COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. -- Many crabbers in Everglades City make their whole living off of stone crabs. The season runs from October to May.
"You've got seven months to make it and if you don't make it in that seven months it's over with," said boat captain Kit Johnson.
RELATED: Is seafood safe to eat during a red tide?
He says stone crabbing is a year-long affair. "You take a few weeks off but then you get right back on getting them ready to go for next year."
Johnson and his crew are getting ready to drop the traps at midnight Friday. But they don't know what they're going to get. "Hopefully the red tide's north of us and it's not out here where we crab so we should be all right as far as the red tide"
Come stone crab season every year, the seafood department at Oakes Farms grocery store does great business.
"They do fabulous. If we can get them we will sell them. It is the most popular thing that we have," said Chris Aldrich.
But this year, many are worried stone crabs may be hard to come by and expensive as well.
The traps will be in the water for 10 days until they're legally allowed to be pulled on Oct. 15.
