Collapsible Shrimp / Crab traps for my TC

John S

Hi guys, ESPECIALLY those of you in the NW part of the country.

Currently when we shrimp in our Southcentral Alaska waters we shrimp with assembled steel mesh traps quite successfully.

Next year we're going to check out the inside passage of SouthEast AK.

We won't have room on board to carry our full size shrimp traps and we plan to go after crabs too.

So.......what do you guys think of the collapsible traps??? Any brand in particular that has worked well for you? any brand you didn't like as much? why? Where did you buy yours? Who has the best deal??

Mighty Bite · Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 2:05 am Post subject:

Ladner has a collapsible shrimp trap that folds to about 1' x 1' x 2". Set up they are about 1' x 1' x 2'. Consstruction is stainless steel frame & netting. w/ 2 tunnels. They sell for about $48.00 ea. LFS in Bellingham and Seattle Marine in Seattle both carry them. Only problem is they have a tough time getting enough from Ladner and are frequently out of them.

I have 5 of them and like 'em a lot. As compact as they are it's about ideal as
you can get for a 22 CD. Both DogGoneDory and Sea Duck (now "Thumper", a 255 TomCat) use the same trap and are happy with them.

LFS's number is 800 426-8860 ...... bellingham.@lfsinc.com

Seattle Marine .......... seamar.com

Good luck!

SENSEI · Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 2:58 am Post subject:

hey Mark
the colapsible pots are very light. what do you use to weight them?
we use the stackable nesting style and we made up some rings out of 1 inch plastic water pipe filled with lead shot.these pots take up a lot of room tho.
another system we use is to place a small anchor at the end of the rope and use the halibut snaps to attach the pots to the line.

Mighty Bite · Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 3:45 am Post subject:

Hey Roger my man, yep, the traps are light. I cut 2 pieces of rebar for each
trap, about 12" long. I'm guessing 5/8", at any rate they weigh 1# each. I
coated each with a couple coats of liquid rubber and I used plastic ties to attach them solidly to opposing bottom arms of the frame. Once on there the
traps can be opened and closed without fussing with the weights. They are for all
practical purposes out of the way, so it's a one time deal having to worry about
weights. Along with that I use a small coated navy type anchor on the end of
the line (mine is about 10# which is heavier than needed and I think I'll go to a
lighter one.

Also, on these collapsible traps there is nothing in the center of the trap to
"contain" the Scotty plastic bait jars so I use a plastic tie to secure the lid to
the center stem of the trap and leave a little slack in it so I can just leave the
lid attached, screw off the jar re-bait and I'm ready to boogie again. That way
the bait jar is pretty wel centered in the trap.

I clip the traps on to the line with halibut snaps as I let the line out. I usually run all 5 traps on a single line. Varies somewhat on depth as you know. I've got several chunks of line, 400' 300' and two 100' pieces. The best part of the
operation is the ease that I can combine any combination of lengths. I have a
quick link on each end of all of them and these are quick! Not the normal quick link that a person usually sees. LFS for example, was not at all familiar
with them. I'd post a pic. but I'm not clever enough to figure out how to on here. If you're curious, send me your e-mail address and I can send it to you
that way. The only place I've seen these links are Longs Marine in Valdez. You
can snap another length of line on as quick as you can clap your hands together. The depth I might want to go varies so much up here that it is
extraordinarilly convenient to have the links.

Like anything else, not for everyone, but it works good for me.

Oh yeah, being the wimpy guy I am, I pull this with an Ace Hauler. Remind me when I see you about the "Ace", and I'll relate a rather bizarre story.

Have fun down there. I'm done until spring!

John S · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 1:27 am Post subject:

OK, so the collapsible shrimp traps sound good. No complaints there at all.

What about the folding crab traps, someone must have some experience with them. I just want to make sure before I dump a bunch of money on these traps that they are comparable to the fixed traps.

Thanks for the replies guys.

John

SENSEI · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 7:14 am Post subject:

we use the Danielson folding style crab pots and they work well. you need some added weight in them also. we use a brick wired in to the bottom. we have crimped them so they don't collapse any more but you would not need to do it.here is a good site to see about these pots http://www.coastsidefishingclub.com/?q=node/48

the regular price for them is arround 26.00$ but watch the Joes stores , sometimes they run them on special. the last I got this summer were on special for 17.50$

we use full length lead line for the crab pots.we are crabbing fairly shallow here(25 to 30 ft) of water
depending on how deep you go for the shrimp,(275 to 300 ft) we use about 300 ft of polly with 50 or so of lead line at the top end .

