Shrimp pots?

[HntnFsh]

In over 20 years of shrimping Hood Canal I dont see a difference in shape of pot. Round, square, octagon. They all fish the same. The difference is in the bait and the ramps. Ramps out fish funnels about 2-1 in my experience. Where I shrimp you dont need a lot of weight. 10 lbs is fine. 15 is plenty. I like my pots to hold 2 large bait cups. I think they are about 3.5x9 with straight walls. I like these glow in the dark ones. But having a hard time finding them lately. Not so sure the glow in the dark makes a difference, but cant hurt. The style is more important to me. I want to get as much scent in the water I can as fast as I can.
https://www.outdoorshopping.com/os/danielson-glow-bait-barrel-3-58-d-x-9-h--engineered-for-crab--shrimp-traps.html

I like to mix my bait so that about half of it is gone in a 1 hour soak.

Bait also makes a big difference. If I use pellets I either grind them or soak them in oil until they break down. I use lots of oil. Amongst other things. I like Pro Cure and Mckays. But Menhadden oil is fine as I'm sure vegetable oil would be also. Just something to get that scent out.

[ASHQUACK]

We used to soak our pellet bait in Alaska fish fertilizer.

[HntnFsh]

 :yike:That's a secret ingredient!

It works well, but I haven't used it for a few years.

[lokidog]

:yike:That's a secret ingredient!

It works well, but I haven't used it for a few years.

I haven't used homemade barf smelling bait in years. Pellets work fine and bonus with a fish carcass in there.

[blackpowderhunter]

i dont think the pot matters as much as the location and bait.
i run ladner and on the opener in an undisclosed spot my first two pots came up with over 200 in each...so we had our 5 limits in first two pots.
everyone says they only fish well on long soaks, that was after 50-60 min soaks, so do with that what you will.

[Stein]

If you are using pellets you can buy a 50# bag at LFS in Bellingham for about what you get one of those little buckets for.

[carlyoungs]

i dont think the pot matters as much as the location and bait.
i run ladner and on the opener in an undisclosed spot my first two pots came up with over 200 in each...so we had our 5 limits in first two pots.
everyone says they only fish well on long soaks, that was after 50-60 min soaks, so do with that what you will.

Just curious how deep you were fishing? Our best pots were in 240 feet of water. The ones at 320 had like 4 shrimp in them.

[RB]

If you are using pellets you can buy a 50# bag at LFS in Bellingham for about what you get one of those little buckets for.

 

Been using those for years!

[blackpowderhunter]

i dont think the pot matters as much as the location and bait.
i run ladner and on the opener in an undisclosed spot my first two pots came up with over 200 in each...so we had our 5 limits in first two pots.
everyone says they only fish well on long soaks, that was after 50-60 min soaks, so do with that what you will.

Just curious how deep you were fishing? Our best pots were in 240 feet of water. The ones at 320 had like 4 shrimp in them.

270-290

[Stein]

Depth seems to depend on area.  One area I fish is best in the 275 range and another is much better in 200, even 175 and not much if anything beyond 275.  If in doubt, I usually shoot for 225-250.  Look for the slope, sometimes that dictates the depth.

I've never bothered beyond 300, the couple times I tried didn't yield anything.

[carlyoungs]

Thanks guys! Will try shallower next week

[blackpowderhunter]

use your electronics too...
screen shot from last week, this is an area away from the globs of other boats, so don't rely on following the crowd.