If you ever decide to take a drive along the coast of Oregon on a nice sunny day, you’ll see tons of people at the beach. They are walking about, surfing, or playing volleyball; there’s an endless supply of fun things to do. But if you’re in the mood for a good meal, you can always grab a bite right out of the water. Ask for crabs, clams, or fish for a feast, and you’ll find it in the water. My dad likes to say, “We have seafood boil at home.”

Dungeness crabs are my all time favorite animal to go out to the ocean and catch. They are around 6 or 7 inches when they’re fully grown and are very abundant along the coast. When I was a little kid, the only method I knew for catching them was throwing crab pots. You can see this method all the time around Clatsop County, OR. People will cast crab pots off of little walking bridges, from the beach, or from anywhere they think the crabs are scuttling around. The nice part about casting pots is that you can throw them at high tide and sit back while the crabs wander in. The bad part is that the crabs love smelly bait. Fish guts, raw meat, or really anything a few days past its best date and the crabs love it. Once you push past this odor, you can cast your pot, wait a while, and then pull it up to check it out. If there’s nothing in there, you can just toss it back and try again. For many years, I threw crab pots without knowing there was a better way to catch them. Then, unexpectedly in 2020, my family was introduced to a new and exciting method of getting dinner from the ocean.

Now, I’m not entirely sure who told my dad about this method, but one day he told me to grab two metal gardening rakes out of the garage, get into the car, and drive to the beach. At this time, the world was still on lockdown, and the beaches by my hometown were devoid of people. My dad and I went out to the water during low tide, and he told me to look into the water for a sandy mound shaped like a crab. At first, I stood on the edge of the water. Then he told me I actually had to wade into it and look around. When I saw a crab, I needed to use the rake to literally scoop it out of the sand. It was as easy as that. Ever since that first trip, our family’s main method for catching crabs has been raking them up.

In order to do any method of crab catching, you need a shellfish license. This tells you how many you can take home and confirms you aren’t poaching or doing anything illegal. For Dungeness crabs in Oregon, you can only take home males that meet a minimum size limit. There are also laws limiting the number you can take home. Each person with a shellfish license can only take home a maximum of 12 crabs. For example, if my dad and I both go out to crab with our licenses, we can each take home 12, bringing home a grand total of 24 (Assuming we catch that many in a day). Like many places, Oregon has these laws in place to help keep the crab population alive and prevent overfishing. For any of the crabs we pull up, we flip them over to check if the crabs are male or female. There is a shape on their stomach that indicates their sex. All females get sent right back into the salty sea, but any males will get measured with a crab ruler. When I rake up crabs, I carry a bag with me to put in any of the ones I catch that are the right size. My dad made it at home, and there’s even a special pocket just the right size for the ruler.

To pick them up and measure them, you have to be really careful to not get pinched. These guys will hold ridiculously tight if they get the chance to grab you. Typically, you can hold them by the back of their shells to flip them over, but the most secure grab is to hold them by their back two legs. This prevents them from just reaching down their bellies and pinching you. I used to be really afraid of holding them at all. Now I can, but holding them by their back legs still feels very weird. Those hind legs are very strong, as they help the crab bury itself into the sand. This means there is active resistance when you’re holding them like that. When you are looking at the crab’s abdomen, you’ll see a pointed section on the underbelly. If this section is wide, the crab female. If it is narrow, it is a male, and you’ll measure it to determine if you can keep it. This summer after coming home to relax after my SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship) at Caltech, I set a personal record for number of crabs I’ve caught in a day. I was able to bring home five!

Personally, I think raking up crabs is the best method of catching them. It is much more interactive and faster than throwing pots. I also enjoy getting to splash around in the water and grab them right away. Time passes by so much faster as I walk around picking them up. Unfortunately, it isn’t always guaranteed that I’ll get my limit to take home, nor is it guaranteed that I will catch many male crabs at all. I’d say for every 20 crabs I rake up and check, only one fits the restrictions for keeping it. The longest stretch of time I’ve been out in the water raking is three hours. We went in at a very low tide and stayed out until the tide turned high. The catch to raking crab is that it does have to be done at low tide, not only for safety reasons but for visibility too. It’s very hard to scoop up something you can’t see. But I love the thrill of picking up the little guys and putting them back. It’s like a combination of catch-and-release and take-home. When I was first getting used to raking, I did freak out every time I ended up in a pit full of crabs, though. They move really quickly to get away from you, scuttling away or attempting to rapidly bury themselves. I used to be in the water with my crocs on, and I’d freak out if a crab touched my legs because I was scared of getting pinched. Now my family has waders to wear when we go out, so there is a nice, thick layer of protection between me and the crabs.

After we are done crabbing, we take them home, cook them up and eat them. Or my parents do. For some reason crab doesn’t sit well with me even though I’m not officially allergic. I don’t eat them; instead, I watch as my parents come up with creative crab-themed dishes. But nonetheless, I love spending time with my family catching crabs all day long. There’s a certain amount of satisfaction to feeling like you brought home dinner yourself. Crab season runs for most of the year, so every time I’m home for a break between school, I go out to the water with my dad as often as possible. Sometimes we like to try split between land and in the water; one of us will throw pots while the other wades with the rake. But between throwing pots and raking, I’d definitely say using a rake is the best method to catching crabs. I am very excited to spend the last weeks of my summer break out in the water. Even if I’m unsuccessful in catching any to take home, it’s amazing just getting to spend time on the beach. So if you ever get the chance to come to the Pacific Northwest coast, and you have the time: come learn how to rake up some delicious crabs!