Crab Catching UK

There is only one type of crab that is worth catching for food around the UK, and that’s the Brown Crab. There are a few other types that people eat, such as the smaller shore crab or the larger spider crabs, but these can be hard to gather, and extracting the meat is difficult. The brown crab can grow up to a weight of 3kg and contains plenty of sweet and juicy meat, but the larger ones always seem to live in deeper waters and rarely come close enough to land to be caught, unless you know how to look for them.

(The brown crab, also known as the edible crab is the biggest and best-tasting crab around the UK)

Where to find edible crab

The brown crab, also known as the edible crab can be found along the entire coastline of the UK, and doesn’t seem to be rare in the slightest, but is most abundant around the south-west of the country. The largest crabs will normally only be found in deeper water, but can still come close enough to the shore in the right areas to be caught. The worst places are smooth and gently sloping beaches or those that aren’t surrounded by rocks so you can’t access the deeper waters.

(You might get one of these guys stuck in your trap as they are everywhere. Spider crabs are edible but the meat isn’t as nice as a brown crab)

They like to live in the sand around seaweed in anything deeper than 5 meters but often live in high-food areas close to fishing docks or piers. They can also be found hiding within the cracks of submerged rocks, with the long outcrops that start on the beach and stretch out into the sea being good places to look. Also, any kind of rock breakwater barrier that goes out into the sea, such as those that protect harbors or have a lighthouse on the end.

How to catch crab

Shore crabs are much smaller but easy to find and catch, requiring nothing more than digging around in rock pools or under seaweed. They only have a small amount of meat on them and it’s usually not worth the time to pick it all out, but they taste good enough. Shore crabs and the smaller brown crabs can be caught off most piers or coastal walls using a crab line, which can be bought in the UK from almost every single coastal tourist shop that has ever existed.

The larger brown crabs like to stay in deeper water and rarely come into the shallow areas, so unless you have a boat then you’ll need to find a way to access deep water from land. This could include a long pier or a deepwater harbor, like the kind that can dock the bigger ferries and cargo ships. Rock breakwater barriers and rocky outcrops that start on the beach are good places to look, but be very careful when moving around in these areas.

(Cheap and effective, but only good if you can find a long enough pier or just want some smaller shore crabs)

When it comes to using traps you will have much more success than using a crab line, which is only good for catching the smaller crabs. A good trick when using a trap from land is to change the line it came with and swap it for something much stronger and longer, like a thicker piece of nylon or some paracord. You can throw a trap pretty far but there can be problems with pulling it back in at an angle if there’s seaweed or lots of rocks around.

A trap should be put next to places where large crabs could live, such as large rock formations or a clearing within a huge bed of seaweed. They can also work well at the bottom of cliffs that go straight down into the water, just make sure you can access the area safely. Crabs like to forage for small pieces of plants and like to live near the openings of large estuaries where lots of new food gets washed out, but these areas can be very dangerous, and it’s not something you’d be able to access without a boat.

If you’re going to try and set a trap at low tide then place it where the crabs will most likely walk past, like channels within the sand they could use to escape tidal flows, or openings into patches of seaweed.

(The smaller shore crab. Very common and easily found but they contain a tiny amount of meat that’s often not worth the effort)

Different types of crab trap

When it comes to choosing the right crab trap, first you should have an idea of where you can put it. There are two main types of traps that come in many variations, which are the box trap and the funnel trap.

The Box trap

These are often smaller and better suited to casual crab catching. They consist of a square or rectangle-shaped frame covered by a net with an entrance on one or all of the sides. The horizontal entrances are cone-shaped and raised above the floor of the trap so they can’t climb back out again. There are all shapes and sizes of this type of trap, but they all work in the same way.

(Examples of box traps. The name refers to the horizontal side entrance instead of the trap shape)

The Funnel trap

These also appear in many shapes and sizes but all work on the same principle. The crabs walk up the side of the trap and climb into the vertical funnel-shaped entrance and fall to the bottom. The only way back out is to swim vertically up through the entrance which they can’t do. This type of trap is often bigger and the preferred choice for commercial crab catchers because there is little chance of the crabs being able to escape again.

(Funnel traps always have an entrance on the top and are much harder to escape from)

When to catch crab

The general guideline in the UK is to only catch shellfish with any month that has an R in it, with September through to April being the best time of year but this is only a guideline and not a law. High tide is when crabs are the most active, and also when they might risk coming closer to land if food in deeper waters is scarce. If you can’t find any deep water you can easily access then try setting a trap at low tide as far out as possible, it will probably catch a load of things you do not want, but will increase the chances of getting something big.

Crabs don’t like to be pushed around with the changing of the tides so prefer to come out when it’s still at the highest and lowest points, but will retreat into deeper waters when it’s low.

What is the best bait to use for catching crab?

Crabs will eat any kind of meat they can find no matter what it comes from. Some people swear by bacon or using meat paste, but the best bait by far is fish. This is the smell they recognize and associate with food the easiest, but it doesn’t really matter which type of fish or the part of it you use. The important thing is to get the smell into the water but if you’re catching them with a line then you want something they can hold onto that won’t rip as you pull them up.

The best thing to use for line fishing is a piece of fish that still has the skin attached so it doesn’t rip off when the crab grabs it. If you’re using traps then it doesn’t matter as much and anything that gets the smell into the water will attract them, but putting extra bait in or having it in a bag it’s difficult to get to will keep the smell around longer after something finds it.