The WBMA purchased a $10,000! insurance policy (a "Hole-in-One" Golf Tournament-type policy) for a  $10,000! prize.  The insurance company pays out only if there is a winner. If you catch the winning crab, you receive $5,000 - if you register him on the secret day, your prize is $10,000!

Sometime in July 100 random numbers are chosen for this year's contest.  Those numbers go into a jar and an officer of Umpqua Bank in Reedsport draws out one number.  Without looking (no one can know the number in advance), the number is put into an envelope which is sealed and signed by an officer of the bank and an officer of WBMA.  This envelope is kept in the vault at Umpqua Bank.   The numbered slips of paper remaining in the jar are shredded so that no one can look at them and know which numbers were NOT drawn.

This year we have purchased an additional ONE DAY insurance policy.  If your crab is the winner AND if you registered your crab on the one SECRET day - then you win $10,000 instead of $5,000!  The insurance company will choose the secret date.  It will be sealed in an envelope and sealed along with the Crab Number in the vault at Umpqua Bank - the Secret Date will be announced when the envelope is opened to determine if we have a winning $10,000! crab!

The numbers are also stamped onto 100 brass tags.  Each tag is tied to a legal-sized, male crab with bio-degradable string.  The crabs are released into the water in and around Salmon Harbor and the Umpqua River. The release is staggered during the contest so that there will always be tagged crabs available in the Bay.  

If you catch a tagged crab, take it to Sportsmen's Cannery on Bay Front Loop (off Beach Blvd.) and have it registered in our log book.  Your picture will also be taken for our records.

On September 14, 2003 an official of Umpqua Bank will open the sealed envelopes and announce the number and the date.

We check the list of numbers that were registered during the event and if one of them is THE NUMBER, that person receives $5,000! If they registered their number on the correct date - they receive $10,000!

If THE NUMBER has not been registered, all the brass tags that were registered during the event are put into a jar and one will be drawn out.  The winner receives a gift basket full of goodies from Reedsport/Winchester Bay businesses. 

The infamous crab,  Captain Umpclaw, and his minions limber up for another season of fun and mayhem in Winchester Bay. With a $10,000 Bounty on his head, can the Captain be free for long?

8.  There is a limit on the number of crabs each person may catch each day. There is also a size limit - and only male crabs may be kept. The laws concerning crabbing are available at the businesses which sell or rent crabbing supplies. Following the game laws will ensure our habitat of a renewable resource for years to come.

Dungeness Crab Information

The Dungeness crab (Cancer magister) is a popular shellfish that inhabits bays, estuaries, and the nearshore coast of Oregon. The Dungeness crab is named after one of its representative habitats—a shallow, sandy bay inside of Dungeness Spit on the south shore of the Straits of Juan de Fuca. It is widely distributed, however, and can be found as far north as Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound and south to Magdalena Bay, Mexico. This crab supports both a commercial fishery and a personal use fishery in Oregon. Dungeness crabs are related to shrimp, lobster, and other crabs. The Dungeness crab has a broad, oval body covered by a hard chitinous shell. It has four pairs of walking legs and a pair of claws. This species can be distinguished from other commercially important crabs (king and Tanner crabs) because its legs are much smaller and shorter in relation to its body size and it has no spines on the top side of its carapace (shell).

Reproduction and life history: Dungeness crabs mate from spring through the fall. The male crabs are polygamous--each male crab may mate with more than one female crab. This may be an important factor in maintaining the reproductive viability of this species because only male crabs can be harvested in commercial and personal use fisheries. Male crabs mate only with female crabs that have just molted (shed their old exoskeleton). Fertilization of the egg does not occur at the time of mating. The female crab stores the sperm until her eggs are fully developed. The eggs are fertilized when the female extrudes them under her abdomen where they are carried until hatching. A large female crab can carry 2.5 million eggs.

After hatching, the young crabs are planktonic and swim freely away from the female. Larval development takes from 4 months to as long as a year. Six successive stages (5 zoea and 1 megalopa) occur before the crabs molt into the first juvenile stage. These crabs grow each time they molt. During the first two years both sexes grow at similar rates but after two years the female crabs grow more slowly than the males. Sexual maturity may be reached at three years. At 4 to 5 years of age, a Dungeness crab can be over 6-1/2 inches in shell width and weigh between 2 and 3 pounds. A large male Dungeness crab can exceed 10 inches in shell width. The estimated maximum life span of this crab is between 8 and 13 years.

Dungeness crabs are widely distributed subtidally and prefer a sandy or muddy bottom in salt water. However, they are tolerant of salinity changes and can be found in estuarine environments. The crab are generally in waters shallower than 15 fathoms, but they have been found in depths down to 100 fathoms.

Dungeness crabs foraging behavior coincides with their habitat. These crabs scavenge along the sea floor for organisms that live partly or completely buried in the sand. They are carnivores, and their diet can include shrimp, mussels, small crabs, clams, and worms.

Dungeness crabs are often caught by commercial fishers in circular pots typically baited with herring, squid, or clams. Pots are usually about 40 inches in diameter and 14 inches high. They are constructed of 3/4-inch round, steel frames wrapped in rubber tubing then covered with stainless steel wire mesh woven in 2-inch squares. Two 4-3/8" diameter escape rings are required to be built in each pot to keep the pot from filling with undersize crabs.

The sex of a Dungeness crab can be determined by examining the abdomen: the abdominal flap of a female crab is about 1-1/2 times as long as it is wide and has a much broader base than a male crab which has an abdominal flap generally twice as long as it is wide.

Personal use: Dungeness crabs may be harvested for personal use. This fishery is often incidental to recreational boat outings. Dungeness crabs are sometimes stranded by minus tides and can be picked up by an observant beachcomber. Be forewarned, the mighty pincers of this crab can move quickly and catch you unaware!

Personal use anglers fish at depths between 3 and 20 fathoms where more “keepers,” male crabs greater than 6-1/2 inches wide, seem to be found. They usually bait their pots with the most convenient bait, fresh fish carcasses. The number of crabs that can be kept varies from 5 to 20 per person, depending on the area fished. To take more than you can use is a waste and a shame, because the Dungeness crab is one of the grand fringe benefits of coastal Oregon.

Cooking crab: Dungeness crabs are usually boiled for approximately 20 minutes. As a cautionary note, paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) has been found in the internal organs of Dungeness crab, therefore, do not eat the internal organs including the “crab butter” (hepatopancreas). Where or when the toxin is found is unpredictable. Take this one precaution and continue to enjoy one of Oregon’s tastiest seafoods.