I don't have a favorite yet. I like my home made folding traps as far as traps go. I really want to find a good pot that lets the crab in and keeps them in fairly well. The box traps from Danielson work okay but thought I would get everyones input before I go out and get the stuff to build a couple pots. I have found a ton of different styles and sizes and shapes. I really like the ones that have the hole in the top so the crab fall in but don't crawl out. No worries about doors getting blocked with that one.

Any suggestions? Or maybe suggestions to modify store traps so they catch more?

OK, I get to go first.
My favorite crab pot is the one with keepers in it!

All of them have advantages and disadvantages. The Danielsons are pretty inexpensive to set up, which is not so painful if they get lost or stolen.
They are also lighter than many others if you are pulling them by hand.

There are plenty of comments coming so I will step out of the way.

I like the cheap danielson box style collapsible traps. They outfish all the others I have tried and are dirt cheap.

I have found my cheap collapsible danielson pots do not fish nearly as well as my other ones. Same bait same spot and a fraction of the crab in those. I think they rattle around a little in the current. My best pots are the solid danielson octagon shaped pot. Its huge and fishes well. I add a couple lbs of lead to really keep em anchored. My protoco pots fish good too.

I've had a really nice stainless commercial type pot for years, and that cheap Danielson collapsable outfishes it 3-1...I think those simple doors right on the bottom make it easy for them to crawl in....They have no weight, so you need to weight them or they will move, and either get lost, or catch nothing....I put 2 old window sash weights in each pot, and they stay just fine. A moving pot catches no crab, and a lost pot is bad juju...Tom

Lol speyguy I have one of those big stainless pots as well and I don't use it anymore because it is a PITA to pull and it doesn't ever catch anything.


Although I think for an overnight soak those bigass stainless ones would probably do the trick! They aren't intended for short soaks though.

I like the danielson top loaders, for one they are smaller and don't take up as much space on the boat. I like to weight the doors with pencil lead so they don't get blown open in strong current letting crabs come in and out. I always zip tie my bait boxes to the bottom center of the pot so the crabs can't get a free meal from outside of the pot. A couple of small cannon balls zip tied in opposite corners on the bottom and their good to go. No matter what pot you use good bait, making sure your pot lies flat on the bottom, and setting location are probably more important than the pot.

What he said. Steel re bars zip tied in works well for weight.
And remember extra length on the line - tides move in and 80 feet of line with a buoy will be under water with 6 feet of more water plus a tide current.

Go with somebody who knows what they are doing, saves a lot of hassel, saves lost pots, saves you from adding another derelict pot.

Yup.

If you are stuggling to catch keepers, it ain't the pot though, it is the spot.

You should see some of the wacky stuff I've done to block off the rusty doors that have shown up missing over the years. Mine are generally in sad shape.

The Danielson's work really well if you tune them. For example, my brother came up from Oregon for the 4th of July weekend and brought a couple Danielson's he had bought but never uses - they were unmodified as purchased. Filled with same bait as my Danielson's and set in the same location/same depth. When we would pull the string, his pots would have 2-3 crab with one of them being a nice big keeper. My pots would have 12-15 crab with 6-8 keepers.

Here's the simple mods I make with a pair of pliers and 20 minutes:
1) open up the wire loop that is the hinge for the doors to a nice large round shape allowing the door to swing freely - unmodified, these can "stick" open allowing crab to come and go.

2) I bend shut all the clips that hold the panels together rendering the pot "un-collapsable" but much sturdier. The one side panel that I open to unload crab and load my bait box I bend the bottom clip shut but in a nice round loop to allow it to swing open/closed easily. The top of that panel I adjust the "clip" so it takes a fair amount of pressure to unhook it and open it. (I also store my rope and floats inside the trap through this panel when not in use)

3) I weight my doors with a couple wraps of pencil lead as mentioned above so the doors don't blow open in current and will drop shut more readily behind a crab that has just entered.

4) I use a bait box zip tied to the center of the bottom of the trap so it can't "float" to one edge allowing crab to snack instead of entering. I put it on the bottom of the trap instead of the top for the same reason. Don't want crab crawling onto the top of the trap and getting a free meal without entering. I use a fairly small-mesh bait box so I can put trimmings or old leftover herring etc in it without them washing out of the box.

