Need Advice on Crab Pot purhcase

[Reel Livin']

I've been learning to fish T-Bay and Nehalem Bay areas and want to add crabbing to my routine.

I could use some advise on preferred crab pots. I'm looking at some large round pots with a plastic coated frame and wire mesh. They run $100+ each and I was wondering if they are worth it? I could also use a few pointers on Do's and Dont's in the bays. I have done crabbing with friends, but my experience is limited.

[Hookset]

Ask Bait O' eggs about the Protocol pots, at least the pots your getting sound like this brand.

One item to pay attention to is rope lenght and water depth. Always have apx. 15 feet more line then water depth. And keep the pots out of shipping lanes and the main channel. On strong outgoing tides, you can lose pots when crabbing the deeper water in the channel. It really pays to know the water your crabbing. In every bay, there are good areas and really good areas and lots of poor locations. Watch where other people crab to help find locations. Another good point is watch your rope and float. Never run over either and when you do, be quick to shut off your motor to keep the line out of the prop. A good tool to retieve the pot line is a boat hook.

Lots more good tips coming,

Gregg

[Meridian]

A hundred dolars each, ba humbug. there probably great traps but how much do you reqlly plan to use them. Now you have 3 guys on your boat, better take all nine traps or nine hundred dollars. Crab meat is getting spendy this way.
I got my traps used. Paid 25.00 each. They work just fine. Also, when I lose one someday in the future(bound to happen)it won't wreck my day because i'm out 100 bucks.

[Pitch Pocket]

I prefer the Danielsons at $17 each. They weigh less but if you attend them, they fish every bit as good as the heavy more expensive traps. If you do decide to get tricky and leave your traps when you go fish, you won't be losing hundreds of dollars when someone steals them or when they go to sea on a strong outgoing tide.

One tip, if you use a floating line, make sure you weight your line about 8' down. It keeps the line under your buoy deep enough to stay out of the prop unless you run right over it. Otherwise, your line can be hanging on the surface for 15' or more making a pretty effective snare for passers by. They do make a crab line with a lead core that doesn't need weighting. I think you can get it at a marine supply store.

[Phish_on]

Do a search and read up on all of our previous discussions.

I have a big heavy commercial style trap and a Daniel-san folding one. The cheesy folding trap catches about twice as many crabs when I drop them both in the same vicinity. And it's a lot easier to pull up! (I have added some weight to it) At 100 bucks each, you could have 5 of these, eh?

That's my $.02 again - do the search

[Pilar]

Or wait for the sale at GI Joes and get them for $70 - $75.

I use the danielsons too, they work great if you tend them closely. What they won't do is hold crab after the bait is gone. When I drop pots in the ocean I use the crab motels. The brine spiders check in but they don't check out. You get what you pay for and Protoco are unbeatable if you plan on leaving them unattended.

Reel livin, get some cheap gear and learn how to crab. Buy the expensive stuff when you get addicted to Dungeness.

There is a whole lot to crabbing besides which trap you use. Location, location, location is the biggest thing. That and bait selection and the way you tie it into your trap. The idea is to prevent dine and dash. If they can reach your bait from the outside, they will. They can even pull it out of the pot if it is tied loosely.

Watching crab pots at work with dive gear is instructive.

[Threemuch]

I ran some experiments with my paranoid buddy this weekend, who insisted on putting tie wraps on his pots. He had one pot completely empty. No bait, no crab, no nothing. But the ties were in place. My pot 50 ' away, 6 keepers. He would have sworn he was robbed, but alas, some small crabs must have made quick work of his bait and they all left his pot. No robbery, just poor fishing.

I have said it before, and I will say it again, most people are honest, and if you double buoy, weight your pots adequately (15-30 pounds, more is better), and weight you line, so it won't float, odds are good your gear will be waiting when you return.

I fish two Protoco 3 door pots approx $100 rigged, one two door rebar pot from fishermans at about $80 rigged. This week I will get 3 plastic pots from www.oceantraps.com, and I will let you know how they fish.

[Gobbaworms]

Here's the best set up for under $50 a pot:
Get a 2' x 2' fold up (Danielson) with a bait box and tie rebar around the inside bottom perimeter. This will make the trap bottom heavy so it won't drift or roll (as the lighter ones sometime do) if you decide to leave'em while you're fishing.
Pot: $18
Rebar (4 precut 2' pieces at Home Depot): $4
Bait Box: $4
2 buoys: $10
Rope: $10 or so

The 2 buoys are necessary because sometime the current will sink a single. I've also seen guys tie a milk jug 3 to 5 feet above their buoys. Having them separated like that will always keep it visible (in current). I've never been disappointed with this set up and it won't hurt as much if I ever lose one.

