In May, soft-shell crabs couldn't be found. Many in the business said the crabs were overfished. But in August, soft-shell crabs started showing up in record numbers. The hard crab fishermen switched to soft-shell crab pots. That year, North Carolina broke its record in harvest pounds.
Crabs hibernate during the winter and usually come out when the water warms.
While it stays as cool, as it has this spring, crabs stay buried under the sound bottom. Crabs can turn up in large numbers unexpectedly, he said. The record year of 1996 demonstrated crab fickleness. Even last year, though poorer overall, the Albemarle Sound area remained steady. Most of the drop-off came from the Neuse River.