Prawning questions

[dfrase]

1. How do folks feel about soaking overnight vs 4-5 hrs while fishing? had a trap stolen overnight and now a little gunshy to leave it down overnight. Hoping it doesnt impact results
2. New trap i bought came rigged with 300ft of line. We are usually dropping them in about 250ft of water. Am i cutting it to close when considering currents and tides? Thinking of adding another 100ft of line....

Cheers!

 

[captmike]

1. How do folks feel about soaking overnight vs 4-5 hrs while fishing? had a trap stolen overnight and now a little gunshy to leave it down overnight. Hoping it doesnt impact results
2. New trap i bought came rigged with 300ft of line. We are usually dropping them in about 250ft of water. Am i cutting it to close when considering currents and tides? Thinking of adding another 100ft of line....

Cheers!

since prawns are nocturnal and move to the shallows at night,a night set should be better. I set 350-400' of water and use half again as much buoyline (600' for 400' deep) and always a weight 20' from the last trap since prawns don't like any movement of trap or line.

 

[firemann911]

Depend on how good fishing is.... I've prawned in areas that you can do 2 x 2 hours sets and easily have your limit.... where other areas aren't quite as lucrative. With only 50' of slack in your lines I wouldn't be leaving them for any extended period of time otherwise you risk loosing them to the tide/current.

 

[SpringVelocity]

1. How do folks feel about soaking overnight vs 4-5 hrs while fishing? had a trap stolen overnight and now a little gunshy to leave it down overnight. Hoping it doesnt impact results
2. New trap i bought came rigged with 300ft of line. We are usually dropping them in about 250ft of water. Am i cutting it to close when considering currents and tides? Thinking of adding another 100ft of line....

Cheers!

My advice is that honestly prawning in summer is not wise to leave overnight. Winter isn't bad for theft. This time of year lots of weekenders out, and people on holidays. Best to set and do something else and watch your traps. You only need a few hours if your in a good spot, and they fill up all day long.

 

[SpringVelocity]

BTW you are cutting close with that amount of line on a 250ft ledge.

 

[Bows Up]

I have 500' for a set up to 350' deep. I would buy more line if I were you. 4-5 hours is lots, at least where I prawn.

 

[Fisherf]

we set our traps in 300 feet of water with 400 feet of lead line plus the line between the traps. for weight on the traps we evenly zapstrap chain onto the bottom of the trap. when we first started prawning, we had 300 feet of line in 285 feet of water, and when we put it down we watched our float go under water. luckly the week after we lost it a friend found it and returned the setup.
this is our new setup: float(s)-------------300 lead line-----------------trap #1(with zapstrapped chain) -------50 lead line-------trap #2(with zapstrapped chain)
we have always left our traps overnight and never had any theft problems.

 

[straightup]

I work at a sawmill and the log booms that are towed at all hours bring in more floats than you could ever imagine.If you look at AIS it shows the tugboat traffic and even where they have been.Just something to consider before u loose you traps.

 

[Salted]

1. How do folks feel about soaking overnight vs 4-5 hrs while fishing? Cheers!

Location, location, location. Ask someone who fishes the same water, it varies considerably from place to place. For me, 2hrs works great at most of my spots. I also stay close enough to have eyes on my traps 80% of the time. It's a bloody scandal that grown people steal each others traps, but it happens. Currents happen too, too little weight, and bunches of floating poly that get cut on props, so be sure you're doing it right!

For bonus points: Mind who's pulling traps (boat names, direction, etc) if you're close. Had a frantic guy ask me if I'd seen his traps, and had just unknowingly seen the thief pull his gear 15min earlier. I *wish* I'd had the presence of mind to take notes - catching that b**tard would have felt better than a Tyee.

 

[coastal creeper]

Does anybody have a clever way to pull traps without shelling out $600 for a puller? What about pulling them like an anchor with a buoy and a rope grab?

 

[TheBigGuy]

Some guys use that method. I've heard you can lose a lot of your catch because it comes up too fast.

 

[fogged in]

Does anybody have a clever way to pull traps without shelling out $600 for a puller? What about pulling them like an anchor with a buoy and a rope grab?

pulling a prawn trap like an anchor with buoy and ring works just fine
biggest problem can be finding a course thru other pots in the area

 

[Dogbreath]

Some guys use that method. I've heard you can lose a lot of your catch because it comes up too fast.

That's not true-I was on a trip with a board member up north we were using a buoy to raise traps and the guys setting in the same channel next to us were pulling by hand we both got the same number of bugs day after day.

 

[Corey_lax]

Does anybody have a clever way to pull traps without shelling out $600 for a puller? What about pulling them like an anchor with a buoy and a rope grab?

Keep your eyes out for used pullers. I picked up mine for $350 with the case and it was only used once.

 

[Corey_lax]

I don't think pulling up too fast is the problem. The problem is starting and stopping.

 

[TheBigGuy]

That's not true-I was on a trip with a board member up north we were using a buoy to raise traps and the guys setting in the same channel next to us were pulling by hand we both got the same number of bugs day after day.

I stand corrected. That was just what I had heard.

 

[coastal creeper]

Thanks guys, seems to me like a good steady pull through a buoy should be just fine. However if I found a puller for $350, I'd be all over that. Gonna try and get back into it this year

 

[eaglemaniac]

I found the scotty trap puller to help. One other suggestion I might make is use a black float, rather then bright orange and use your GPS. eman

 

[trophywife]

we used to use a floating anchor and small scotchman, its easier on the gear for sure because the faster ya pull em , the quicker your mesh stretches.. and no one wants stretched mesh..

 

[SpringVelocity]

I pull mine by hand.