Prawning Questions by a Newb.

[Baxter]

I’ve just acquired all the gear to try prawning for the first time ever. Have some questions.

Setup
How does this sound for the rigging?

5 lb weight
10’ of rope
Trap
10’ of rope
Trap
~380’ of rope
Bouy

This is not leaded rope. I have two 1 lb clip on weights. At what distance. From the buoy should I attach them to the rope?

Also should I add extra weight to the traps as well? If so, how much? If I should add more I’ll like cap off some gravel filled 1” pvc and zip tie to the outside of the trap.


Bait
As for bait - I have the cheap red bait cups will put can of catfood, pellets and nasty stinky stuff. Sound about right?


Soaking
What is typically an acceptable minimum soaking time? I don’t plan on leaving them over night and expect to soak for 3-4 hours. Maybe longer depending on the day. Is this suitable to have some success?


Puller
And finally - I plan on pulling these manually. At least for this year. I do have one of those little Scotty puller things which will help a tiny bit, at least better than rope rubbing on boat, but no real puller. Am I a moron?

 

[Rain City]

I’ve just acquired all the gear to try prawning for the first time ever. Have some questions.

Setup
How does this sound for the rigging?

5 lb weight
10’ of rope
Trap
10’ of rope
Trap
~380’ of rope
Bouy

This is not leaded rope. I have two 1 lb clip on weights. At what distance. From the buoy should I attach them to the rope?

Also should I add extra weight to the traps as well? If so, how much?


Bait
As for bait - I have the cheap red bait cups will put can of catfood, pellets and nasty stinky stuff. Sound about right?


Soaking
What is typically an acceptable minimum soaking time? I don’t plan on leaving them over night and expect to soak for 3-4 hours. Maybe longer depending on the day. Is this suitable to have some success?


Puller
And finally - I plan on pulling these manually. At least for this year. I do have one of those little Scotty puller things which will help a tiny bit, at least better than rope rubbing on boat, but no real puller. Am I a moron?

If you're pulling by hand, put one 5lb weight in your ONE trap and another two 1lb weights on your line. 20 feet up from your trap and 50 feet down from your buoy.

When you get a puller:
Trap with 5lbs in it
50-75 of line
Trap with 5lbs in it
20-30 feet 1 lb weight
300 feet of line
1 lb weight
50 feet of line
Buoy

If you're in heavy heavy currents, add the anchor weight at the start of your set and then 20 feet to your first trap. You can even go another big weight after your last trap. But when using those larger weights, be cautious not to have them flip your traps on the drop. Hope that helps.

 

[kaelc]

Where are you planning to try prawning?

You can buy a steel ring and pull up traps using a large buoy. I personally wouldn't pull two traps up by hand especially in a place with current/wind. 1 trap is likely doable but two with a current is too much for my office hands and dad bod. Think of finding a buddy who would lend you his puller in exchange for prawns.

I put a dive weight of a couple of pounds of lead in each trap.

I would space the traps out further 25-30 feet, no measuring I just figure that's how far. I put the 5lb weight 10-15 feet after my second trap.

Soaking that long is fine. Even check after an hour to see if there are any there. Better yet, get multiple strings of traps and try multiple spots and dpths.

Drill lots of holes in the bait cup if it isn't the one with lines throughout.

I have two prawning videos on my youtube channel that might be worth watching.

Go get em!

 

[sly_karma]

The little Scotty pulley thing is better than nothing at all, at least it takes the gunwale friction drag out of the picture. Try to pull on a slack tide, as the drag caused by fast currents only makes your job harder.

 

[Baxter]

The little Scotty pulley thing is better than nothing at all, at least it takes the gunwale friction drag out of the picture. Try to pull on a slack tide, as the drag caused by fast currents only makes your job harder.

Thanks and agreed. The pulley thing does make crab traps a bit easier so figure it will help. Will do as others suggested and start with one trap and see how that pulls. Perhaps try one attempt with 2 traps. Will likely get a puller next year.

 

[Baxter]

If you're pulling by hand, put one 5lb weight in your ONE trap and another two 1lb weights on your line. 20 feet up from your trap and 50 feet down from your buoy.

When you get a puller:
Trap with 5lbs in it
50-75 of line
Trap with 5lbs in it
20-30 feet 1 lb weight
300 feet of line
1 lb weight
50 feet of line
Buoy

If you're in heavy heavy currents, add the anchor weight at the start of your set and then 20 feet to your first trap. You can even go another big weight after your last trap. But when using those larger weights, be cautious not to have them flip your traps on the drop. Hope that helps.

Thx. . I have two spots in mind currently. One will likely have decent currents if I don’t plan tides accordingly, one should have little to no current most of the time.

Didn’t even think of current impacting a manual pull but obviously that could be a big deal!

 

[CIVANO]

decent currents will drag your trap away as well. it will hop the bottom

 

[Fizzishin]

Gazng into my crystal ball..........You will pull your first sets by hand and be immensely excited with the prawns you see......you will then say "**** that" and go buy a prawn puller.......you will then get 1 prawn per trap after investing 500$ in a puller....Don't ask me how I know these things.

 

[Adrenafin]

use proper rope.

