Prawning stories...etiquette?

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doug78

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Had an interesting week with the traps. Last week we found a labelled floater last week, right on the langdale ferry path between gambier and bowen. It has been returned to is owner, perfect.

The following was all in the same day.
-Pulled up a chandelier with a set of nets, i guess the local cabin owners like to toss stuff off he bluffs?!
-Pulled my next set and it looks like someone had some issues with it. Not sure if they tangled with there own nets or somehow caught with their prop, either way the result was my line was cut and tied back together with a neat little knot. Thanks for saving my nets...thanks for splicing my 450 feet of rope...
-Came across two unmarked floats, one floating in 800 feet and another in a closed sponge reef area...

Would it be wrong to recover a floating trap that isn't marked? Seemed wrong to pull it, wrong to leave it...so i left it.

It was also a somber afternoon as the authorities where searching for a missing kayaker off of west van.
 
Free floating unmarked traps should be fair game. Especially when the line and float have substantial algae growth on them. Leave them in a pile at the boat launch.
I think we should have a one week period every year where there is no trap fishing. It would allow a group effort to clean up all those abandoned trash traps.
 
eroyd said:
Free floating unmarked traps should be fair game. Especially when the line and float have substantial algae growth on them. Leave them in a pile at the boat launch.
I think we should have a one week period every year where there is no trap fishing. It would allow a group effort to clean up all those abandoned trash traps.
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This is a great idea, I dont pull the abandoned traps either just in case but I have seen quite a few that have excessive algae buildup.
 
doug78 said:
Had an interesting week with the traps. Last week we found a labelled floater last week, right on the langdale ferry path between gambier and bowen. It has been returned to is owner, perfect.

The following was all in the same day.
-Pulled up a chandelier with a set of nets, i guess the local cabin owners like to toss stuff off he bluffs?!
-Pulled my next set and it looks like someone had some issues with it. Not sure if they tangled with there own nets or somehow caught with their prop, either way the result was my line was cut and tied back together with a neat little knot. Thanks for saving my nets...thanks for splicing my 450 feet of rope...
-Came across two unmarked floats, one floating in 800 feet and another in a closed sponge reef area...

Would it be wrong to recover a floating trap that isn't marked? Seemed wrong to pull it, wrong to leave it...so i left it.

It was also a somber afternoon as the authorities where searching for a missing kayaker off of west van.
Click to expand...
spliced mainline is usually the calling card of a commercial fisherman.
 
Not prawn traps but...
I seen half of a foam float in a little bay around Rupert a few years ago. Being curious we floated by it and noticed a rope attached and zero markings. We decided to pull it up due to the amount of kelp on the rope. There was four large crab traps in total all the under size escape ports were wired shut on them. No bait/food left so the crabs turned cannibal lots of half eaten crabs and stink. We released the crabs and wired the traps open and dumped them back in by shore and tied the rope in a tree with the half float hanging. Pretty sure who's traps they were so we didn't bother calling the DFO.

looking back I shouldn't have pulled the traps it would have been hard to explain they are not ours and we should have called it in.
 
Rain City said:
Which also means you dropped on top of him.
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No bouys anywhere near where I was. They likely wouldn't go anywhere near that spot as I'm right beside the sponge reef closure. I actually haven't seen a commerical set in the whole 8 days I've been on the water.
 
Rain City said:
Which also means you dropped on top of him.
Click to expand...
what they tend to do is carpet bag the living crap of an area on a big long string and then as they prospect they will localize and refocus their traps as they hone in on the bugs. their floats can be waaay away from where you dropped. easy mistake to make for a rec guy.
 
I consider it a courtesy to return traps that are obviously lost, drifting in deep water etc. I have recovered and returned at least a dozen over the years - owners always very appreciative. Have also phoned others when I suspect traps may be misplaced.
 
RiverBoy said:
what they tend to do is carpet bag the living crap of an area on a big long string and then as they prospect they will localize and refocus their traps as they hone in on the bugs. their floats can be waaay away from where you dropped. easy mistake to make for a rec guy.
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Do the commerical guys have to run more than one Bouy?? Like we do if we run more than 3 or 4 traps on a line.
 
CR Bill said:
I consider it a courtesy to return traps that are obviously lost, drifting in deep water etc. I have recovered and returned at least a dozen over the years - owners always very appreciative. Have also phoned others when I suspect traps may be misplaced.
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Yup, met a guy 2 days ago to return his trap. Last year I found a crab trap halfway between Ladner and Roger Curtis, picked it up on my jet ski and a return it to the gentleman.

Would be nice to know how to handle unmarked floaters. No need for them to around waiting to get hit.
 
I see traps quite often traveling from point Roberts to sandheads. Floating towards the island. We assume the river slowly pushes them out until they float away.
 
Commercial prawners are carpeting the Victoria waterfront with traps. One came right up to me when I was hali fishing two weeks ago and warned me that I may loose my gear as he was about to drop traps right where I was fishing. It was an aggressive asshole move on his part. We don’t need huge prawning boats coming up to us on the open ocean and tell sport fishers to move on so he can drop his traps.
 
DuroBoat said:
Commercial prawners are carpeting the Victoria waterfront with traps. One came right up to me when I was hali fishing two weeks ago and warned me that I may loose my gear as he was about to drop traps right where I was fishing. It was an aggressive asshole move on his part. We don’t need huge prawning boats coming up to us on the open ocean and tell sport fishers to move on so he can drop his traps.
Click to expand...
This is really common during commercial season. Commercial prawners generally think they own the ocean and multiple times I’ve had my gear carpet bombed and tangled by these clowns. I have never met a prawner that was a decent guy on the water or on the dock . I personally can’t wait till a commercial guy does this to me again. I’ve got a brand new knife in the drawer waiting for this moment.
 
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Thunder21 said:
This is really common during commercial season. Commercial prawners generally think they own the ocean and multiple times I’ve had my gear carpet bombed and tangled by these clowns. I have never met a prawner that was a decent guy on the water or on the dock . I personally can’t wait till a commercial guy does this to me again. I’ve got a brand new knife in the drawer waiting for this moment.
Click to expand...
What a joke. Someone’s wearing big red shoes and I don’t think it’s the commercial guys….
 
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