Florida stone crab season opens today, Thursday, Oct. 15, and runs through May 1. But if you are planning to crack your first claws of the year tonight, hold off a day. Traps that could go into the water as early as Oct. 5 can only be pulled starting today, which means the first fresh claws reach most Gold Coast dining rooms on Friday, Oct. 16, and the roadside sellers who live and die by the boats are waiting until the weekend.

Why opening day is not eating day

The rules from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission explain the lag. Fishermen may bait their traps and drop them in the water up to 10 days before the season opens, but they cannot tend them until Oct. 15. So today is the first day anyone can legally haul a trap and take a claw. Those claws then have to be landed, cooked, chilled and driven to wherever you are eating them.

You can see the timing in what the restaurants themselves are saying. Truluck's, which runs seafood dining rooms at 701 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd. and 777 Brickell Ave. in Miami, says its first crab of the season arrives at its Florida restaurants by Oct. 16. Catfish Dewey's, the Oakland Park seafood house that has been at 4003 N. Andrews Ave. since 1984, posted on Oct. 10 that it expects fresh stone crabs on Friday. Billy's Stone Crab in Hollywood has its first mail orders shipping Oct. 17. Even Joe's, the name most people outside Florida attach to the dish, reopens for its 114th season at 11 Washington Ave. in Miami Beach on Friday night, not today.

The takeaway is simple. The best claws of opening week are Friday's and Saturday's, not Thursday's.

Where to get them, and what each place does best

For the dock-to-table purist: Billy's Stone Crab, Hollywood. Billy's is a waterfront restaurant and seafood market at 400 N. Ocean Drive, right on the Intracoastal, with dockage big enough for a 100-foot yacht if you are arriving by water. What sets it apart is the supply line. The company runs its own fish houses in Marathon and Summerland Key in the Keys, and its market page says more than 40 boats deliver to them daily, with every item out of the sea less than 24 hours. Owner Billy Hershey has spent close to 40 years in the South Florida crab trade. The restaurant and market are open daily from noon to 10 p.m.

For the bottomless appetite: Catfish Dewey's, Oakland Park. This is the Broward spot for people who measure stone crabs in plates rather than claws. The restaurant's stone crab menu lists all-you-can-eat medium and large claws for the new season, though prices were still to be set as of its last update, along with a single large claw at $11 if you just want a taste. Walk-ins are welcome, it opens daily at 11:30 a.m., and the number to call first is 954-566-5333.

For a dressed-up night: Truluck's, Fort Lauderdale and Brickell. Truluck's serves its claws chilled and pre-cracked with its own mustard sauce and suggests a crisp white wine alongside. The chain says its Florida stone crab goes from trap to table in under 24 hours. With one location on the Fort Lauderdale beach and one in Brickell, it is the most convenient white-tablecloth option for Broward and Miami-Dade diners in the first week.

For the patient and the cash-carrying: Steve's Stone Crabs, northern Palm Beach County. The most Florida way to buy stone crabs on the Gold Coast is from a seasonal roadside stand, and Steve's Stone Crabs and More has been doing it since 1992. Its opening weekend this year is Saturday, Oct. 17, and Sunday, Oct. 18. The big change for regulars: the stand is no longer in front of the Yankee Peddler. It has moved across US-1 to the west side of the highway near PGA Boulevard, in Oaktree Plaza across from Publix. In season it is open Thursday through Sunday from 10:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. or until it sells out, and it is cash only. Last season's posted price was $24 a pound for mostly medium claws and $32 for large, cooked but not cracked, with mustard sauce at $2 each. Steve's updates its phone recording each evening once the boats come in, so check it before you drive.

Read the sizes before you order

Stone crab pricing is all about size, and the grades are not intuitive. As Palm Beach Lobsters & Seafood in West Palm Beach lays it out, medium claws run about six or seven to the pound, large about four or five, jumbo two or three and colossal one or two. The legal minimum, per FWC, is 2 7/8 inches measured along the claw. Mediums are the best value by far, and for a family dinner at home a few pounds from a market will go further than a plate of jumbos in a dining room. Save the jumbos for the night someone at the table has never had them.

Catching your own

Residents can trap stone crabs too, within limits. Anyone 16 or older needs a free annual trap registration from FWC first. Each person may fish up to five traps, and every plastic or wood trap needs an unobstructed escape ring 2 3/16 inches across in a vertical outside wall. The daily limit is 1 gallon of claws per person or 2 gallons per boat, whichever is less, and claws can never be taken from a female carrying eggs.

The rule that matters most is one you have to follow on your own. Only the claw is kept, and the crab goes back in the water alive. FWC's own research summary notes that an adult crab regrows a claw in about a year and needs about three years of molts to bring it back to near full size. The one published study on declawing found that crabs that lost one claw survived far better than crabs that lost both. Take one, leave one, and the crab you return this fall is still in the fishery next October.

What it means for your weekend

From tomorrow through May 1, the Gold Coast's most local luxury is back on menus from PGA Boulevard to Brickell. The smart play for opening week is to skip tonight, book Friday or Saturday, and if you want the real thing, make one stop at a roadside stand with cash in your pocket. The restaurants will have claws all season. The first weekend only happens once.