Pot Pullers

Pat, have you been happy with the unit, and more importantly... would you buy it again or recommend it?

3rdbyte, what do you have in the works? I am pretty shameless too... :mrgreen:
 
I'll be running shrimp pots next year and I'm pretty much like Pat. Gray on top but no logo on the shirt.

I have a new Ace Line Hauler that I'll pull out of the box in the spring and will marry it to 800' of line and 4 or 5 pots. I have a couple of other friends who've used the Ace besides Pat, and they are pretty happy with it. The compact portability and the convenience & clutterless ability to use the Scotty base for it precludes me from considering a faster, bulkier
puller.

Dan is a wit of some magnitude and one of my goals to get over halfway there. Levity floats my boat!
 
Bearbait,

Some days the elevator and some days the shaft! It's a shame that some people have no sense of respect for other folks and their property.
Fortunately these blighted souls are in the minority.

It's probably not a good idea to leave the pots in too long at a stretch and I'm going to be a bit judicious about that. Seems to to me that they don't need to soak all that long if the shrimp are there and if they're not, move 'em. Plus, in a number of spots I'll be fishing close enough to keep an occasional eyeball on them.

Sorry about your losing the pots, gets the hair up on your neck, doesn't it.
 
Hi Pat congradulations on your new boat . I have the same ace pot puller that you have . There is an upgrade you can get , bigger moter, two small pulleys , it will make it lot faster . I believe it will cost about 180. Can. Gary SeaRam
 
Hey Pat, do you still have to pull on the rope or do you just feed it to get it started? Does it do all the lifting or does it just assist?
I have never seen one of these in action but I sure am interested.
They have a special right now, $50 off. Even the wife loves a sale :lol:
 
I am wonderin how strong the downrigger mount will be when you are out there with a 25 to 30 lb shrimp pot, 10 lbs of shrimp, a 8 to 10 lb anchor all being lifted .
sloooooooow is what I have observed.

this season there was another boat out where we were shrimping and he was using one of these electrics. in the time it took him to raise one pot and reset it I had lifted 3 of my pots and reset them using my gas powered puller. we had 375 ft of 3/8 line with 75 0f it being lead line(sinking).we were in 280 ft of water, with about a 1 knot curent.
 
I hate to be the contrarian here - well actually never mind that is what I do...:roll:

Anyway for those of us in the state of Washington here's what I think --

1) Crab pots are generally not that deep and are fairly easy to pull by hand especially if aided by a pulley (I use a cheap one that mounts in a Scotty rod holder). I can catch my breath while running to the next crab pot.

2) Shrimp pots are generally deep and it would be nice to have a puller for those....I might need a little extra time to catch my breath between shrimp pot pulls.

3) Our seasons are SO short (especially for shrimp) I can't see getting a puller at all. It will take up garage space for most of the year and probably will only see 2-3 shrimping days and a dozen or less crabbing days.

If I only amortize the cost over my shrimp (maybe a few hundred a year) the cost per pound goes way up... To put it another way $500 invested at a relatively low rate of return would generate enough annual income to allow me to buy more shrimp than I can catch per year. :lol:
 
Well, I agree with you, mostly, but here is the thing...
My buddy has re-discovered prawns off the Oregon coast. I say re-discovered because I know we aren't the first to fish them there but he just had his first successful trip. Well he got 1 and that is better than anyone else I know of. The thing with fishing Prawns ni the open water is that the Jellyfish are thick and they sting like crazy when they get into your ropes. Not to mention we are fishing around 300 feet deep and need enough scope for the current etc.
I am thinking that a gas engine is certainly faster but is also: more expensive, gets hot, gets temperamental after being exposed repeatedly to a salt water environment and you have to be aware of fuel and oil concerns (leaks etc).
The best electric pullers are also expensive but typically they are lighter, store easier, operate quieter but they are also: Slower and the life of the electric motor and components in a salt water environment are questionable.
If money were no object I would probably go with the Cushman as I believe they are a bit more towards the commercial end of the scale, heavy duty.
Maybe I'll just wait until my buddy is pulling in buckets at a time but then I wouldn't be there helping him make history, I'd just be reading about it. And I could surely go to the store and buy my prawns, but I would rather catch my own. Kind of like eating my own canned Tuna that I catch myself... anything else is just cat food once you have done it yourself.
 
Thanks, Gary - I will keep the upgrade in mind...


DodgeRam":2mkmjm5r said:
Hi Pat congradulations on your new boat . I have the same ace pot puller that you have . There is an upgrade you can get , bigger moter, two small pulleys , it will make it lot faster . I believe it will cost about 180. Can. Gary SeaRam
Click to expand...
 
Ray, to both your questions and the two Rogers' comments:

The Ace Pot Puller works great. You do not have to hand pull the pots at all, the motor does the pulling, you just keep tension on the line. It is NOT fast, but if I am pulling four or six crab pots from 50 feet three or four times an outing (what with the poachers around here, we can't leave them unattended, so we stay out and pull the pots hourly), or a couple of shrimp pots from 300+ feet, I am just too dang old to do that by hand, even with a hand pulley. This thing is essential for my enjoyment of crabbing and shrimping. I have the Scotty hump mounted directly on the gunwale with four hefty stainless machine screws with fender washers on the underside - it is plenty stout to bring up any weight of recreational pot. And yes, Sensei's big gas powered davit could out-pull the Ace four to one, but the Ace is little, clean and quiet, fairly inexpensive, easly installed and removed, easy to store, and meets my needs. If I were going to pull lots of pots from deep in the ocean though, I would at least consider going with a bigger, gas-powered operation.


Mr. Fisherman":171qejkp said:
Hey Pat, do you still have to pull on the rope or do you just feed it to get it started? Does it do all the lifting or does it just assist?
I have never seen one of these in action but I sure am interested.
They have a special right now, $50 off. Even the wife loves a sale :lol:
Click to expand...
 
A davit and puller are on my radar screen for this coming season. I am looking for a davit to pull pots as well as heft the 5hp Evinrude over the side into the Zodiac (I am not getting any younger either and almost dropped it this year).

Both electric and gas have disadvantages (I miss my hydraulic snatch block!) and I am wondering if some type of hand crank with a mechanical advantage is out there somewhere for this application.

Would be interested in any info on placement of davits, how anchored to the hull or gunnel, etc.
 
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