Victoria waterfront prawning

Has anyone had any success prawning off the Victoria waterfront or oak bay/ haro straight area? Not looking for coordinates just a general idea. Thanks
 
Yes you can be successful off Victoria/South VI and in JDF. In a buddies boat we have caught some feeds of Spot Prawns and large Coonstriped Shrimp. You will need to watch for good current/wind days and weight your trap and line rather heavily. I also have the impression that it is somewhat spotty and you will need to find your own good spots. Over all I think you will find fishing in Sannich Inlet is more productive, especially for Spot Prawns as there are more of them there. However, you can catch them off Victoria/SVI and it tends to be open when the Inlet is closed with the pulse fishing restrictions. Watch where you put your traps what with all the shipping in the Victoria/SVI area.
 
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If you go off the Victoria waterfront make sure you heavily weight your traps - min. 10 lbs or they can be lost to the strong currents depending on where you drop them. Some guys even use an small anchor for their traps.
 
I am gearing up to try this soon. I plan on dropping my trap 200-250 ft then drift jig for halibut near it. If all goes according to plan I’ll get skunked all around. I did see the biggest spot prawn I’ve ever seen come outa a hali’s Gut a couple months back so I know they’re out there, just waiting for currents ,tide & weather to cooperate.
 

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Lots of prawns there. I used a 5LB Bruce Anchor with 10 feet of chain from my first trap up to the float. Try the reef 1/2 mile NWW of the Yellow Bouy (Little pointy reef facing south). Lots of big fat prawns. You will need to help your puller haul the traps up, lots of hermit crabs inside making them heavy. Also, to the west of the 180 foot rock just south of Broachie Ledge, where the countour line turns north can be money too. Do not go too far to the east, there is a nasty snag there that left 8 brand new traps on the bottom once :*(. But, there are also green urchins there that get in your traps, if you have any friends from the East, they will love them too!
 
I have never performed an overnight soak. I pull them anywhere between 2 to 4 hrs. Can someone share their experience if they have dropped prawn traps in the same area for a few hour soak and in the same area on an overnight soak... Will you get more prawns when soaked overnight or are the numbers prawns you get in the traps the same after a certain number of hours or could you even get less on an overnight soak? Eg, prawns leaving when they have their fill.
 
Ive trapped for prawns off the waterfront. Didnt catch too many per trap. But always caught at least 10 to 30 pretty large ones. Weighted trap for sure. Current would suck the 3 crab floats down untill next slack tide when id find them a few km away! Evenchually i got a 75" netbouy that didn't get pulled down. But the trap would cover some ground. I used a 10lb cannon ball to slow the trap.
 
Went out for late morning troll from Fleming, got a small and released.
At noon I Finally got to drop my prawn trap straight out off esq in 260ft. Then did the drift jig for Hali
And almost as predicted ended with a nice catch of prawns for dinner sadly no Hali. Back home by 3
 

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I have never performed an overnight soak. I pull them anywhere between 2 to 4 hrs. Can someone share their experience if they have dropped prawn traps in the same area for a few hour soak and in the same area on an overnight soak... Will you get more prawns when soaked overnight or are the numbers prawns you get in the traps the same after a certain number of hours or could you even get less on an overnight soak? Eg, prawns leaving when they have their fill.
We are in a different area than you, but we have had much better catches when leaving the traps down overnight.
On a 4 hour soak, maybe 25 prawns from four traps. Overnight we usually get between 50 & 100.
I know others get much better results, but we are still hunting for “our spot”. It’s just our second year at prawning & we’re still learning.
It is a bit nerve wracking abandoning traps for 24 hours, but so far we’ve been lucky. Traps have always been there when we came back.
 
The part I don't get about set up. Why use a float big enough to float your trap. Wouldn't it be better to use lots of weight on your trap to keep it where you left it? Even if the tide pushes your floats under water the trap will still be there the next low slack. If the buoy is big enough to float the trap, it will be gone. The tide could carry something a long way in a few hours.
 
The part I don't get about set up. Why use a float big enough to float your trap. Wouldn't it be better to use lots of weight on your trap to keep it where you left it? Even if the tide pushes your floats under water the trap will still be there the next low slack. If the buoy is big enough to float the trap, it will be gone. The tide could carry something a long way in a few hours.
So if you accidentally drop too deep, which can easily happen, your traps float so you don't lose them. It's not the buoy that's the problem here it's lack of weight or an anchor.
 
If you find a good spot and hit the right depth you will get 90% of a overnight soak with just an hr soak. If you do way better on the overnight soak you probably are fishing too shallow for a shorter day soak. Shrimp are diurnal and they climb upslope into much shallower water during the night. My average depth for a good short day soak is 300’ plus on the edges of the banks. As always ymmv
 
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