Prawning - Setting your traps

Finished Business

Well-Known Member
In my past prawning this year, I have had little luck. I think it has to do with 2 major factors.
#1 the volume of prawns in the area I am fishing is low #2 my gear is not setting properly.

I've got my string rigged with 2 traps, with about 2 lbs of lead wieght per trap, with 400' of poly spliced to 100' of leaded rope, attached to my buoy. Traps are set about 30-40 feet apart.

When we drop them, we throw the first off the stern, followed by the second, then we slowly troll out the line and toss the buoy. The traps once in the water seem to sink just fine.

We dont use a puller (yet...holy hell its coming soon!! haha) but with 3 guys we keep a steady pull until we are at the top....

Is my technique a workable one or am I doing something wrong? Or am I just fishing the wrong spot. We always get a few prawns, literally a few, but I'm hoping to pull one up busting with them, so I can try and stock the freezer!

Any advice is as usual, appreciated!

Thanks !

FB
 
you need more weight, more like 7-8lbs per trap.
its probably that, mixed with where your putting your traps, and your bait.
 
That sounds about what I do and I do not use any more weight than you described. That said I also try to prawn in areas and times with a smaller current if your in a bigger current you will need more weight.

I toss the first trap in, let out about 50ft of line (or less depending on how much rope I have and how deep I am fishing) then clip the 2nd trap onto the line and toss that over. I keep tension on the rope and troll the traps for a short period so I know they are spread out. You don't need to troll them for long just enough to make sure the rope between the two traps is tight this way they won't fall ontop of each other. After that I let the traps sink on there own and drive the boat away until most of the rope is out of the boat. I don't have sinking line on my prawn traps so I clip a weight near the float and then the most important (and fun) step is tossing the float out like your on the deadliest catch.

If you don't give the float a really good and stylish toss you might lose Prawn Karma.

How many traps are you fishing? Two per string is good but I hope you have more than 2 fishing at once. I have 12 traps and use them all if we get three guys out. Often times I am way over my limit in just one 2.5 hour set but last time out it was a bit of a struggle and we didn't get our limit.

Try some different areas and spread your traps out over various depths. Just like salmon fishing watch for the locals who know what they are doing and try prawning near them. If you find a good spot get as many traps as you can around that same area/depth and mark it on your GPS. I'm not suggesting you follow anyone out from the dock or anything and make sure you give other traps room so you don't tangle but just be observant out there. If everyone has there traps in one spot give it a try there is a reason they fish there. Same thing applies if your fishing an area where nobody else prawns maybe there is a reason nobody likes your spot.

Once you find a couple of decent spots you can try to figure out why those spots are good and then try to find your own little spot if you want to. I do my prawning off the southern end of vancouver island. I don't know many spots but the ones I do know produce well most of the time. I know it's a run from the mainland but if there is no good prawning on your side you could try the gulf islands.
 
is carlyle catfood the standard bait? I was using greesy tuna scraps...because i needed to clean the freezer...but i have yet to see an ocean creature not go nuts for some tuna!

nearly all my fishing is done on the island...

and 7 -8 lbs per seems awefully heavy! no way in hell im handbombing that up!! Back to Sculpins puller-build thread! lol
 
When I sold gear I recommended 10# per trap so your traps will sit in one place not skip along the bottom like they are now.

If you can't swing a puller quite yet one the members here turned me onto this idea it takes a tad of figuring out but is relatively cheap and much less work than hand bombing.

http://www.ironwoodpacific.com/stor...andard-Anchor-Puller-by-Ironwood-Pacific.aspx

is.aspx
 
That technique sounds good. I do a similar setup, but, I add a a small 5lb folding anchor just ahead of the traps. I think this saves it from drifting with the tide and keeps the bouy from lifting them. I do use leaded line though.
A good spot to try for moderate success, usually 20-50 prawns on an overnight soak is along the sea to sky highway out from the Horseshoe Bay Ferry terminal, far enough out as to not impede ferry traffic in about the 300' depth. I also use seafood mix canned catfood.
Hope that helps.
 
i weight both ends of my set,, dont know if anyone mentioned this but i firmly believe i have a far better catch rate if i use lead line between the traps,, any motion around the trap scares the buggers away eg, moving traps or yellow floating line.. good hauls all winter..!! pellets soaked in anise oil.. mmm
 
What type of traps are you using. My first two had commercial sized netting, bigger prawns but fewer. When I bought a third it outfished the first two. While it looked the same the mesh was smaller, hence more but smaller prawns. It looked almost the same until you really started looking at it. I use small 16 oz clip on weights one per trap and one on the line as well. 15 pounds of lead plus traps is an awful lot to hand balm and even a lot for a puller ouch.
 
I fish my sets with 5lbs. weight in each,and about 75ft. between the 2 of them. One handfull of prawn pellets,half a can of Carlile cat food,"the stuffs so nasty my cat won't even touch it", and another handfull of pellets on top. Try to find a
ledge in 200 to 275 ft. and lay them along that drop off. If your getting sqaut lobsters your fishing too deep,so shallow
up 40 or 50 ft. or so. Give them a 3 or 4 hr. soak and check em. If you're getting 30 or more per trap in that time,you're
doin' all right.
 
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