Does fisheries ever measure the mesh on pots when they check you? I have been looking for mesh (Ladner) pots and just about all I can find are 1 1/2" stretch mesh. One store tells me they are too small-regs say 1 3/4"- but everyone else says they are legal, and one even says they had someone from fisheries come in and measure and say they are legal. When I measured those pots being as generous as possible I could barely get 1 5/8". Almost all of the traps I've seen people using are the smaller mesh. Am I worrying too much?

The problem you might have is enforcement's interpretation of the regulation. Some may measure. There are pots made and sold that aren't legal and lots of people modify theirs after purchase. I wouldn't take the chance, but that's just me.

I ended up getting some of the big rigid ones that I knew were legal just to be safe. I would still like to get a couple stackable ones, but I'll just have to be careful. I did call WDFW and was pretty much told it would just depend on the mood of the officer that checked me.

A friend came up from Oregon with the pop-up, mesh style pots the year before last. I believe he got a warning for using them.

I use the lower profile, square style pots.