Prawning Rope what do you buy?

Captain PartyMarty

Captain PartyMarty

Crew Member
Hi guy's

I am looking into buying prawning rope and want to get 5 400ft lines. I have always used leaded line but maybe theres a better option. Shoping around locally I can buy 400ft rolls from 50 to 60 bucks + tax. However the cheepest I have found is LFS in Bellingham which sells 1800ft leaded line for 131 us. The issue is I don't know if the LFS stuff is cheep line which won't coil nicely....

Do any of you know of a place locally offering a better price? Do any of you have experience with the LFS stuff?

Capt
 
LFS is mostly a commercial fishing supplier so I would hope their rope is up to par.
What I use and quite like is a mixed prawn rope. I have only seen it at Steveston Marine but it is 300' of poly spliced to 100' of leaded line. The leaded sinks where it needs to and the poly is quite supple and doesn't have the memory of some cheaper poly ropes, so it coils very easily. Price is about what you said.
 
Finished Business said:
What I use and quite like is a mixed prawn rope. I have only seen it at Steveston Marine but it is 300' of poly spliced to 100' of leaded line. The leaded sinks where it needs to and the poly is quite supple and doesn't have the memory of some cheaper poly ropes, so it coils very easily. Price is about what you said.
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I got the same thing from PNT a few years ago. It was 300 orrange polly to 150 of leaded. works quite well. I now have 3 sets of 450 taken from a commercial prawn string. Got it wen I bought my used traps from him. I took 1350 feet of his string and one could not notice the diff.
 
PNT in steveston is your best bet, pick up a Fid there too and learn how to use it.
make anything you want.
I like to have floating line between the traps as well, keeps it off the botttom and no snagging up
 
FWIW:
Years ago I bought a variety of diameters of 3 strand poly rope since the diameter makes a huge difference in how much storage space you need.
I learned that 1/4" is WAY to hard on your hands, in the event that you have to pull by hand.
3/8" is nice on the hands, but takes up lots of space.
I have settled on 5/16" for all of my strands now...it is more than strong enough, and easy on the hands - even in cold weather.
Instead of lead line, simply hang a weight on the line approx 25' from your float. I also hang a 3 pound ball approx 25' from the last trap to act like rode.
 
commercial grade 'blue steel' will not work with the scotty coiler, tried it and gave up. if its the 'gray' line you are going to purchase in a bale, it will work just fine with the scotty product and a wash tub.
 
Go to ladner traps in ladner, good deal on traps and 450' poly line with either 100 or150' sinking tip for 60 bucks
 
I am amazed at how many of you use floating line with just a 100ft of sinking line. I have fid and started splicing rope last year it's actually pretty easy. Maybe i will give it a try with floating rope this year. I am guessing the leaded line goes up by the float?
 
Yes that's right Marty, use lead up top and floating down below I only use 50' of floating rest is leaded
 
I use commercial poly rope ( blue) that I got from commercial prawning supplier. The blue stuff has UV inhibitors to prevent damage in sunlight...It was easier on hands as well... I just buy it by the a spool. I don't use sinking line...I use clip on weight 4 per trap to keep rope down. I was advised against leaded line from the commercial supplier. They explained that the sinking rope could coil around your trap and possibly lift the trap during high current flows... I am not sure I totally buy that theory but what I have been doing the float rope and its working...no issues.
 
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Captain PartyMarty said:
Whats the point of having 50ft of floating line? If your using that much leaded line why not go full leaded?
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I use the floating line between the traps so the line isnt laying on the bottom of the ocean getting snagged
 
I talked to the guys at ladner traps and the sinking line apparently is for the bottom end, so it sits in the bottom and floating goes towards the top with a weight. His reasoning was do you want to accidentally run over a prawn line with your prop with a leaded line! I don't know exactly if this is true but I liked his reasoning. So far so good!
 
I just use floating line and lines weight no sinking line at all..... I would never use sinking line along the bottom prawning as Hooking Up said it will get snagged.
 
leaded line is much easier to deal with as you don't have to stop your pulls to unclip your weights. never heard the fantasy about it coiling on the bottom. the currents I fish would never let that happen :) floating line is a navigation hazard to you and others who happen to come along. once the current flow goes to slack, you line is on the surface ready to foul anyone's prop. splicing in a top shot of 100' or so of leaded is a good idea if you must use floating line.
 
Or you can use clip on weights...Not saying you should use floating line without anything that's pretty careless... The coiling on bottom probably has to do with snags as someone mentioned.. Sangs on something and lifts trap. Anyhow I kind of trust the guys there as they sell all there stuff to commercial fleet. I suppose the reason they also use the different UV line is most of there stuff is out on the deck for periods of time...

You can buy leaded line both ways are right...I would just not run it down to the trap that's all...
 
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