Shrimp / Prawns

Big dave

Big dave

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C Dory Year
2006
C Dory Model
22 Cruiser
Vessel Name
Raven Dancer
Does anyone want to give up a few likely Shrimp / Prawn locations in the San Juan's? I will be in the San Juan's around the end of May or early June, and in the Broughtons August~September. I never have done any fishing or crabbing or prawning in the San Juan's, but have spent 12 years in the Broughtons.
Will trade information for hot Prawn spots in the Broughton's. That's a good trade as I have pulled over a 100 Prawns in one pull many, many times.
Thank's
Big Dave.
Raven Dancer.
 
There are a lot of good areas in the islands, none of them are a secret. Heres a short list of some of the best known places. Jones Island, Pt George off of show, Yellow Island area, Ice Berg point of south lopez, Griffen bay between San Jaun and Lopez, between Speiden and Cactus Islands, Off the south side of Stuart Island, and off Fere's head north of deception pass. Like I said no secrets and all know places. Use this link to have a look.best map

I think( what ever thats worth) that the two key's to shrimp are tides and set up. You are going to get most of your shrimp during the slack. So set your first pot a hour before slack current, which maybe different then slack tide, and worth them until a hour after slack. What you are really looking for is an area with little tide movement. As for depth, any where from 180 to 350 ft as produced. I look for 250 ft.

Now for set up I have learned a lot from both Capital Sea and Roger. Weight you pots so they will not move on the bottom and then place a good size weight on your line 10 ft above your pot. This will keep the buoy from moving the pot around and shaking it. Once I started doing this I really started getting limits. Your buoys are your choice but they should be big enough float your line but big enough to float your pots. that was a mistake I made before and my pots got dragged off by currents drag on the buoy. If you use all lead line calculate what 400ft of line weights and make sure you have enough buoys to lift it. I like to us cheap yellow line with 100ft of lead core at the top to sink it. Now for storing the line. Roger and Capital Sea have both shown me that the cheap plastic hose reels are the best way to go. That keep the line out of the way and keep it from tangling. Just reel it on to the spool as you pull it up. If you do not have a pot puller you have two choices. 1) go buy one 2) wear your self out. I pulled by hand for two years and it sucks. If you stop to rest you lose shrimp. Its really hard work.

Well thats all I know about shrimp in the san Juans. Its the same thing on the other side of the boarder only its all year and 200 a day I think. Look for the same deep flat areas in back water and areas with little current. I hope you have fun.
 
ok I got cheated!! it took more then 30 to write my post and now I cant fix the bad spelling after posting it.
 
starcrafttom":qllgdt10 said:
ok I got cheated!! it took more then 30 to write my post and now I cant fix the bad spelling after posting it.
Click to expand...

Tom, I suggest you use the preview button a few times while you are typing and then at the end, before posting, and that way you get to fix misteaks befire they get out there. And if you do see a mistake after posting, you then have the full 30 minutes to fix it.

Warren
 
Doryman":3re3j5hl said:
... use the preview button a few times while you are typing and then at the end, before posting, and that way you get to fix misteaks befire they get out there. And if you do see a mistake after posting, you then have the full 30 minutes to fix it.

Warren
Click to expand...

:mrgreen:
 
Wow, thank you very much for all the information Tom ! I will give the spots a try this May. All I need to do now is check and see what the regulations are for trap mesh for the state of Washington, my traps are B.C. traps. It also looks like Washington wants you to use yellow floats.
I do use a weight in my trap a 14 pound mushroom anchor, along with lead line, which is stored in buckets. I also have a ACE line hauler which makes trap pulling no problem. So far knock on wood my traps are always right where I left them even on over night soaks.
The Broughtons sound about the same as the San Juan's as far as spots go, everyone seems to know where to go, but some of my favorites are.
1. SE end of the Birdwoods right off the point 260' ~ 280' King Point will bedirectly across the channel.
2. Echo Bay where Crammer Pass meets Echo Bay all the way across on the point. 350'.
3. Sullivan Bay due north across the channel to a large bay, go just inside the bay to get out of the log drift which can pick up your floats and take them to Japan for you.
4. Inside Booker Lagoon which is the west end of Fife sound. Very cool spot !
Those four areas will fill you up on prawns !
Again thank you for the information on the San Juan's
Big Dave.
Raven Dancer.
 
Dave do you know of any spots down south just across from the San Juans?

As for you other two, I'm sticking to my story :wink:
 
Tom, like I said all my prawn fishing has been in B.C. in the Broughtons :thup I have been reading the rules for WA. and it looks like I need to pick up a trap made for WA. waters and a yellow bouy.
Sorry I can't help out more with waters down south.
Big Dave.
Raven Dancer.
 
Big Dave,

What size mesh do you have now? I use mine in Canada and US. Agree with Tom about areas and rigging -- except I use an anchor, then clip the pot to the main line, then clip on another weight to keep the pot from moving. I use a lot more float and a tag-line of about 15 feet with a large float... we shrimp in current that many times will put a regular float under.

HTH,

Dusty
 
Dave,

Had the same dilemma over mesh size last year as we shrimp in both BC and WA.

As my poor brain understands the regulation mystery fun book you need 1" mesh in WA if it is "spot" season (with 1/2" allowed when it is not) whereas in BC you can use 1/2" all the time.

Merv
 
Tom, I hope to see you out there this year.
The locations provided were good. I have nothing to add as to location except this. What you are looking for in those areas is the edge of a shelf between 225' and 300'.
Stay nearby and head for your floats whenever anyone gets close. I lost a pot and setup to the depths prior to adding a bunch of weight to my already heavy pots, so I know what that's like. What really sucks though is that I have lost two due to theft. We tend to fish only two pots and to limit everyone on board within a few hours. We had been running back to port 25-30 mins away to swap out friends. Last year we lost two pots, for sure, to theft. The method used was to pull up along side between us and the floats, swap floats and move on. Then late in the day they pull the swapped pots after the victim has given up and gone home. I lost one when I made it easy by leaving the area and the other when I was within eyesight but chatting with friends. Granted, I was in the Edmonds area,but if you search shrimp pot theft you will see issues in the islands as well. So be smart and just a little paranoid.
You get the added plus of causing folks to deploy a little farther from your location. This is another issue, since to deploy 300' down you want 350' of weighted line and if some dork comes along, fails to read the tide and crosses you then one or both of your floats are going down. This may not be a big issue up north, but we get a little more pressure on the fishery down here.
 
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