Crab pots loaded and ready ahead of the January 5, 2026 crab season

Right at the start of 2026, Capt. Scott Dipman posted a video to the Fish Reapers Sportfishing Instagram with a caption that gets straight to the point: the first load of pots was ready to get dropped, and the 2026 crab season starts on January 5, 2026.

The thumbnail from the video is a pickup truck loaded high with stacked crab pots. A man in work gear stands next to it, and more stacks of pots sit behind him in the lot. This is the part of crab season nobody sees from the dock: the gear has to be hauled, stacked and loaded before the first one goes over the side.

Scott fishes crab as well as running sportfishing trips from Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay. The Fish Reapers menu includes a half-day crab trip of 4 hours and a Crab Combo of 8 hours that adds rockfish, lingcod and halibut to the crab.

Every season starts the same way: gear on the truck, pots on the boat, and a date on the calendar. For 2026 that date was January 5.

To get out on the water with Fish Reapers Sportfishing, call (650) 444-9226 or book online.