Verified against COMAR 08.02.03 and Maryland DNR guidance, September 2026, including the recreational boat limit change effective July 1, 2026. Rules change. Confirm with Maryland DNR before you set gear. This page is a reference, not legal advice.
This is for the person with a pier and two pots, the family on a rented boat with a trotline, and the kid with a chicken neck on a string. Commercial rules are on the Maryland crab pot regulations page.
Do you need a license?
No license if you only use handlines or dip nets, or if you set up to two crab pots off your own waterfront property. You're held to the unlicensed limits.
Recreational crabbing license ($5 resident, $10 non-resident, $2 with a sport fishing license) if you use a trotline, collapsible traps, net rings, seines, or eel pots for your own bait, or if you want the licensed limits.
Recreational crabbing boat license ($15) covers everyone aboard at the boat limit.
Waterfront property owners: two pots
An owner, lessee, or tenant of private shoreline may set a maximum of two crab pots at the property, regardless of how many people own it. Pots must be marked with the owner's name and address or DNRid. Registration with DNR is free, annual, and done online; it does not count as a crabbing license. Pots must be within 100 yards of the shoreline. Registered pots may be worked 24 hours a day.
What a recreational pot must have
- Two cull rings, one at least 2-3/16" and one at least 2-5/16" inside diameter, in the exterior side panels or top. Our 2-5/16" ring is the larger one.
- A turtle excluder device (Maryland calls it a turtle reduction device, TRD) in every funnel of the lower chamber: a rigid wire or plastic rectangle no larger than 1-3/4" high by 4-3/4" long, firmly attached. This is the one most people miss, and the one wardens check. More on TRDs.
Sizes
| Crab | Apr 1 to Jul 14 | Jul 15 to Dec 15 |
|---|---|---|
| Male hard crab | 5" | 5-1/4" |
| Male peeler | 3-1/4" | 3-1/2" |
| Soft crab | 3-1/2" | |
| Any female hard or peeler | May not be caught or possessed recreationally | |
Point to point across the shell. How to measure.
Daily limits, Chesapeake Bay and tributaries
| Who | Hard crabs | Soft / peeler |
|---|---|---|
| Unlicensed person (shore, pier, registered pots) | 2 dozen | 1 dozen, or combination |
| Licensed person | 1 bushel | 2 dozen, or combination |
| Boat, unlicensed, 1 person | 2 dozen | — |
| Boat, unlicensed, 2+ people | 4 dozen | — |
| Boat with any licensed person aboard, or a licensed boat | 1 bushel, or 6 dozen if not in a bushel basket (as of Jul 1, 2026) | — |
The July 2026 change cut the licensed-boat limit from two bushels to one. If your last look at the rules was before that, update it.
Coastal bays (Ocean City side) run different, more generous limits and don't require a license; see the commercial page for coastal bay specifics.
Maryland crabbing season 2026 and hours
- Season: April 1 through December 15 in the Bay and tributaries
- April, and October through December 15: half hour after sunrise to 5 PM
- May through September: half hour before sunrise to 5 PM
- Handlines, dip nets, and registered waterfront pots: any hour
- No recreational crabbing on Wednesdays, except handlines, dip nets, registered waterfront pots, or during a week when a state or federal holiday falls on Wednesday or Thursday
Gear rules
- Collapsible traps must actually collapse and lie flat until pulled; spring-loaded or self-closing traps are illegal
- Net rings must lie flat until pulled
- Trotlines need floats at each end
- Never set within 100 feet of someone else's gear, and never fish gear that isn't yours
- No selling recreational crabs
The one that gets homeowners fined
It's the turtle reduction device. Two pots off a pier, cull rings in, name on the float, and no TRD in the funnels is the most common recreational violation DNR finds. Diamondback terrapins follow the same bait crabs do, can't get back out, and drown. The device is a rectangle in the funnel mouth. We're molding one to the Maryland spec.