Help with new prawn traps

[salmonkiller01]

I just bought a couple of square prawn traps , the ones that are plastic coated wire mesh, well to say the least my first round of using them was not rewarding. How do peeps here bait them up? Do they need longer soaks? I baited with a can of catfood opened up quite liberally and then stuffed a scotty bait jar in the bait holder full of ace of bait pellets and catfood mixture. 3 hour soak and less than 20 prawns a trap. The area that i prawn has always produced on short soaks with commercial traps. Was thinking of freezing the cat food and then putting the frozen pucks in the baitholder without the can.

 

[Charter Tofino]

Sounds good to me. Maybe just wrong depth, prawning was not great or the traps are not as good.

 

[salmonkiller01]

Ya not sure whats going on, gonna modify my bait to frozen pucks and see what happens. It has been a couple years since I prawned and noticed alot more people fishing the area.

 

[nedarb2]

dont cram the bait jars full, only fill them 2/3 and drill lots of holes in them, you want as much waterflow (and scent release) as possible. the longer the soak, the more u fill them.
also i dont know how big your pellets are, but i put mine in a bag and smash them to break them up also.

 

[salmonkiller01]

Thanks for the input, now if I only had big grady like yours I could be out there perfecting my skills

 

[eaglemaniac]

Hey killer: Let your traps season up a bit. Your first soak is not always the best. You caught a few so there working. Your bait sounds good. Try another set and see if it improves. If not move on. I use a gps to return to my last set, it helps with consistancy. It's surprising how far you drift while your checking your traps. eman

 

[salmonkiller01]

I sold my boat a couple years ago and all my gps marks are gone(thank fully the boat went off island). I will keep at it, especially now that I have had a taste of fresh prawns again.

 

[Island Fish Lifter]

I like the idea of frozen pucks. I also thought of this last year but never acted on it. My way of thinking was why let it milk out on the trip to bottom... It wont thaw unitl its on there, then milk away little cat food puck!! I think this would be great on a short soak!

Fill the dam tub!

 

[alley cat]

I have soaked my pellets in the prawn scent oil and also Alaska Fish fertilizer overnight before setting out in the next day and that is also effective in retaining the scent flow.


AL

 

[seagal]

All of these tips are really good. Bait and traps sound good. Like others have said, try another soak and double check your depth and location. My prawn hole is very technical. 50 feet in either direction can be the difference of 25 prawns a trap verses 125 a trap! Tides can really wreak havoc with this too.

 

[salmonkiller01]

I am gonna definetly try these tip and will let everyone know my findings. I am also going to get a couple commercial traps(new) and see if there is a difference in the traps. I still have a couple secret spots to try and hope they are still secret.

 

[spring fever]

Tell me where they are and I'll tell you if they are still Secret!!! Just kidding-good luck-picked up a lot of interesting ideas on this thread. Thanks guys!

 

[reelfast]

yah might want to read the label on the fish fertilizer before you scarf down a bunch of prawns.

 

[salmonkiller01]

Ya,I probly wont do the fishfertilizer thing, tried it years ago did not work well for me. Carlyl cat food and pellets

 

[Tips Up]

Pellets take a while to soak and start to release so...
- You can load your bait jars and presoak them in a bucket for a couple of hours to get them started. ( I found this pretty messy in the boat)
- Add a couple of scoops of white fish cat food into each bait jar along with the pellets. The cat food gives off a good scent right away and the pellets take over after that.

Pellets only on a short soak don't seem as effective for me. I think because the first hour or 2 there is very little scent.
I have tried a couple of oils and even sardines but the boat and the traps stunk for weeks!
Seems like the cat food and pellet combo is the most effective and efficient way to go for me.

I do hate dumping the expensive pellets after a 4 or 5 hour soak. Seems like a waste. Anyone come up with a good way to reuse?

Thanks,
Tips

 

[salmon9]

For short soaks I presoak the pellets loaded half full in Scotty bait jars in a bucket of water for approx 60 min.

 

[Sushihunter]

quote:Originally posted by salmon9

For short soaks I presoak the pellets loaded half full in Scotty bait jars in a bucket of water for approx 60 min.

I have always used the Ace Prawn Oil to spice up the pellets.

I put a squirt in the bottom of the cup, throw in the pellets about half to 2/3rds full and another squirt on top of the pellets. This generally leaves a small oil slick on the surface when launching the traps.

I remember one time, we dropped a pair of traps on a single line and we didn't like the final resting place as it was a little too far into the center of the channel, so we decided to pick it up and move it. Trap was on the bottom for no longer than about 10 minutes and we got about a dozen Prawns when we hauled it.

I think that getting Prawns relies more on placement of the trap than on the bait. Any of the popular baits will work if the Prawns can smell it. If you are in a honey hole, you will load up, if you land in a desert - not so much.

I think the pellets last for several days, and I generally leave my traps in the water. I will leave the old pellets in the jar and top up with some fresh pellets and more Prawn oil. A Salmon head tied into the center of the trap helps too.



Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://ca.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250

 

[Time]

I'm no expert, but for short soaking periods, 2-3 hours or so, I do a mix of pellets doused in prawn oil (and sometimes throw in a can of Carlyle tuna), mixed up in plastic baggies the night before. Pellets seem to absorb the oil a bit so it doesn't wash away immediately, and the pellets are softened up by the oil. Combination seems to present a good quick release of attractant.
When it's time to launch the traps I just empty the baggie into the bait jar. Pretty much no muss, no fuss on the boat.
Seldom fill the bait cup over 1/3 full.

 

[eaglemaniac]

Hey Time: That is an excellent recipe for success. Thanks for sharing that. I'm not quite sure if this is legal. Someone mentioned that a friend of their's had a pile of Graceful Crabs in there trap. I wanted to mention that the best cure for that problem, was to flatten a few or so of them in your traps. They don't seem to like there own scent.The prawns just love it though. eman

 

[spring fever]

I keep a 2 gal closed bucket at home loaded with commercial prawn bait. I soak the pellets with prawn oil and tumble the bucket every few days. Night before I go I put 4 cans of Carlye cat food into the mixture. The pellets have soaked up all the cat food juice and the prawn oil. I take what I need and refill the bucket. As the season progresses the storage bucket gets more and more oily and fishy and I haven't wasted any expensive oil or cat food.. If it bothers you you can freeze it between trips.