Do you have a crab trap puller?

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nomadcruiser53

New member
If so what kind? Is there any advantage of one over another? I see pullers by Brutus, Ace and EZ. If you have one and could do it over again would you prefer a different one?
 
We have the Ace Line Hauler, great for crab pots but even better on those 300' pulls with double prawn traps up in BC. :thup :thup
 
Aren't Brutus and Ace the same thing?
I have tried Ace on crab pots and it's great. Particularly like the fact that it sits on a Scotty base so I don't have to drill more holes.
I would be interested to hear if anyone has tried the EZ.

Merv
 
nomadcruiser53":1ixm91v0 said:
If so what kind? Is there any advantage of one over another? I see pullers by Brutus, Ace and EZ. If you have one and could do it over again would you prefer a different one?
Click to expand...

EZ pull pot puller & wife that allways out fishes me :wink:
Theresa_s_100_Butt.jpg :mrgreen: :beer
 
I use an ace line hauler for shrimp and a pulley on an extended arm for crab. The simple fact is that crab pots, even my 4' diameter larger pot just does not weigh as much as my shrimp pots and crab are fished for at 1/3 the depth. The Ace line hauler works well but I recommend buying a good quality sailing line cleat and mounting is near the base so the line can be tied off quickly when you shift from pulling up to lifting the pot into the boat.
 
Could anyone suggest a book on crabbing and shrimping maybe with some general locations? Going on a trip to San Juans and BC in may. Thanks Michael
 
Michael,

Crab usually doesn't open in the San Juans until July and Prawn seasons are more than a little confusing. When Prawn fishing you have to be very careful of tides, and strong currents that often create short "soak" times. :crook

Jack
 
Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 4:22 pm Post subject: crabs

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Could anyone suggest a book on crabbing and shrimping maybe with some general locations? Going on a trip to San Juans and BC in may. Thanks Michael

Re Crab fishing; I note you are from inland. Two things you can do are to check WDFW.gov (washington Fish and Wildlife) they will give you an idea of the regs and gear requirement. For locations, you are looking for the right topography and grass beds, often in bays. I am sure their are books but word of mouth is better. Ask where, how deep and what is working for bait. In the south sound it is all about horse clam meat and guts, but a salmon head and spine never hurts.
Since crab can be taken in 80feet of water and good traps are not very heavy, your investment is much less that for a good shrimp set up.
For shrimp you will need at least 300' of line that is leaded of that you clip weights to to make sure that it sinks. The best shrimp pots for spot prawns will set you back a few hundred but you will harvest your limit every time. The thing is they are heavy and are out 300 feet and have much resistance on the way up, so you need a HS football lineman or a good hydraulic puller. You will also need sperate floats, cat food for bait and a rubbermade hose real to wind up your line (a must if you are fishing two or more traps. I have never shrimped in the islands, but in the Edmonds to Everett area most of our pulls yielded 100+ large prawns last year. We made trips to the dock to change out fishers and even so we were never on the water longer than till 11:30AM.
But the season is short, Sat and Wed only for only two weeks or so in May (longer in canada and for smaller shrimp in the san juans
Good luck to you.
 
Thanks everyone I'll do some more homework. My son and I are planning to go somewhere based out of the north Whidby or San Juans or Bellingham and will also go to Canadian waters as I think crabbing will be open when we go the first of May.

Wow 300' of water for shrimp, thats a long pull by hand. Good thing my son is young and tough. Maybe I'll buy him some new gloves. Are shrimp always that deep? Or is that just the best way to catch them?

Thanks again Michael
 
My wife and myself pull our shrimp pots by hand at about 450-500 feet. We always put out three pots, one with two pots that we pull first and the other with only one. It's worth the effort though as the prize is tasty shrimp.
 
And some doubted that Alaskans were tough as nails. Not me. Still, down here where the spot prawn season lasts 5-6 days, if you want to limit every time it is worth buying custom crab pots which are designed right up to every regulated limit. They are heavy to begin with and weights are added to prevent dragging. The result is that they are very effective but also very heavy. Though they can be pulled by hand it aint fun.
 
In terms of store bought shrimp traps the 8 sided cushman traps do look the best. My custom traps are round with the max circumference and 18" tall with 50% door (the max allowed). The door cones are out of smaller plastic mesh, run floor to ceiling and the inner opening is 8" off the floor (which is key). These round pots out preform square pots 10-1 and shallow (less than 10" high) square pots 20-1.
 
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