Flex Fold Crab traps

[Stompor]

Do you guys add weight to your traps, or are they heavy enough with out?

[Randygh]

I haven't used mine yet, however last weekend I melted down some lead and made a flat, pancake weight for each trap. They weight about 2 pounds each. I'll secure one to the bottom of each trap.

[Tedster]

I would, w/out knowing the trap, say that it is always advisable to weight any trap of any design to get 'er down faster, and to not let any currents down there effect it.

[jwishart]

I am still waiting for crab season to open to try mine. The pot is pretty light and does need weight. I spoke to the guy (at the Boat Show) who makes them, and he advised me to put at least 4 pounds of lead on the trap.

[Go Aweigh2452]

Thanks for the reminder. I have an 8# weight to take on board for the pot...

[lee]

I went down to Nisqually Delta yesterday for crab. 7 of us got limits in one pull. Very tasty!

[kwb]

Currently my pots have two Form stakes wired to bottom of pot with SS welding wire

In past I have used 2' long pieces of 5/8 rebar, lead weights, and when fishing shallower lines no weights at all.

I will suggest lead or shrink wrapping steel - the rust stains are a PITA if you leave the pots on the step for a week long trip.

We have done well enough lately that we don't typically carry as many pots as allowed so I have been carrying my long line pots and then fishing in whatever depths are getting results.

[Randygh]

While crabbing last week we tried the zinc timed-dissolve gizmo's to sink our crab trap line floats. My son purchased the 24 hour release ones at a marine supply store in Bellingham. The gizmos are tied into the float line with a big-loop so the float line is too short to permit the float to reach the surface. I put one of them on my new flex fold pot float line and the next day the float wasn't on the surface. Bummer. Fortunately my son marked the pot position with his GPS and we made a drag line that worked perfectly to snag the float and save the pot. The problem was with the poly float line. It looped on itself during the 24 hour soak and when the gizmo released the line, there wasn't enough free line to allow the float to surface. My son used leaded line which is stiffer and it worked well. The leaded line doesn't knot up as easily. I'll pick up some leaded float line to use for submerged overnight soaks.

[Papa Charlie]

Randy,
Did soaking for 24 hours help with the catch?

[Randygh]

Yes, soaking overnight yielded more keepers than a 6-8 hr soak. Sequim Bay is quickly crabbed out and while we caught many females and small males in short soaks, we caught the larger 8"ers after an overnight soak.

[kwb]

Are you sure the float release deals are legal? - I don't have regs handy but I recall that there was something about every pot having a visible float with person fishing it contact information. No stringing of pots to one float was another point I know I read.

[Go Aweigh2452]

We have had best luck here with one hour soaks... Not only limited out but get to choose the bigger ones as keepers...

[jwishart]

We have had best luck here with one hour soaks... Not only limited out but get to choose the bigger ones as keepers...

Doug, are you using the Flex Fold crab trap? If so, how much weight did you add, and what kind of bait are you using?

We are going to use our tonight when we get up to the San Juans later this evening. I don't know where we are going to end up, but I hope it will be some good crab grounds.

[Go Aweigh2452]

Doug, are you using the Flex Fold crab trap? If so, how much weight did you add, and what kind of bait are you using?

We are going to use our tonight when we get up to the San Juans later this evening. I don't know where we are going to end up, but I hope it will be some good crab grounds.

I did not add any weight to the trap. Used left over fillet of salmon for bait... no heads but lots of meatless bones, fins, etc. I would suggest you double check to see you have the trap doors in the closed position. I did not once and after dumping 20+ crab in my dink, and letting the trap back down I saw a door stuck in the open position. I intend to add lead weights to the doors using the string lead and just wrap a few inches to each one. I really love the trap. Works great... can dump all the **** out in a few seconds and close the trap up just as fast for another soak. One hour was good for each soak as two of them had star fish in them and not many crabs...

Just finished cooking up three days worth of crab and deep freezing them...

The 20+ crab were 17 female and 2 dungenes and 1 rock crab...

[Randygh]

Are you sure the float release deals are legal? - I don't have regs handy but I recall that there was something about every pot having a visible float with person fishing it contact information. No stringing of pots to one float was another point I know I read.

I think you're correct about the float release gizmo being illegal. I looked online today at the shellfish regs and it says pots must have a float on the surface except during extreme tides. Seems clear to me the pots must have floats visible with the fishers name and address. I wrote an email to F & W but the contact email address was invalid. Figures. I'm going to do more research to see for sure if they releases are illegal. Thanks for the heads up.

[Papa Charlie]

We were at John's Sporting Goods in Everett the other day purchasing a crab pot. I asked about those weights you were using Randy. The guy in the shop said he had never heard of them but that he didn't think it was legal as the rules state that pots must be pulled 1 hour after dusk.

[SomeSailor]

Yeah. They're illegal. Overnight soaks are allowed. You just cannot set, fish or retrieve from any boat one hour after official sunset or one hour before official sunrise. The part that gets ya is the part about crab pot bouys being red and white AND VISIBLE at all times while fishing.

You can soak overnight though as long as it's an open day.

[Go Aweigh2452]

We decided to head out and crab tomorrow... Weather looks promising. Maybe I can hook a salmon while the pots soak. I have yet to go out specifically to fish this year with all that is going on with company and new knees, etc... I need a salmon fix... If they are not in Elliot, they may not be in our area either. I hope to land one of those resident salmons...

Been really hard finding crab bait or herring over here on the peninsula. I hit five groceries and wally world (they no longer carry bait)... Finally found some frozen salmon that I steaked and will use that tomorrow with a couple of turkey backs and necks for the crab and stick with artificial lures and scent for the salmon.

[Go Aweigh2452]

Limited out on crab today with four pots out and we hit the limit on pot two. Decided to keep all biggest which are now being steamed with Old bay and frozen later this evening... No fish out there either. Did not see a single one on the fish finder until late high tide but still they were not hungry...

[SomeSailor]

We were up at the Wallace Hatchery yesterday and they said they're expecting very slow King returns this year but initial Coho reports offshore look good. He also confirmed the story that I'd heard about the Tulalip Bubble fishery. They switched them to all Summer Run Chinook two years back and they are doing great, but are mostly netted out by the time the July opener comes. They had been using Fall run smolts from another fishery, but switching gives them better runs, but much earlier. :(

[Go Aweigh2452]

On our way back to Port Orchard very late last evening from Bremerton Marina in our friends 32, we almost ran into gill nets put out by the local indians about 100 yds from the shipyard and at least 300 yds across the Inlet. We scooted within a few yds of the shipyard to avoid the nets. I looked back and could see four other boats laying nets zig zag from the one we went around. Unless the salmon know how to go around the five gill nets in a zig zag pattern, they'll clean that run out in no time... Also, I though they were suppose to light the end markers?

[Tedster]

Suppose to but they get away with anything because a billion years ago we wronged them.....go figure!