Prawn and crab traps

B

Boss

New Member
I would like to get set up for prawning and crabbing. I would rather spend a few extra bucks and get traps that fish well and last, rather than trying to save a few pennies. From what I have read, it is desirable to weight your traps. If so, would I be better off getting the Ladner traps in the commercial version, say the 30" ones? Does anyone have any suggestions for a good quality trap? If I move quickly I may get a big stack under the Christmas tree!
 
i just bought a dozen off my buddy a commercial prawner. Hes got tons more. 50$ a trap. beauty stainless traps with the bungies and snaps on them.there the 30" ones
 
High Five said:
If you want to get creative and reduce cost you can make your own. I run custom rectangular traps I made out of aqua-mesh material. This is the same as all the rectangular traps you see from ladner etc. To make and fabricate each is about 30-40 each. They are awesome and so much easier to stack on the deck than those round ones. I am going to make up a couple of crab traps this winter with the same material.
Click to expand...

Where do you get the aquamesh material? and do you use something like a sheet metal brake to form them up?
 
i would like to get into prawning this winter too. I have been looking around, and it seems like Ladner traps are a bit tough to find on the Island. Trotac and Pac net both stock Black Diamond traps.... they look very similar. Any experience with these ones? I also spoke to one salesman who was recommending using the traps with the larger mesh. the suggestion being that it is better for shrimp to be sorted on the haul up rather than hand sorting only to be chucked overboard. What do ya think?
Alan
 
ladner's may be hard to find on the island but worth the effort if someone can get them for you. Or call ladner traps direct and see what they can do.

I personally like shrimp as much as prawns. They are AWESOME on a ceasar salad, or to dip a handful in some cocktail sauce...plus when prawning sucks its still nice to get some skrimps on the barrr-Bee and still come home with something.
 
A couple of points to consider. When you buy used commercial traps there is a reason they are being sold cheap. Once the mesh stretches they don't fish as well as new traps. I like the large mesh as you get quality prawns but once it stretches you won't have many prawns that stay in. New fishes way better. The good points, cheep, large prawns.
I you can only get out a few times a year, or for a short period of time check out the Bauer Sea traps. They are a hard wire mesh trap that fish awesome. The down side is the hard wire mesh can be brutal on ripping seats and such.
One thing that I can`t stess enough is good quality rope and lots of it. Good quality floats as well. Lots of weight as well if you are not sure of the areas tide and winds. You would not beleive the amount of gear drifting around Barkley Sound that people asume was stolen.
 
so what exactly is the difference between a prawn and a shrimp??

if i were purchasing new crab or shrimp traps, i would be going with the net variety which allows for the convenient stacking of the traps. the commercial folks down this way have moved to this system and pack hundreds of traps on a very small footprint. i don't know who makes them but they are available in a variety of commerical fishing outlets.
 
Bod said:
A couple of points to consider. When you buy used commercial traps there is a reason they are being sold cheap. Once the mesh stretches they don't fish as well as new traps. I like the large mesh as you get quality prawns but once it stretches you won't have many prawns that stay in. New fishes way better. The good points, cheep, large prawns.
I you can only get out a few times a year, or for a short period of time check out the Bauer Sea traps. They are a hard wire mesh trap that fish awesome. The down side is the hard wire mesh can be brutal on ripping seats and such.
One thing that I can`t stess enough is good quality rope and lots of it. Good quality floats as well. Lots of weight as well if you are not sure of the areas tide and winds. You would not beleive the amount of gear drifting around Barkley Sound that people asume was stolen.
Click to expand...

X2.... There's a stupid amount of gear on the bottom, I dont think many prawners have any idea how easily their gear will drift without weighing it down properly or just avoiding some spots. Isnt it awesome trolling through submerged gear.... :mad:

You can buy replacement mesh at some tackle shops which is another option if youre buying used gear with **** mesh. Also, you want the mesh to have a nice and tight fit, the less bagginess the better.
 
Spot Prawn

images


Shrimp

images


Difference being texture and size is my guess. The prawns I catch seem to be 3 to 6 times as big as the shrimp that come up in the same trap.

I've caught prawns up to 8" long, shrimps aren't any bigger than 2" for the most part...
 
As far as I know a spot Prawn is a large Shrimp as I recall it falls within the Shrimp 'family'. There are several different types of shrimp( and sizes) ...for eg. Ghost, Coonstripe etc.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
we call that whopper a spot shrimp. coon stripe, etc. are smaller shrimp that easily escape our traps because the mesh size regulations. i think calling them prawns is something that you islanders have adopted as a name but when you read our F&W regs, they are identified as shrimp. whatever you call them, they are delicious.
 
reelfast said:
we call that whopper a spot shrimp. coon stripe, etc. are smaller shrimp that easily escape our traps because the mesh size regulations. i think calling them prawns is something that you islanders have adopted as a name but when you read our F&W regs, they are identified as shrimp. whatever you call them, they are delicious.
Click to expand...

You're right, spot prawns are in the shrimp family.... but you would get corrected if you called them a "spot shrimp" anywhere in BC. Too bad your mesh wont hold the coons, IMO theyre every bit as good as the spot prawn.
 
High Five said:
Yes sheet metal brake. You can get material up in Nanaimo from the Aqua Pacific. They are a commercial supplier. They sell all the rope and everything there as well if you need it.
Click to expand...

I was there yesterday. Bought a demo prawn trap they make for the California market. Great people to deal with.
 
LFS also has the stackable net variety of traps. check them out before you buy the hard ones. with limited deck space the stackables make a ton of sense and down this way the commercials are using them almost exclusively.
 
The Ladner pots I linked to are stackable. I bought them since I can create a stack 4 high in the cockpit and take up 1/2-1/4 the space of the rectangular pots. They also fish well and you can buy them pre-weighted.
 
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