Square prawn traps

If there was a bigger square mesh trap i'd buy it, maybe a winter build project...

Shot of prawning Jumbo season filtering out the minis on a commercial trap..
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Great photos! Nice to see the traps grading like that. When the traps grade while on the bottom the survivability of the smaller prawns is greatly increased I'm sure. It's amazing how slow a prawn sinks when they are released at the surface. They may as well have a bullseye painted on them sinking at such a slow rate.
 
I would say the square traps out fish the round. First time using square, and hot 143. Round only had 38.
 

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My friend and I have had this discussion in the past, so we settled it. He brought four round ones and I brought four squares. We ran four strings each with a round and a square. Each square outfished the round on that string. We dropped them off Cole Bay in the Saanich Inlet. It was about 3:1, however, there were some smaller ones in the square, but many more larger ones as well.
 
My friend and I have had this discussion in the past, so we settled it. He brought four round ones and I brought four squares. We ran four strings each with a round and a square. Each square outfished the round on that string. We dropped them off Cole Bay in the Saanich Inlet. It was about 3:1, however, there were some smaller ones in the square, but many more larger ones as well.
Did you alternate which was first on the line? First trap always catches more in my experience. I still agree they're better but I'm interested in your method and control.
 
Box traps out-fish rounds at least 2-1 for me. Tried all sorts of setups with both but square always wins.....
I fish Brentwood Bay every year in Dec. (not so many folks out there "helping" me when it's so cold!)
 
Did you alternate which was first on the line? First trap always catches more in my experience. I still agree they're better but I'm interested in your method and control.
In fairness to science, but mostly so I wouldn't have to listen to my buddy continue to say it was fixed and "it's because the squares were put down first", we alternated the positioning of the styles on the lines. Negligible difference.
 
The Bauer type traps work very well. With the reduced limits, I keep only the large and jumbo sizes. That means that I sort out a lot of the smaller sizes. I don't know about the survival rate of these little guys as they descend the 300' water column. I only let traps soak for 3- 3 1/2 hours. I've noticed that the prawns find their way out if given all night to do so. Some square steel mesh traps are being made with larger 1"x1" mesh. The little guys can get out but they can also get in through the mesh. It would be nice to only catch the ones I plan to keep.
The Alaskan Shrimp guy also makes parlor traps......2 compartment traps (24"x 36"x10") that hold prawns better on an overnight soak.....I'm sure they have different catch limits there as well.
What are the thoughts on the 1'x1' steel mesh traps?....
 
I talked to Bruno Bauer today about their traps. He recommends the KUFA bait cups, as the design lets out more scent compared to Scotty or others. This aligns with a shorter soak period of 2 hours or so. Bruno suggests the Scotty cup if you are leaving them overnight.


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I just use drilled out Gatorade bottles myself. They are the perfect height for trap I make. Use them overnight and short soaks never had an issue.
can you get a can of cat food on top? With the 6" high cup, there is still 2 inches or so to put in a punched cat food can.
 
I talked to Bruno Bauer today about their traps. He recommends the KUFA bait cups, as the design lets out more scent compared to Scotty or others. This aligns with a shorter soak period of 2 hours or so. Bruno suggests the Scotty cup if you are leaving them overnight.


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Those things are such terrible quality the lids just fall off. I threw mine out.
 
I just drill holes In the Scotty ones
I found some skinnier glow tall ones that aren't that huge size. They have lots of holes. I can't find any more of them though. Been looking for a while.
 
How many times do you reuse. Do you add any oil after the first use.
I reuse my bait a lot in the winter because the freezer is usually empty in the boat. I dump it all into a bag and throw it back in the freezer. I'll add fresh pellets every second or third set and a squirt of oil in each jar on the reset. I use herring chunks and pellets so the herring lasts a long time.
 
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