Northwest Fishing Reports

I recently bought a crayfish trap and while attempting to make it legal I came to a problem. The steel mesh that I bought won't really attach to my trap the way I need it to. In other words I attach the cotton cord it floats about a few cm above the actual trap but still I need the peace of mind to know that no crawfish will escape.
The link to photos are below

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Any suggestions? I really want to be ready to crawfish by may and things keep seeming to trip me up arghhhh

can you mold it to the contour of the trap and put it on the inside?
i would use something a little more stout than cotton string. say wire. you could use the ties you find with trash bags.

and what about it are you attempting to make legal?


fishnislife

The string HAS to be able to rot and fall off and that trap door can fall away in case the trap is lost so any crayfish that get in the trap later can escape.

fishnislife wrote:can you mold it to the contour of the trap and put it on the inside?
i would use something a little more stout than cotton string. say wire. you could use the ties you find with trash bags.

and what about it are you attempting to make legal?


fishnislife

I am attempting to make a crawfish trap legal

ahh yes. i remember the regs now. this came up before.
http://www.washingtonlakes.com/forum/vi ... 4&start=60" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
just about at the bottom of the post.

i think the end result was either cut a small 3x5 out of the pot and secure it back to the pot or take the two ends and use 3 cotton loops to tie the two ends together.

the easiest would be the two halves of the trap with cotton string.
that way a trap doesn't have to be destroyed.
the other topic in this forum had some good advice too. http://www.washingtonlakes.com/forum/vi ... 23&t=21366" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;




fishnislife

fishnislife wrote:ahh yes. i remember the regs now. this came up before.
http://www.washingtonlakes.com/forum/vi ... 4&start=60" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
just about at the bottom of the post.

i think the end result was either cut a small 3x5 out of the pot and secure it back to the pot or take the two ends and use 3 cotton loops to tie the two ends together.

the easiest would be the two halves of the trap with cotton string.
that way a trap doesn't have to be destroyed.
the other topic in this forum had some good advice too. http://www.washingtonlakes.com/forum/vi ... 23&t=21366" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;




fishnislife

The only problem is if you tie the two halves with cotton string there is no way to attach the clip for the rope ( to tie it to a dock or rock) without not following the regulations

Use 2 clips, one for each half of the trap in case the strings break and the trap separates while lifting to the boat. With the rope to each clip going to the main rope for lifting the trap to the boat.

Instead of the round trap, maybe the best trap is a square/rectangle one with inlet, and the breakaway escape door/flap, no worries about it coming apart.

On that style of trap I straightened out the the hook at the bottom and tied the string to act as a hing and hold it together. Then you still have use of the clip part on the top to hook your line too.

This is what I did to mine.

Idstud wrote:On that style of trap I straightened out the the hook at the bottom and tied the string to act as a hing and hold it together. Then you still have use of the clip part on the top to hook your line too.

That's exactly what I said in your original post. That would work just fine.

That being said, if you get tired of tweaking your pot, just buy a more useable pot.
I think you're set though.

Thanks so much to everyone that helped I really appreciate it!

Hello. I am new to this site and reading what local folks have to say. There used to be crawfish in Armstrong but when the biologists killed off the milfoil problem, the mud dogs mysteriously disappeared around the same time. Wondering if it was the milfoil that did it or whatever chemicals were used to contain the milfoil? Feedback appreciated.

I just use my shrimp pots that I had extra they have all the rot away stuff and the get full need a closer place to home tho

Crayfish are omnivores, and I suspect the milfoil was an important food source as well as affording them protection from predators.