How to Shrimp with a pot

[oneshotkill]

A guy I know gave me a shrimp pot and I am planning on using it this year.  I know the regulations on shrimp pots but was wondering what works good for bait, what kind of terrain shrimp like, and general tips.  thanks

[huntnphool]

you will need 350' of rope and try to stay in the 250-300' range. Look for flat spots next to shelves. Everyone has their own recipe for bait but canned catfood mixed with fish pellets, clam guts, mackeral and thinned to run out of 3/8 holes in containers works well for us. You want to mix it to a consistency that will allow it to ooz for 45 minutes to an hour between pulls without going empty. Your biggest challenge will come from pulling the pots, doing it by hand will not get you much but blisters and a sore back/arms. Make sure you have clip on weights for your excess line so as mot to get it tangled in props and pumps.

[50CalJim]

Also you'll need to make sure your pot is weighted down a bit. For instance I do my Shrimping in the San Juans which has a strong current flow and I put a 30lb weight inside the pot plus tie an anchor about 8' above the pot to keep the pot stationary.  So with Pot,Weight,Anchor,400' leaded rope and Shrimp thats about 50lbs or so from 300' It didn't take me long to figure out that I needed a pot puller.

[jackelope]

i have pulled 3 pots back to back from the 300' range while my grandfather and wife watched...got 2 of them back, one came loose and sunk back down to the bottom. that sucked bad, and also i felt like i was going to keel over after the 3rd one popped loose. we did get good piles of shrimp though.
we loaded ours with a few good sized chunks of re-bar for weight, but there was not a lot of current where we were.

[robodad]

Would the old anchor puller bouy work to pull pots up from that deep ??

[50CalJim]

Thought about doing that but not sure how it would work. One potential problem would be 300'-400' of rope on the water with other boats around potentially running over your rope. Sounds like a pain in the ass to me trying to keep your rope clear from other boats running around not knowing what your doing.

[robodad]

Thought about doing that but not sure how it would work. One potential problem would be 300'-400' of rope on the water with other boats around potentially running over your rope. Sounds like a pain in the ass to me trying to keep your rope clear from other boats running around not knowing what your doing.

Maybe just go 100' at a time then reel it in and go again  Maybe it would damage the shrimp though, Never thought about that !!!

[huntnphool]

One potential problem would be 300'-400' of rope on the water with other boats around potentially running over your rope.

Thats why you need some halibut clips with weights attached, attach the clip to the rope about 50' from the bouy, this will keep the rope strait down under the bouy and keep it from getting caught in a prop or pump. I wll try and get some pics of these as well as some other gear later for you to see.

[popeshawnpaul]

I just use leaded shrimp line.

Pulling the pot by a puller bouy is a bad idea.  I am told pots will bend and I have had that happen to me in a similar situation.

[cohoho]

Tried it once in AK, the shrimp got squeezed out the sides. Too much force with the boat no matter how slow you go, it didn't work for us at the time, amybe we did it wrong?

[robodad]

Tried it once in AK, the shrimp got squeezed out the sides. Too much force with the boat no matter how slow you go, it didn't work for us at the time, amybe we did it wrong?

Yeah don't sound like a good idea !!!

[pjb3]

As for bait, Canned cat food is what I use

[WAcoueshunter]

The tides are fairly mild on the opener, with only about 5' of run from low to high.  You need to weight your pot to get it to sink and stay put, but probably not as much as normal.  The 2nd day, May 6, the run is around 11'.  Definitely need to weight down the pot.

Particularly on days with a lot of tide run, you need to be careful with your buoy setup.  With all the drag on the line, a single buoy gets sucked under the surface fairly easily.  At a minimum, you need two buoys (or one jumbo), but it's also a good idea to have an extra buoy tied off a lead about 10' from your primary buoy(ies).  Kinda like they do it on Deadliest Catch (albeit for different reasons).  That way, if your primary gets sucked under with the current, you should still have your other buoy floating.  Also need to let out extra line - an extra 75 - 100' more than the bottom depth. 

Phool's right about the bait...you need it to ooze out over time, but not so much that it gets emptied and the shrimp swim away.  We used to use catfood when the Puss n' Boots brand was around, but now we grind shrimp pellets (get them at Outdoor Emporium, Sportco, etc.) with salmon scraps, herring, or other oily fish, then add water to get it to a mud consistency.  Most people let their pots soak 30 - 60 minutes.

Assuming you don't have a pot puller, it's a whole lot easier pulling by hand with two guys.  Put on gloves and alternate long, two handed heaves.  The key is to keep the pot constantly moving up...there's nothing keeping those shrimp in your trap besides the flow of the water as it comes up, so you can't have pauses or let it rest once you start to pull.

I love shrimp season!  Can't wait...just wish it was longer.

[huntnphool]

I still have a few cases of the old Puss-n-boots

[WAcoueshunter]

You were a smart man to find that stuff and pack it away!  Wonder what percentage of their annual sales went into shrimp pots?

[RustneckNW]

 The key is to keep the pot constantly moving up...there's nothing keeping those shrimp in your trap besides the flow of the water as it comes up, so you can't have pauses or let it rest once you start to pull.

Very important detail here for those pulling up pots by hand! You need to keep the pot moving upward (so the shrimp are held in the trap by the movement of the water), 'cause every time you pause, they can swim out of the pot.
(voice of experience here...  you don't want to drag a pot up from 300 feet only to see it empty).

[huntnphool]

Get a puller, it makes it very easy.

[Blacktail135]

 Ditto the puller and the constant water flow. Tried pulling by hand...once. Not again. Tried the anchor puller....once. Not again. Washes the shrimpie's out and I just don't think it's that safe pulling on anything from the stern. I picked up an old Kohler motor with a 6:1 reduction gear off of Ebay ($65), an open side Folbe pulley ($40), had a machinist make me a capstan out of brass (for a portion of the catch) and made a davit from an old trampoline frame(free). I like making/assembling homemade stuff! Have fun out there.

[huntnphool]

Less than a week to go guys, get your boats ready and take lots of picks.