Lobster Pots, Crab Lines and 'shore fishing' without a rod

[ShinyShoe]

Its been a while since we've had a lobster pot thread...

Off to Loch Poolteil on Skye next month. No boat going with me :-( and no opportunity to rent on there I don't think either.

Will have the 'wee man' with me - starts School in summer.

Planning to grab a couple if crab lines as I'm sure we can dangle some string with bacon / bread on it off the peir. But wondering what else I can do...

- I don't rod and line fish. A bad experience on the end of a fly put paid to that at about age 13. (That and never catching owt!!!)

- see lots of collapsing 'lobby' pots on the fleabay for stupidly cheap money... ...is it possible to set one from shore? Is there any point? Would expect to eat my harvest...

[Hightower]

If you found a rocky stretch it might be worth chucking one in somewhere, even the base of concrete sea defenses like in a harbour is worth trying with a small pot.

If you don't want the hassles of a Rod (which I recommend) then I would try a crab line with a fishing trace on the bottom. Just a baited paternoster or with a running weight and ledger set-up on. Bait would be mackerel, squid or some rag worm. You could catch anything from the smallest Wrasse to an all out fighting Bass on that setup. Preferred hunting ground would be a pier or a Harbour environment. Somewhere with a good depth of water.

[Mollers]

Chuck pots in randomly around here and they'll get pulled by the 'commercial' fishermen. Not the 1000 pot big boys, but the piss pots (day boats) working close to shore.

[ShinyShoe]

I meant to type wouldn't expect to eat my harvest.. Stupid phone..

Originally Posted by Hightower

If you found a rocky stretch it might be worth chucking one in somewhere, even the base of concrete sea defenses like in a harbour is worth trying with a small pot.

Plenty rocks that's no issue. What about drying... Presumably it shouldn't dry?

With a good depth

Complete novice. Is that 2m, 10m or 100m?

[ShinyShoe]

Originally Posted by Mollers

Chuck pots in randomly around here and they'll get pulled by the 'commercial' fishermen. Not the 1000 pot big boys, but the piss pots (day boats) working close to shore.

Aware of that risk. We are talking £5 on fleabay. So if does a 'whisper' I won't be devastated.

The particular loch is quiet. There may be some potting boats. If there are I wouldn't be opposed to going having a chat to them (may want to buy direct!) And explaining its some fun for the wee man and anything caught is going back. Expect if placed from shore its a pain to get to by boat ;-)

[beamishken]

We had loads of fun with one of those ebay pots when our kids were small & caught loads of stuff in pretty shadow water, crabs lobsters fish & even a conger eel.
I'd imagine if you set your pot at low tide in a rocky area in wading depth without a marker buoy then you'd be pretty safe then go back at the next low tide & see what you have.
They are very light so need some stones etc to weight them down

[ShinyShoe]

Congor Eel eek... Suddenly the flying fishing sounds safer...

[ShinyShoe]

Low tide is of course in the middle of the night the week I'm there...

[Mollers]

Originally Posted by ShinyShoe

Aware of that risk. We are talking £5 on fleabay. So if does a 'whisper' I won't be devastated.

The particular loch is quiet. There may be some potting boats. If there are I wouldn't be opposed to going having a chat to them (may want to buy direct!) And explaining its some fun for the wee man and anything caught is going back. Expect if placed from shore its a pain to get to by boat ;-)

You're gonna put crabs and lobbys back?! Get 'em in the pot man.

When I say 'pull', the local fishermen around here may relieve you of your catch, not your pots.

[Hightower]

I would say an area that doesn't dry and maybe 2m of water at low tide. If you tie off your pots using natural coloured rope I would say you'd need a keen eye to spot it and should go unnoticed until retrieval. Pick an area you can just lower down the side otherwise you might get snagged by an underwater rock or two.

[Poly]

Make sure you cheap nasty pot has a rotting line or other type of closure that won't keep trapping things if your pot is washed away / lost.

How have you knocked the moon out of orbit? surely if there is a middle of the night low tide there is a midday one too?

[ShinyShoe]

Middle of the night is 3am which means there is a ~3.30pm tide following it. So if you place it at 2.30pm on day 1, the next low for retrieval will be 3.00am (not great for 5 year old) on the other hand place it at 3am he could do the retrieval... I suspect its staying in 24 hours isn't it...!

[ShinyShoe]

Originally Posted by Mollers

You're gonna put crabs and lobbys back?! Get 'em in the pot man.

Well, I gather from past posts here the collapsible ones might not be much good for decent sized catches. I'm not concerned with getting them in the pot so if they are tidlers that's fine.. Its the adventure for the wee man not the dinner...

[Poly]

Originally Posted by ShinyShoe

Middle of the night is 3am which means there is a ~3.30pm tide following it. So if you place it at 2.30pm on day 1, the next low for retrieval will be 3.00am (not great for 5 year old) on the other hand place it at 3am he could do the retrieval... I suspect its staying in 24 hours isn't it...!

So long as it doesn't dry you can leave out for more than one tide.

[kerlstone]

Hi shinyshoe, here's my kids catching crabs a few years ago on the very loch your'e talking about, lower milovaig pier, they caught plenty of wee crabs off the pier, and off the rocks we caught some really good sized pollack, we tried a lobster pot off the rocks but caught nothing, however you can see by the kids faces, they had a great time.

Gerry.

[Mollers]

Originally Posted by Mollers

You're gonna put crabs and lobbys back?! Get 'em in the pot man.

When I say 'pull', the local fishermen around here may relieve you of your catch, not your pots.

wrong post.

[ShinyShoe]

We will be staying within sight of that very pier. I gather its been/being refurbed at the moment ready for my arrival ;-)

Where did u put the pot out? West of the pier?

[kerlstone]

Originally Posted by ShinyShoe

We will be staying within sight of that very pier. I gather its been/being refurbed at the moment ready for my arrival ;-)

Where did u put the pot out? West of the pier?

Yes, off the rocks to the west, that's where we caught the pollack as well, we stayed there for a few days, and toured all over Skye for 2 weeks, Iv'e been up that way many times, but first time for the kids, they loved it, so will you.

[ShinyShoe]

Been to Skye 4 times, but only spent a total of 5 days on the island. Twice visited Neist Point Light but didn't have time to explore round about. Off to a newly built holiday home positioned specifically for the view.

Aim is that pirate mad 5 year old will hopefully see a tall ship or 3 sailing past on the way from Belfast to Norway....

I don't do holidays (they stress me out!) Yet am oddly excited about this one...

[Mollers]

Originally Posted by ShinyShoe

Aim is that pirate mad 5 year old will hopefully see a tall ship or 3 sailing past

..

You're at the wrong end of country pal. There are enough square riggers and tricornes down this way to drive a fella crackers.