Fishing

[Dhf]

Originally Posted by Midger

Re the Lobster Pot .....GO FOR IT !! My father in law bought me one for my birthday and it was loads of fun. Baited it with a 2 day old pollock, dropped it for the first time, left it 24 hours, took all the kids out to pull the pot (felt like I was on "Worlds Deadliest Catch!!) pulled it up and ...........there was only a flippin lobster in it, together with two really big Spider crabs, kids went nuts !!
Second time out dropped it with fresh mackerel guts, heads and tails, pulled it the next day, two spider crabs, 5 massive doggies( wasnt expecting that !!) and a huge edible crab !!
I havnt blanked all summer and have dropped it 7 or 8 times, granted sometimes the crabs are a bit small and they go back in , but the excitement caused by having the pot, and not knowing what is coming up has been amazing,just hope we dont get a conger mixed up in it !! I would recomend it to anyone.

agree potting is great fun, i've had conger many times using parlour type pots, which makes things easy enough to release them over board, although my parlour pot's need repairing now, so i've got one of those folding one's now but hav'nt tryed yet.

LOBSTER CRAB PRAWN CRAYFISH EEL BAITFISH TRAP POT | eBay

[Pikey Dave]

Conger is very good eating if it's fresh. Cut the fillets off the backbone, cut into medallions, dip in egg & flour & pan fry in butter until golden brown Serve on a beach in Normandy with fresh bread, lemon, black pepper & a bottle of home made cider.

[whisper]

We may have a go using a pot on 22nd - 23rd Sept if I can get one in time, but heard lots of stories like they get washed away by the tide or just swapped with seaweed. Thinking about the Solent?

I have also been told that we should use a marker with a black flag on the top but I've never seen one.

This looks good? But collect only though

Lobster Pot | eBay

[PeterM]

Originally Posted by whisper

This looks good? But collect only though

Lobster Pot | eBay

Easy enough for me to get for you & sort out getting it to you when you are in Southampton when handy in the next week or two ? I'm at the boat show on the 23rd I think and over that way before hand too.

[whisper]

Originally Posted by PeterM

Easy enough for me to get for you & sort out getting it to you when you are in Southampton when handy in the next week or two ? I'm at the boat show on the 23rd I think and over that way before hand too.

Nice one Pete, that would be great May be I should also bid on his large accrilic bath too to keep my catch in

[Aries]

I got this off eBay new. Seems robust. Only used it for the first time Saturday overnight on way to bmth airshow. Picked it up Sunday but empty. Need to fix the bait better next time. Was worried the local fishermen might take a dim view but it was there in the morning....

[whisper]

That looks good. Did it move or get covered in weed?

The cat food idea a few posts ago sounds good.

[Aries]

I lobbed an extra bit of concrete in it but my mate didn't bother and they were both where we left them the next morning. Mine had a fair bit of weed on the rope, his was clean. Luck of the draw?

[Andy B]

Just got back from Oz where i did a bit of fishing, pink snapper and samson fish. good sport but still there's no fun like a line full of mackeral

[Dhf]

The Dog and Cat food always used to work very very well, but i've heard it's illegal to use, due to cross contamination or somthing like that. Gurnard is mostly used by commercial potters for catching lobby, or you could use dog fish which would last a bit longer being a tougher fish. either way it's best to leave the pot down for two to three days for best results.

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by Hightower

That's a bit pricey. Isn't there something cheaper out there?

yep, try buying the same thing from Askari

Smoking Oven at low prices in the Askari Fishing online tackle shop!

Mine came from there. Fabulous bit of kit, and can double up as an oven and a meths cooker if you really need it to.

[Aries]

And my tea tonight! ; )

[m chappelow]

Originally Posted by Dragonhawk ficht

The Dog and Cat food always used to work very very well, but i've heard it's illegal to use, .

Good point about being legal, the old shiny tin of cat food with holes punched in worked a treat ,as the crabs could smell but not get the bait so it lasted days .
cant comment on other areas but it's not a bad idea to have a look at your local fisheries bylaws in some areas even if any shell fish is for your own consumption caught by pot net or even raked out by hand at low tide or scuba diving a licence/permit may be needed .
My area on the Yorkshire coast a free licence is needed as well as escape gaps on pots ,
you get 10 tags each year for marking your pots even if it's just for private/ hobby use and your not using a boat .penaltys are severe so best check with your local inshore fisheries authority you don't want a fine and your boat confiscating ,,same goes for filleting fish at sea before you land them ,, the fishery officer takes a dim view about size limits ,, as he cannot measure them ,, even the humble mackerall has minimum size limits .

[diver 1]

I had 3 commercial style lobster pots. When I was given them (by a local fisherman for unsnagging a few of his pots) I made the mistake of rigging them together (with approx 15m of rope between each one) and a single rope to the surface. I had one hell of a job trying to lift them out as I had dropped them in about 25m of water therefore had to lift the weight of all three in one go. Since then I've learnt to rig them individually, I find a whole mackerel tied securely in the middle of the pot with thin rope works well - if the bait is too close to the edge the lobsters would be able to pull the bait out without entering the pot.

Beware lobsters have size limits - 87mm min length for the carpace - long piece of shell on top of the head, take none with black eggs on the belly or with a 'V' cut out of the tail (signalling a female previously caught while carrying eggs)

They are effective and good fun. Sadly some scum think lobster pots are a 'free for all' and will lift anything they can, but there are ways and means of preventing this :-)

[A1an]

I found salting the bait helps, I use salted Mackerel, crabs wont devour it as its too salty so your bait lasts longer.

I have a palefull salting just now in the shed.

[whisper]

It looks like they can do some damage to your bait:

Inside a Crab Pot GoPro HD - YouTube