leave the crab alive but defenseless, and will also make it difficult for the crab to eat and survive long enough to regenerate its claws. So please think about that before you take both claws.
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