5) I rig a harness or attach my rope in such a way that the trap comes up level and even instead of all the crab being dumped into a corner or against a door putting undue pressure on it.

6) If I'm in a high-current area or leaving it through an extra-strong tide exchange I'll weight the pot by clipping halibut leads to the bottom of the pot.

Other tips:

1) I make my floats unique by adding a couple net floats or some additional float trailing a couple feet behind the main float. Easier to spot my floats and if a strong current pulls the main float just under the surface the secondary float will still be on top as there's not enough line between floats to catch the current and pull the trailing float under.

2) Leaded line - a no brainer now a days and way easier than adding lead down the line.

3) I pay extra attention to the depth and current direction when dropping the pots to make sure the current doesn't carry them over too deep of water by the time they hit bottom.

4) I pay attention to the specific topography of where I drop the pots. Think of the current as a river and find the drops, ledges, etc. that will create back eddies which will collect natural bait and concentrate the crab. When you find these honey holes mark them on your GPS and keep them a secret. 4 pots dropped as a group within a 20-yard radius in one of these spots is way more effective than 10 pots scattered randomly across the bottom.

5) use good bait - to each their own but I find it hard to beat fresh salmon carcasses. Tuna and halibut work well too. I have seen crab stay out of a trap baited with ling remains - go figure - not always but when it happened it was significant. All other traps plugged and the one baited with ling remains empty.

6) Slow tide = best time - current is good to carry scent and create a scent trail for the crab to follow to your trap

Slack tide = second best time - crab that have been pinned to the bottom during a strong current will actively hunt during the slack tide before hunkering down again for the next strong flow.

Strong flow = worst - crab are hunkered down and not hunting. Exception is finding a back eddy where a strong tide is collecting natural bait and crab in an area that's not receiving a direct blast of current. Let me know when you find these areas.

Happy Crabbing!

Danielson collapsible pots. Cheap, outfish everything else and no worry if someone steals em/current swipes em. I zip tie a piece of rebar to mine, never had a problem. I carabiner the standard bait boxes to the top, seems to work fine.

Agreed with almost everything posted...lead on the doors is a must.
I'll float this by you. Turn the bouy so the pointed side is down. That way when the kelp grabs the float, it slips right off instead of dragging the pot.

Oceansun said all that needs to be said. Copy his post and carry it with you. Crabbing will suddenly get better.

Without question the very best sport pots on the planet are McKay's built right here in little 'ol Brinnon Wa.

I used to carry two pots with me every where I went but now only bother to carry one. Why carry two when your getting three limits per pot per pull???

I don't know if true or NOT!!!! I have been told that crab pots that have the bare and exposed stainless wire mesh (especially on the bottom) will build up a static electrical charge that repluses crab, and the way to fix it is adding iron weights wire to the bottom of the pot, i.e., sending the static build up to ground. I've done that to my Protoco pots just so they won't float away during current flows. The first time I did notice an improve catch count.

Some pots are just "hot". If I've got a pot that doesn't fish as good as the others I'll add a zinc. Often that helps but if not the pot goes on down the road.

I've fished a Zak tackle 360 degree pot in AK and liked it (no doors to mess with). I just picked one up and figure I'll give it a try this weekend at Westport. I'll fish it alongside my Protoco.

The Zak tackle pot I added a zinc to...

I wondered what I have been doing wrong. No lead on my doors I suppose. I do like the zip tied rebar on the bottom. That seems to work quite well. I have done about even with the big pot and the old beat up danielson. So far I have been out 9 of 10 days and have 43 crab on my card. Little hitch in the plan, the big merc has puked . I think I am going to cry.

Bummer Gutz, good thing you can fish right outstide where you are moored. ... . .Good luck on a quick fix. ..

+1

my mckay out fishes 2 danielsons, and a new one i just picked up at ted's. i have no idea why. we had to release several legal crab because we were over 2 limits with one pull last time. i love that trap, plus the door on the top is waaaay easier than dismantling the danielson's to retrieve the crab......



willy

+1, some of the nicest kings I've caught on the MA9/10 border have been within a 9 iron of the edmonds breakwater....

My favorite pots are the kind pictured below.
They have huge doors, lots of interior room for lots of crabs, stow and fish well. I don't know the name and I know they are made in Canada somewhere's...