where have all the prawns gone ??????

[waverider117]

hey guys

anyone been out prawning in saanich inlet lately.
Was out there today and had a grand total of about 20 prawns from 8 traps
checked them every couple of hours and moved them around -- tried depths
of 180-220
Was the commercial opening that devastating that they have not recovered yet or is this just a slow time for prawning

appreciate any insight or feedback
cheers

 

[sly_karma]

Was even worse than that for me on Sunshine Coast area first half of Aug, completely empty traps from locations that usually produce.

 

[Tips Up]

I had no problem filling the traps last weekend in a short soak.
Good sizes also

Inlet closes after this weekend for 2 weeks. Pulse fishing starts.

Tips

 

[Bent-Tip]

We did alright last week in the inlet. We set our 6 traps a ways apart. Soaked the first for an hour and picked up in rotation. Moving along the traps to where we were getting the most and we were done after four hours.

 

[Fishin'Zinn]

Prawns are a bit migratory apparently... I could suggest trying deeper (~300 feet).

However, I just think they are all being fished out unfortunately. I've been lucky to get over 10 Keepers from a spot that used to produce 50+ for even rookie prawners on the Sunshine Coast years ago. No bueno...

 

[Fish Assassin]

Come on didn't you know this is a sustainable fishery .... Sustainable my arse. Only sustainable till its over fished then they are all gone.

Interesting thing is when people buy small meshed traps so they can catch small prawns prior to then reaching maturity enabling them to become female and produce more prwans. Do some research before killing a pail of small prawns for dinner. Don't buy or use a small meshed trap in the water threatening the prawns future in our waters. These small meshed traps should be banned.

 

[sfisher]

Where in sannich inlet have people had success in the last few weeks ??
usually drop them by the flag pole 200ft and keep coming up dry.

 

[Copper Moon]

Come on didn't you know this is a sustainable fishery .... Sustainable my arse. Only sustainable till its over fished then they are all gone.

Interesting thing is when people buy small meshed traps so they can catch small prawns prior to then reaching maturity enabling them to become female and produce more prwans. Do some research before killing a pail of small prawns for dinner. Don't buy or use a small meshed trap in the water threatening the prawns future in our waters. These small meshed traps should be banned.

I totally agree. This fishery does not appear to be managed and the small mesh is BS.

 

[fshnfnatic]

Heard from a buddy of mine that it's been hot and cold lately. 40-50 in one trap,2-3 in the next,and not alot of size to
them yet. I'm holding off for a while yet before I drop the boat in at Mill Bay Marina. If I can't get my 200 med.-large
in a couple of pulls over 3-4 hrs.,I don't bother.

 

[NautiGirl]

I dropped 2 traps off Metchosin area for 3hrs this weekend around slack. One trap got tangled and likely landed upsie down (5 prawns) while the other had about 80. I kept the 50 largest, mostly medium sized striped and spotted prawns.

 

[blackvelvet]

I went a couple days ago and found big clouds starting about 250' and out to 300'. 45 minute soak. First pot was 156, then every pot after was somewhere between 180 and 270 per pot. All spot prawns, about 50% were jumbos. Anything less was tossed back in. (We have 1" mesh in the U.S. so little guys mostly wash out on the way up)

BTW, I am just barely south of the border, so close I can almost reach out and touch the BC half of the San Juans. Can't understand how there wouldn't be a comparable biomass just a few miles away. They gotta be there somewhere.

 

[GDW]

Oh they are here don't worry about that.

I thought you were going to have a picture of an 18 inch prawn to go with your 225 # halibut and 42 # spring, what gives? Lol.