vstheboombox said:
How do you like using those traps? I wanted to pick up some of those heavy duty crab pots but they are pretty spendy! Those cages seem more in my price range. Pros? Cons? Awesome video by the way!
they work great and cost effective for sure but we have learned a bunch of tricks over the years that really help turn these $19 wire box traps into crab killers:
1- the newer Danielson type with plastic hinge for the crab door are better than older ones that just used a metal bend hinge, those earlier doors would stick open or closed sometimes especially when you start getting some rust.
2- doors need more weight at the bottom, I got a roll of sinker lead and wrapped 4" to 6" of it around the bottom of each door, crabs still push them open easy but they close better.
3- traps need more weight so they stay flat during moving tides- I cut some 1/2" rebar and attached 2 pieces that go corner-to-corner to the bottom of each trap using normal nylon zip-ties. traps are still not too heavy but it keeps them flat down on the bottom.
as for bait-
4- our favorite set-up now is to use one of those big plastic mesh "envelope" things they sell but we don't put it flat on the trap bottom, we attach one end to the trap bottom and secure the other end, where the bait goes in, to the top, using releasable nylon zip-ties (more on these below), we observed the crab would climb up over each other to get to higher bait and so we wanted to expose more surface area of the bait bag to them, plus it gets them pulled into the center of the trap so there was room for more crab to enter...
5- uncooked salmon or tuna heads/tails/scraps are great bait....but if we are out of that, our killer bait is taking chicken carcass chunks (whole chicken, remove breast/drum/thigh for BBQ, hack what is left in half) and marinate that overnight in a ziplock in the fridge in Pauzkee Crab/Shrimp Fuel. Killer bait and basically free.
as for the releasable nylon zip-ties, I love these for crabbing/boating/camping, these things are wider than the normal ones and easy to release (even one-handed), great thing is, you can zip them around stuff all over the boat so when you need one, just release it from where it is hanging and use it....
(that reminds me, I need to order more having given away so many).
FYI- our best pull last year on the Siuslaw, early August, normal square box trap rigged this way, we had 16 keepers in one after just a 30min. soak (see image).
cheers, roger
PS- as the vinyl coating tears/wears off and some rust forms, I just tear away any loose vinyl, rinse good, and spray with some Derusto Rust Reformer, it hardens up the rust and slows the corrosion down....