[Reel Livin']

Thanks all for the pointers. Much like going after Chinook I suppose......go where the fish are, use good bait, good presentation and take good care of your gear.

I'll certainly take your advise Pilar, and research older posts.

SjP...watching your message on your success on Saturday. Good advise on cooking them up when you catch em'. I certainly plan on leaving the pots to go fishing, so I'm a bit concerned about your point on theft.

Does that really happen all that much?

I saw a thread a while back from Hottamale where I believe he had someone swiping crab from his pots.

[Pitch Pocket]

Stolen lost or sunk, if you leave em, they may not be there when you get back. There's been a lot of discussion about it. You'll find it when you search. Good luck.

[Phish_on]

Good clue on weighting the rope, I'm going to try that - had a HECK of a time in high wind and tide on one trip, kept killing the motor for fear of running over the rope.

Two floats with space in between helps indicate which way the line is holding in the current and also provides a good spot to grab the line w/ "the hook."

I also like the colored balloon idea to distinguish your pots from the multitudes ... hmmmm gotta get crabbin' before the monsoon hits

[Threemuch]

I use two different colored buoys to distinguish my gear. My buddy Lou puts a dowel rod through his buoy, weights one end, and puts a flag on it. Easy to find even in big swells outside. Seattle marine www.seamar.com has cheap buoys, like $2 each, and so does www.go2marine.com

Retail stores around here charge like 5 bucks for buoys.

I would add to the list above

Weights for line $2
Bait cup $2
Pin to hold cup and fish heads $2

[Pitch Pocket]

I took a photo of my crab pot setup using bait cage and Scotty's bait holder.



The bait holder is held to the bottom of the bait cage by plastic wire ties and gives you the option of large or small baits without having to change holders.

Note the red and white buoy making it legal for fishing Washington waters too.

[Reel Livin']

Threemuch, thanks for the vote of confidence in people. I would like to think that most people are honest and that the loss of pots is generally due to loss to a strong outgoing tide. (I'll plan on two bouys..good note).

Thanks for the photo SjP, a picture is worth a thousand words! (PS...still enjoying your active thread on Saturday's catch [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Another question...if you drop your pot in fairly shallow water, do you just let the line a bouy drift, or do you shorten the line somehow? Or am I worrying too much about it?

[Pitch Pocket]

If you clip a weight in the line down about 8' you may still have floating line at prop level if you are too shallow. I can't think of much reason to drop your pots in water shallower than about 20' or so.

I wonder about the electrolysis factor when weighting pots with un-coated re-bar. Do crabs react to the "foil on fillings" zap that fish do? I question whether the charge put off by the iron in salt water would have some negative effect. Any thoughts? You could probably avoid the problem by coating the re-bar with that liquid plastic.

The coating comes off of the Danielsons wear points after a while. I don't know if it actually helps, but I twist on a solid copper wire (outdoor 12 volt lighting wire) to hold the bait cage closed and twist another on to the pot as a backup in case I lose the first one. The bare spots of worn Danielsons don't seem to rust much on those pots. Does the copper provide the same effect as the zinc welded to my sled?

Either way, if I drop my pots and make sure they are sitting square on the bottom before I leave em, they all catch crab.

[Gobbaworms]

I've not noticed any difference between "iron-filled pots" or any other pot. All I know is that sometimes the pots are hard to pull in because the crab are stacked 3 high on each other. I've heard that keeper size males roam around in packs and I've seen that in my crabbing. I'll have a limit of keepers in 1 pull or just 2 females in another. I believe its just being in the right spot at the right time.

I've thought about coating the rebar in something, even zinc based marine primer. It just happened one day that I had the idea, didn't have time to prep the rebar, had a great day of crabbing, and now I've just never got around to it because there has been no need.

Lastly, if you want the flexability of various lengths of line (like me), I use a plastic extension cord holder. You know, the real cheap ones that have two vertical pieces held together by two horizontal pieces that you can wrap the line around. The plastic ones are also neutrally buoyant so they won't drag your floats down.

[Reel Livin']

Thanks for the advise everyone! I finally went ahead with two Protoco 3-door pots. Used the double-bouys and weight for the rope suggestions. Dropped them Nehalem bay on Saturday with a friend and had 13 big males within about 6 pulls on each pot. I'm already hooked on this sport!

Fishing was slow, and though I didn't catch any fish, I had some crab to take home for dinner! Thanks again for the suggestions, and I'll keep up on the other posts for further ideas. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

~Michael

[fish_on]

G.I. Joes has a crab rope kit for $19. It has 100' of lead rope and a good buoy, it's a heck of a deal you almost can't find 100' of rope for $19.