 

[kaelc]

$20 or so at your local marine store and if you already have a good size buoy https://amzn.to/4euhKOz

 

[cambrowne]

$20 or so at your local marine store and if you already have a good size buoy https://amzn.to/4euhKOz

I was looking at those rings and was wondering if the rope would stay put with no chain after you motor-pull your trap. Maybe its a two person job?

I was also looking at getting one of the auto-locking ones, but it also seems like a pain in the butt to swap to a different line, and wouldn't work well with spliced line or any weights on the line.

Thanks!

 

[kaelc]

I was looking at those rings and was wondering if the rope would stay put with no chain after you motor-pull your trap. Maybe its a two person job?

I was also looking at getting one of the auto-locking ones, but it also seems like a pain in the butt to swap to a different line, and wouldn't work well with spliced line or any weights on the line.

Thanks!

If I remember correctly, there is some sinking after you circle back to grab the line buoy, but not much. I've had a trap puller for 7 years.

 

[eroyd]

Pull mine by hand with a scotty roller. Good exercise for an aging fellow but I can't yet justify $500+ for a power puller. I don't need too prawns as much as some do. I wish the arm on the Scotty roller was shorter (ie. stiffer).

 

[Corey_lax]

Pull mine by hand with a scotty roller. Good exercise for an aging fellow but I can't yet justify $500+ for a power puller. I don't need too prawns as much as some do. I wish the arm on the Scotty roller was shorter (ie. stiffer).

I wish it was longer. And the mount was stronger. But that’s just the design nerd in me. I have an ace Brutus electric puller that I bought for $300 and it was used once when I bought it. Wait for a good deal and change your outlook. Nothing wrong with a workout while on the water but pulling a few sets multiple times a day gets old very quickly

 

[sly_karma]

Biggest plus when I first got the scotty puller was being able to do short soaks to see where the prawns weren't - check after 45 minutes, move on if nothing much in there. Or pull and re-set if the initial drop was off and you're too deep or too shallow.

Then I felt encouraged to get a second trap setup. And do a 2-3 hour soak followed by an overnight soak, same cycle on following days. Four pull/resets a day gives potentially more production, important for a guy from the interior with only 2 or 3 visits to the coast each year.

 

[Bearded wonder]

I’ve just acquired all the gear to try prawning for the first time ever. Have some questions.

Setup
How does this sound for the rigging?

5 lb weight
10’ of rope
Trap
10’ of rope
Trap
~380’ of rope
Bouy

This is not leaded rope. I have two 1 lb clip on weights. At what distance. From the buoy should I attach them to the rope?

Also should I add extra weight to the traps as well? If so, how much? If I should add more I’ll like cap off some gravel filled 1” pvc and zip tie to the outside of the trap.


Bait
As for bait - I have the cheap red bait cups will put can of catfood, pellets and nasty stinky stuff. Sound about right?


Soaking
What is typically an acceptable minimum soaking time? I don’t plan on leaving them over night and expect to soak for 3-4 hours. Maybe longer depending on the day. Is this suitable to have some success?


Puller
And finally - I plan on pulling these manually. At least for this year. I do have one of those little Scotty puller things which will help a tiny bit, at least better than rope rubbing on boat, but no real puller. Am I a moron?

Off Nanaimo I run 500’ of rope, floating and leaded spliced. My setup as follow:

Trap
25’ rope
Trap
25’ rope
5 lb clip weight
2 lb clip weight 20’ below float

I found they haven’t moved much. And I am able to pull two sets by hand. Granted my arms are burning. Only recently got a puller when my trap hooked abandoned traps and I couldn’t pull everything

 

[Baxter]

Thanks for the help! Dropped traps for the first time ever today. Dropped two on one line and pulled manually. Nearly died. But I did it!! Sooo close to limit. Got 124!!! Delicious.

 

[Rain City]

Thanks for the help! Dropped traps for the first time ever today. Dropped two on one line and pulled manually. Nearly died. But I did it!! Sooo close to limit. Got 124!!! Delicious.

That's phenomenal. Nice work. What did you go with?

 

[coastalmarinesafety]

I’ve just acquired all the gear to try prawning for the first time ever. Have some questions.

Setup
How does this sound for the rigging?

5 lb weight
10’ of rope
Trap
10’ of rope
Trap
~380’ of rope
Bouy

This is not leaded rope. I have two 1 lb clip on weights. At what distance. From the buoy should I attach them to the rope?

Also should I add extra weight to the traps as well? If so, how much? If I should add more I’ll like cap off some gravel filled 1” pvc and zip tie to the outside of the trap.


Bait
As for bait - I have the cheap red bait cups will put can of catfood, pellets and nasty stinky stuff. Sound about right?


Soaking
What is typically an acceptable minimum soaking time? I don’t plan on leaving them over night and expect to soak for 3-4 hours. Maybe longer depending on the day. Is this suitable to have some success?


Puller
And finally - I plan on pulling these manually. At least for this year. I do have one of those little Scotty puller things which will help a tiny bit, at least better than rope rubbing on boat, but no real puller. Am I a moron?

Nice job on your first haul. Been there with my first set. Then got a Scotty puller and never looked back. Pulling in the current or wind, having a power puller is almost a must. Look for a used Scotty or other power puller is my advice if you’re now hooked on prawning.