When you order a plate of stone crab claws on Fifth Avenue South, how many hands touched them between the trap and your mustard sauce? At a couple of addresses where Fifth Avenue South meets the Gordon River, the answer is one family. Florida's season opened on October 15 and runs through May 1. That means Aqualane Shores has about six months of claws ahead, plus an unusual advantage. Several of the shortest boat-to-table supply lines in Naples sit within a short drive of the neighborhood, and two of them don't have a dining room at all.
Those supply lines matter more than usual this year. The people pulling traps are paying a lot more to do it, and they don't get to decide what their claws sell for.
The River Counters Own Their Boats
Kelly's Fish House, at 1302 Fifth Avenue South, has been on the Gordon River since the early 1950s. According to The Naples Current's season guide, the family behind the restaurant also runs Combs Fish Company, a commercial fishing business that supplies stone crab to Kelly's and to other buyers.
Kelly's own stone crab page explains how it works. Its crabbers leave the dock before sunrise and come back each evening, and the claws are cooked and graded right there on the docks. The slatted boxes stacked nearby are the traps. The boats work between Sanibel to the north and Everglades City to the south, anywhere from fifty yards to twenty miles offshore.
Pinchers at Tin City, at 1200 Fifth Avenue South, is just next door on the same stretch of river. Its supply line is longer, but it's still direct. The Naples Current reports that the locally owned Phelan Family Brands partnered with the Haugland family of Island Crab Company on Pine Island. That partnership gives the group a direct line to the boats, and it supplies Pinchers along with sister restaurants Deep Lagoon, The Bay House and Hogfish Harry's.
So from Aqualane Shores, the two nearest casual seafood rooms on the river both buy from a fishing operation their owners are tied to. Neither one is buying claws off a distributor's truck.
Friday Afternoons Get You Closer Still
The two shortest supply lines in Naples run through a family's front yard and a bait shop parking lot.
Jimmy Lee Perry fishes as Big Jimmy's Seafood and sells from a family home. The Naples Current describes a fishing boat parked in the yard and smoked mullet on the smoker. On opening day this year, the family said a trap they'd checked was "absolutely loaded" before Perry headed out at 5 a.m. The surer pickup window is Fridays from noon to 6 p.m., first come, first served while supplies last. First-time buyers should message Big Jimmy's on Facebook to get the pickup address. The family is also starting Seafood Saturdays, with stone crab, blue crabs, smoked mullet and seafood boils.
Claws take time even on the shortest route. After the traps come up, they get steamed, chilled in an ice bath, weighed and sorted by size before anyone can sell them.
Dilly's Fish Co. also supplies local restaurants, and it sells straight to the public on Fridays in the parking lot of Mike's Bait House on Danford Street. What's for sale depends on what came in. Dilly's posts the Friday catch on Facebook, along with whether stone crab will be there.
Farther From the Dock, You Pay for the Room
The more polished counters downtown buy from these same waters, but the supply line is out of sight and the table costs more.
Captain & Krewe, at 629 8th Street South just off Cambier Park, is a seafood market with a raw bar and a good stone crab selection in season. You can buy claws to take home or sit down and eat them there. Swan River Seafood, at 3741 Tamiami Trail North, has run the same market-plus-restaurant setup for decades. The Naples Current says its quality and its prices both run high.
Truluck's, at 698 4th Avenue South, is the white-tablecloth version, with live piano and a dark dining room. Stone crab is at the center of its menu. Its concern this season is supply, not demand. Samir Canaan, the chain's director of culinary operations, told the Miami Herald that "my biggest worry is we won't catch enough." The Turtle Club serves claws on the sand at Vanderbilt Beach, well north of Naples Bay, and it's worth calling ahead to check this season's availability before driving up for them.
Why This Season's Price Is Still Being Set
Crabbers are paying more this year, and the price you see at the counter isn't theirs to set.
At the Florida Stone Crabbers Association's Blessing of the Fleet at Camellia Street Grill in Everglades City, crabber Macbeth "Mackie" Collins told WINK News that "our fuel costs are double from what we started at last year." He explained that he can't just pass that along: "other people tell me what they're going to give us for them." The Naples Daily News counted about 18 boats at this year's blessing, the 17th in Everglades City.
The outlook for the catch itself is good. Collins expects "a pretty good season" in production, and the association's Kelly Kirk was upbeat in the same WINK report:
"We've had a beautiful summer. No big storms. The water quality is outstanding right now."
Kirk also passed along an old Everglades City saying: when the mosquitoes are really bad, expect a lot of stone crabs.
On opening day, Big Jimmy's said it would announce its prices once opening-day market pricing was set. The nearest benchmark is a Miami-area forecast. Mario Palazon of FreshCo Fish in Kendall and Doral told the Miami Herald he expected prices of about $30 a pound for mediums, $40 for large and $50 for jumbos to start this season. He said mediums usually open at $22 or $24. That's a forecast for a different market, but it shows how much opening prices can rise in a year when fuel goes up.
When you call ahead, it helps to know how the sizes are defined. Kelly's grades its claws by weight on the dock:
- Medium: three ounces and under
- Large: three to five ounces
- Jumbo: five ounces and up
Because the grades go by ounces, a pound of mediums means more claws to crack than a pound of jumbos. That's useful to know when you're deciding how much to buy for the table. Under the rules on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's stone crab page, only claws can be harvested, they must measure at least 2 7/8 inches, and egg-bearing crabs are off-limits. Kelly's says the claws start growing back within ninety days.
The Drive South, When You Want the Source Itself
Following the supply line to its far end takes you through Goodland and Everglades City. The Paradise Coast stone crab guide lists Kirk Fish Company and Little Bar in Goodland, and Grimm's Stone Crab, City Seafood and Triad Seafood Market & Café in Everglades City. Everglades City calls itself the Stone Crab Capital of the World. The Everglades Seafood Festival runs February 19 to 21, 2027, with seafood, live music and carnival rides.
If the season has you thinking about time on the water, whether that means a dock on your own canal or a table along the Gordon River, Josh Greenwald knows this stretch of Naples Bay and would be glad to talk it through. Schedule Your Free Consultation.
