You are right about the drop top traps. If they have a tube at the top they have to have escape rings or it will be a ticket. If there is no tube at the top it is an open trap and doesn't need them. Not according to enforcement in Montesano anyway. WIll probbaly just leave the top open for them to drop or crawl in and take my chance without the tube in the top. If it doesn't work, I will add a tube and add escape rings. I have not found a legal drop tp crab pot online so if I did buy one I would have to modify it anyway.

The only thing I don't like about the Danielson box traps is in Westport boat basin there is a lot of kelp and other stuff on the bottom that seems to limits crab entering the trap. Sometimes I do well with it, others it seems like the crab simply can't get in even though my other traps with the same bait are working fine.

Might make a "flat trap" that is the same as a ring trap but has a 6-8 inch tall raised second ring that helps keep the crab in longer. Can't hurt to try it out.

I just figure that at $8-10 to make about anything I want to make I can experiment and maybe I will hit on somethng that out performs everything else, and everyone else on the docks. That it gives me something to do when I don't have anyone to fish with.