Very good catches can be obtained from Gulf beaches in July and August. Crabbing effort parallels the trend in catches. Crabs can be caught at any time of the day, but there are some factors that may influence catches. First, crabs may be more active early in the morning or late in the afternoon during hot weather. Second, tides may influence the feeding behavior of crabs.
Catches are often better on a moving tide.
Some fishermen prefer to fish the last few hours of a falling tide because crabs move out of flooded shoreline vegetation into open water. Blue crabs can be caught throughout the Louisiana coastal zone as they inhabit a wide variety of habitats from the high saline Gulf beaches to the low salinity marshes. Boat-based fishermen can crab throughout the estuary in lakes, bays, bayous, canals, and marsh. Areas suitable for shoreline crabbing are more limited due to the soft nature of the marsh and restricted highway access into the coastal marshes. Most effort expended by land-based crabbers is adjacent to roads.