Two models, a proportion model and a CPUE model, were developed within a Bayesian framework to estimate the timing of peak proportion and peak relative abundance, respectively, of soft-shell legal-sized male crabs based on observed data from the two sampling programs. [...] The day before a crab is ready to moult, it absorbs seawater through its gut, causing the crab to swell and split the suture line, a seam located at the back of the old carapace. [...] Information from the soft-shell program is used by fisheries managers and industry to better understand variability in moult timing and to potentially adjust the timing of fishing seasons in CMA A. American crab fisheries in California, Oregon, and Washington also recognize the vulnerable soft-shell periods in their management plans and have seasonal closures in place to protect moulting male crab [...] The observed data were analyzed separately for each of the seven index areas, and were combined and analyzed accordingly for each of the four CMAs, for each sampling program. [...] We felt this typical increase of soft-shell legal-sized male in the late fall was important and potentially represented the left side of the model curve, and would be lost in a January to December model.