Recommendation on shrimp pots

Time to bite the bullett and buy some pots. There are good sales now, but thought I'd reach out to you Pros for info.

I'll fish the Sound and Canal, so I think the 1"/ 7/8" mesh is legal for both. Steve at Discovery Bay has some nice small pots at $52. They are USA /Poulsbo made, the only thing I noticed is where the wire is snipped, it was not sealed with the plastic coating...therefore $52!

The nicer SMI Pots are "hecho in China", but have sealed wire ends, thicker plastic wire coating, and are bigger, priced at $110 on sale for $78.

Is a bigger pot better? What's the downside to a smaller pot? I think I'll be running 4 pots, so soaking time should be maximized with 3 always fishing while rotating to pull a fourth. I've thought about the 5 days to fish compared to 360 days of storage... is the bigger pot the way to go with a short season?

Recommendations appreciated.

I do not think size is a huge factor. When shrimping places like the hood canal where the season lasts @ 4 hours on the days its open I would think accessibility with good retention is critical. You want them to get in easily but get out with difficulty.

The max allowable pots per boat is only 4 even if you have 10 licensed fisherpeople onboard.

Bigger might be better in places where you can soak pots overnight if they allow more bait IMHO.

All the pots I've seen have the same ports to let them in, about 2"x2". None have entrapment doors like crab pots. I think they'd be too heavy for shrimp to push through. Although easier to get in (with the ramped entrance access) than out, I think the water pressure when retrieving is what keeps them in.
Thanks for the reply!

I bought ours up on the Canal. Not sure what the measurements are but what I like is the 2 bait boxes.

We have had Zero on a pot and over 300. I like the big number much better!

Love Shrimping,

fp

Bigger might also be better in the short openers.

Shrimp pots can't exceed 10' in perimeter and 18" in height.

Guys that I know who have shrimped a lot like big entrance ramps to allow shrimp to get in easily. Tunnel entrances have to be on the side of the pot and the sum of the entrance/tunnel width can't exceed 1/2 of the perimeter of the bottom of the pot.

See page 136 in the fishing brochure for gear rules.

I would go with the smaller traps. Last year my neighbor and I had two limits in my pot the hand first pull.

A "friend" borrowed the pot on a day I was working. He had a gasser and broke it off at the boat. ARGH!

The the pot was pretty well done rusting out. Fished better than any new pot? Ripping the lid off was a sad way to go. At least the shrimp were able to get a free meal.

McKay's in Brinnon.

Octo's allow twice the bait to be used vs. the square pots. I love my square pots but something to be said with the Octo's being able to use one bait container with cat food/slurry mixture and one for pellets. One attracts and one keeps them in the pot.

McKay's shrimp gear

Might as well get ya's fired up on pot pullers while we are at it!

http://youtu.be/T1dC8M67pbI

fp

I've got a couple of square traps I would sell. I think they are in good shape and are up in my rafters so no picture for now.

fp