Crab pot lesson learned

[Capin' Dan]

Noticed by Mr. Fisherman.
Six crab pots three with weighted doors and three without. The doors with the weighted doors still had bait and had only one or two crab in them. The ones without the weighted doors caught crabs. Norrivdave, I would remove your weights on the fingers.

Just an observation.

[RatherBFishn]

Interesting. Maybe the crabs were just too tired from doing whatever crabs do to push open those weighted doors. I have had just the opposite experience. In modestly strong current small amounts of seaweed or other debris will often times hold the unweighted doors open while the weighted doors were the only traps with crab left in them. Now I always use weighted doors and seem to do pretty good most of the time. Anybody else have experience with and without weighted doors? (And I just tossed all my old unweighted doors away.)

[outdoor.spec.ops]

I dont know about the weighted doors, but I know that we had some stock box trap-pots moving on us--just a few feet, but they kept coming up empty. Added an old chunk of pipe, and the pots no-longer move, and now usually have a few crabs, if im lucky.

[Stryker]

I use weighted doors but I use banana weights and zip-tie them to the doors. Banana weights have a ring on both ends and work great. That way I can change the weight as current and condition dictate (usually 1½, 2 or 3 oz). You could easily remove them as well.

I also tried something new this year. I use the wire bait boxes. I added a plastic mesh to the inside of the box. It made a big difference in how much bait was left at the end of the day. The plastic mesh is the stuff you put over your house gutters to keep leafs out. I just used small zip-ties to secure the mesh to the inside of each box. Seems to work great and the crab haven’t torn it up yet.

[Mello-Yello]

I don't use weighted doors, and IMHO, can't see them helping much. The forces down-under are so great, I don't think you could weight em enough to make a difference (and still get crabs through the door).

A few important factors with pots are;
>always check that your doors open completely before deploying your pots.

>Make sure your bait doesn't restrict movement of the door.

> Make sure the bait is far enough from the door that one big crab doesn't stand in the door and munch. He's gotta go inside to get to the bait.

> When tying your line to the pot, tie it to the top-side of the pot opposite the door. This will ensure it lands right-side up as the rope will cause the needed drag to ensure it lands on it's bottom edge.

>Bait Boxes are the only way to go! I still like to throw a cark or two in with it, mainly for appearance and to give the new residents something to munch on. The baitbox ensures some food remains intact to draw more crabs in. Zip tie your box to the floor.

> When using carks, ensure crabs can't reach them from outside the pot. For $9.99 I bought a 'can' of 1001 zip ties. They work great for strapping the carks in where they won't flop around inside the trap and block a door or end up along the side. You want the feast taking place 'inside' the pot.

> Make sure the bait box locking mechanism is tough. Many come with a little rubber band and a hook. I would use this as fill material for the local landfill. Heavy wire and a 'donut' cut from a bicycle innertube. These little critters are strong and can pry the boxes open if they aren't secured.

Good Luck!

M-Y

[Ramstrong]

Instead of weights, just zip tie the up current door closed. The only door that should have the problem is the up current one. And most of the crabs are coming from down current following the scent trail. Just something for you to try. It's worked for me in the past and there are no weights necessary.

[Slugranch]

take a tip from the commercial guys and buy some "chew bag" at Englund Marine. Its a continous rope of plastic net in a tube. Insert the bait and tie off the ends with a couple of tie wraps, secure in the pots and you're crabbing. Some of mine are three years old and still holding up. Not sure about the regs in Oregon, but in Wa. they require us to use a cotton cord in the pot latch system, so if the pot is lost, the cord will eventually rot and release the lid.

[fish assassin]

Same rule with the cotton twine thingy here in Oregon (at least for
commercial pots).

-assAssin-

[fishwhenican]

I have changed my pots by strapping the bait boxes to the bottom of the lid. Easy to bait,flip open the lid, and if there are a lot of snails on the bottom the bait lasts a lot longer.