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Potting


Adam F
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Adam. ............ brilliant article, ; thanks for posting........... may influence future choice of boat ........ big enough for a string of pots,,,,,,

 

......... problem is...... where to drop them as the Ledge area is so busy........ but sounds fun............. and we both loooooooove the shellfish so much

 

Alun.

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Adam,

I welded up a pot out of an old garden gate and a load of wire mesh left-over from doing guinea-pig runs. Isn't pretty, takes up most of the deck but it has caught a spider crab and a goldsinny on my last two outings. I drop it at the first outbound reef, collect it on the way home. Adds a little extra spice to the day, though my crew roll their eyes a bit cool.gif

There's a guy on e-bay regularly selling the genuine article, they go at about

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Seen them Steve - I like you like tinkering and was trying to think of a way to make my own - the frame looks easy enough it was just the ramps / entry holes I was considering.

 

I have read that the season has pretty much ended on the South coast though and potters dont bother during the winter as the weather is too unpredictable and a ground swell can easily loose your pots...

 

Adam

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Adam,

just have a look on the deck of one of the local potters. If you can find one that uses (D)creels and not (inkwell) pots you'll see the different types of entrances they use. The best entrance for keeping a lobster in would be a soft eye but you'd have to see one as it's a bit difficult to explain how it works. An important thing to remember as well is to make sure the bottom is much heavier than the top or the trap will fall over possibly blocking the entrance when the tide is strong. Lobsters like slack tides and will go into your trap on the slack water and then get out again as the tide starts. So it is best to haul your pot just before the tide starts to run.

Also some of the inshore potters may stop for the winter but the channel fleet will keep at it all through the year.

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Adam, have you seen the placcy type signal crayfish traps?? They are dual ended, clylindrical in shape, no ramp, a simple funnel that allows shellfish entry and no exit, and extremely simple to construct. If you want, I'll try and blagg one from the fish farm, so you can have a glegg, and see if you think you can construct something of a similar nature, the simpler and cheaper...the less you will worry about commercial potters knicking your string!!! They dont like it!!!! Forearmed is forwarned!!

 

Rich

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the frame looks easy enough it was just the ramps / entry holes I was considering.

 

I have read that the season has pretty much ended on the South coast though and potters dont bother during the winter as the weather is too unpredictable and a ground swell can easily loose your pots...

For hardbacks, a plastic plant-pot with the end cut off is easily adequate as an entry. I use two entries per pot, pots are just open mesh trays about 8" deep with a lip at the top to stop the crabs climbing out. Work very well, I can get ten or more hardbacks out of Langstone in the time it takes to prepare and launch the boat.

I've tried a bigger plant pot entry on the 'proper' pot offshore but it occupies too much space. I've reverted to wire mesh ramps, quite wide ones like letterboxes as I want spider crabs. In the Bristol Channel the bait got cleaned out day after day without any catch. When I got back home, I dropped a hinged plastic closer over each of the two entries and this seems to have done the trick, things now get in but not always back out.

When I lose this pot, which eventually I guess I will, then the next generation will be parlour pots with two layers of entry. They'll also be smaller and collapsible, so I can maybe rack them on the cuddy roof out of the way. I'm not bothered about stopping for winter, since my pots are only down while I'm out fishing and the spiders are definitely still around in winter tongue.gif

 

Steve

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