Wandering Sagebrush · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 10:01 am Post subject: Shrimp Pots

When we were in the Broughton's last year, we bought pots that collapse/expand by pivoting around a weighted center post. i do not recall the name, but when i get over to the beach house, I can take a look. They fold very flat and seem to work just fine.

Steve

gljjr · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 12:19 pm Post subject:

In Puget Sound it is crazy to spend a lot of money on Crab Traps as too many of them get stolen while fishing. That is the main reason I have the Danielson traps. Putting Rebar on the bottom of them similar to what is posted above works very well with them too. They do seem to work OK, but I hate the way they fold and I always Zip Tie them in place so they don't fold up when in use.

starcrafttom · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:07 pm Post subject:

I have stopped buying traps. its much easier to salvage traps. I keep a look out while trolling at low tides after the seasons over. I am not stealing traps. there are many "lost" traps out there. I pull them and if they are marked I call the owners and arrange to return them,Several have rewarded me with Joes gift cards or beer or offers to go fishing, but if there are no markings that are readable then I keep them.

the main reason that I do this is that lost traps keep killing crap for a long time. A crab enters and then dies , other crabs smell it and enter then die etc...This is a cycle of death that kills more crabs then we all eat in a season. this is why its important to have the rot cord in the right size and right material. many traps out there are rigged with wire or zip ties on the escape hole. this is illegal and wrong. Please make sure your traps are rigged right. I have talked to the local fish and game officer in this area and he has no problem with lost traps being pulled after season, just dump the crabs. I also mark traps that are left out during season on closed days.I try to report these with gps numbers to fish and game.

I have also found several poacher traps. These are traps marked with small floats painted black or dark green. They use radiator bottles or two liter soda bottles. I mark these and report them too. I don't pull them because I would like fish and game to watch these and catch the poachers. last year I found in the off season 12 pots.

The local tribe last year hired a guy( they where "talked "in to doing this in leu of fines or restrictions) to scan the port susan area with side scan sonar to locate lost pots and then have a diver recover them. they found hundreds of their own lost pots and many recreational pots as well. this will stop the cycle of death in that area. I wish this could be done in more parts of the sound. I was also told by fish and game that if you find a pot or get tangled in a pot and don't want it, them collapse the pot and send it to davy jones. I black mouth fish all winter and hook on lost pots all the time while trolling right on the bottom. I have retired many pots before I started taking them home.

right now I have two good pots from my last trip. Also many people don't weight , mark ,or float their pots right and when they float off , or get sucked under they claim they are stolen.

John S · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 4:52 pm Post subject:

THIS is the crab info I was looking for. Danielson traps here I come, really appreciate the mod info. The Coast Side Fishing website was INCREDIBLE.

Thanks guys, please keep the info coming. I don't think trap salvage is an option for us, as the areas we will be going aren't crabbed quite as heavily as Puget Sound.

Thanks again for all the awesome advice. keep it coming.

John

PenguinPA · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 7:39 pm Post subject:

Interesting New Gizmo called the Sto-b-low. Folding crab pyramid. Haven't used them, but seem to very popular, everytime I see them, they are selling like hotcackes.

here is the link: http://www.stow-b-low.net/

Happy Hunting

John S · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:27 pm Post subject:

PenguinPA · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 9:35 pm Post subject:

Des Moines, WA (just south of Seattle)

Like I said, have seen them at shows and they fold nicely into a compact bundle. No one except the manufacturer has attested to their ability (that I know of)

Agree, very spendy, hence why I haven't purchased yet, but just thought I'd share, always better to see all the options then kick the dirt latter.

Have a great night

Drew Beer

John S · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:26 am Post subject:

timflan · Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 1:40 pm Post subject:

We've discussed a couple of these over on Navagear. We even have a video showing how to unfold and fold the Flex-Fold trap.

Stow-B-Low:
http://www.navagear.com/2007/02/building-a-better-crab-trap/

Flex-Fold:
http://www.navagear.com/2007/03/another-clever-folding-crab-trap/

Flex-Fold video:
http://www.navagear.com/2007/06/folding-crab-trap-great-for-small-boats/

Flex-Fold stowage aboard my C-Dory 22 Cruiser:
http://www.navagear.com/2007/10/flex-fold-crab-trap-stowage/