Crab pots are starting to line parking lots in Charleston in anticipation of crab season opening. World Photo by Madeline Steege

NEWPORT (AP) — Joe Agloro pulled his crab pot from Yaquina Bay against a backdrop of seagull sounds and cables pinging on nearby masts.

Agloro, from Vancouver, Wash., says he gets his limit here every year, but this year is a bonanza for recreational fishermen.

“I might have a keeper this time. Yeah, this is a keeper today,” Agloro said.

“I’ve never seen the crabbing as good as it’s been right now. ... Just been a phenomenal fall for crab,” said Scott Albrecht, manager of Lighthouse Deli in the South Beach section of Newport, which cooks crab that fishermen catch.

Last year was the best commercial crabbing year ever in Oregon, with 33.4 million pounds registered, said Mitch Vance, shellfish project leader for Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“I think that pretty much makes Oregon the capital of the world (for Dungeness crab). We have a lot of coastline and a lot of ports to fish this resource,” added Vance.

The catch is generally cyclical and has been rising since 2000-01, when 7.4 million pounds were harvested.

“Everybody wants to know what next season is going to be like, but we don’t have any predictors,” Vance said. A normal year is about 10 million pounds, he said. “The last five years has kind of thrown that out of the water.”

The commercial season is scheduled to start Dec. 1, and the best sports crabbing is in the fall.

Alsea Bay at Waldport also is a popular spot for recreational crabbing.

The recreational harvest isn’t tracked, but the state wants to monitor it better.

The state created a shellfish license in 2004. More than 130,000 were sold in its initial year, raising $700,000, Vance said.

Many families make crabbing at Newport’s Yaquina Bay a tradition because it’s fun, inexpensive and easy to crab off the docks, said Kristine Castillo, sales and catering coordinator for the Embarcadero Resort Hotel & Marina.

The native red rock crabs have sweeter meat than the Dungeness, but it’s a lot of work to get that, since they are smaller and have tougher shells.

“They’re better than no crabs,” said Jean Keen of Milwaukie, as she pulled crabs out of her pot recently.

The cost for license, pot rentals, bait and cooking 10 crabs is about $25. Two hours before or after high tide is the best time to go crabbing in Yaquina Bay.

Veteran crabbers recommend a 15-minute wait before pulling pots out of the water. They advise picking crabs up from behind to avoid painful pinches.

Only 12 male Dungeness crab larger than 5 inches across the shell can be kept each day. Twenty-four of any sex or size of red rock crab can be kept per day.