Nanaimo reports

Gill Raker · **Joined:** Sat Aug 08, 2009 11:04 am **Posts:** 57

aquaholic wrote:

Fished neck point today....8 to the boat and released. Awesome day as they were all legal and released at the waterline...only one was snatched while being released by the nasty seal that hangs out at fingers. dropped 2 prawn traps twice and took home 90 large prawns, then raised our crab traps and had 6 keepers and 6 females released. Flat calm and had two major hits that popped and peeled line before dissapearing as well. Felt like the hot times had returned and will be hittin the water again tommorrow and headin to thrasher to bottom bounce.

Hello Aquaholic,
Would you be opposed to divulging the GSP coordinates where you dropped your prawn traps , time and for how long?
I would be very appreciative if you did so.
Oh , and what species were you catching?
Thanks
Gill Raker

aquaholic · **Joined:** Fri Aug 07, 2009 11:00 am **Posts:** 29

Not opposed to divulging at all....go to the green marker directly off of piper's lagoon......then straight east to 350 feet EXACTLY ...there is a nice shelf there that is always good to me. Name on my bouy is Simpson so ya know you are in the right place. Another thing I forgot to mention....bought an "anchor lift" to raise my traps and tried it for the first time today......one word AWESOME....for 31 dollars the traps come right up and are suspended while ya coil the rope....works slicker than snakeshit for pullin traps for someone unwilling to spend 600 on a prawn puller

reels2play · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 10:45 pm **Posts:** 25

How long were your traps down Aquaholic?

Viewitall · **Joined:** Fri Jul 24, 2009 12:52 pm **Posts:** 6

aquaholic wrote:

Not opposed to divulging at all....go to the green marker directly off of piper's lagoon......then straight east to 350 feet EXACTLY ...there is a nice shelf there that is always good to me. Name on my bouy is Simpson so ya know you are in the right place. Another thing I forgot to mention....bought an "anchor lift" to raise my traps and tried it for the first time today......one word AWESOME....for 31 dollars the traps come right up and are suspended while ya coil the rope....works slicker than snakeshit for pullin traps for someone unwilling to spend 600 on a prawn puller

Hi Aquaholic, sounds like you a great day! I built a pot hauler last year but I'm worried about the winch motor, it slows to a stop often whether I'm hauling a string of 4 traps or a string of 2. Where can I get one of these anchor lifts and can it haul a string of 4 pots?

Thanks in advance Dan

aquaholic · **Joined:** Fri Aug 07, 2009 11:00 am **Posts:** 29

Sorry....all info will hopefully follow.....2 traps on one 450 foot line...top 100 feet is sinking line...350 feet of water on flat bottom, bait containers filled to just under half with bait pellets and one spoonful of carlisle wet cat food, one and a half pounds of weighted line wrapped around the bottom of each trap for a total of 3 pounds on the bottom of each string of 2 traps...I time 2 hours from the time the traps hit the bottom till the time that I pull them.....empty them then back down they go.... my float is just big enuf to float the traps if they fall off the ledge but not so big as to drag them off on it's own accord....I find that the above seems to be pretty consistant this year in filling the traps....I also try to stay away from any floating buoy that looks like it may be commercial as my traps have dissapeared when I made the mistake of placing them anywhere within 400 yards of a commercial bouy....probably jus random coincidence tho eh?

as for pulling 4 pots....the size of the bouy attached to the anchour lift depends on how many pots you can pull..... if your bouy can float your pots then the boat does the lifting....I have a video link but am unable to post it as it is from the halibut section on the other website....anyone computer literate and can assist? as for wher I got it...they are on the crab trap and downrigger wall at "gone fishing" 2 left after my boat guest raced off to buy his after we got to shore

Viewitall · **Joined:** Fri Jul 24, 2009 12:52 pm **Posts:** 6

aquaholic wrote:

Sorry....all info will hopefully follow.....2 traps on one 450 foot line...top 100 feet is sinking line...350 feet of water on flat bottom, bait containers filled to just under half with bait pellets and one spoonful of carlisle wet cat food, one and a half pounds of weighted line wrapped around the bottom of each trap for a total of 3 pounds on the bottom of each string of 2 traps...I time 2 hours from the time the traps hit the bottom till the time that I pull them.....empty them then back down they go.... my float is just big enuf to float the traps if they fall off the ledge but not so big as to drag them off on it's own accord....I find that the above seems to be pretty consistant this year in filling the traps....I also try to stay away from any floating buoy that looks like it may be commercial as my traps have dissapeared when I made the mistake of placing them anywhere within 400 yards of a commercial bouy....probably jus random coincidence tho eh?

as for pulling 4 pots....the size of the bouy attached to the anchour lift depends on how many pots you can pull..... if your bouy can float your pots then the boat does the lifting....I have a video link but am unable to post it as it is from the halibut section on the other website....anyone computer literate and can assist? as for wher I got it...they are on the crab trap and downrigger wall at "gone fishing" 2 left after my boat guest raced off to buy his after we got to shore

Thanks for the info I think I found it is this it http://www.ironwoodpacific.com/products ... orlift.htm

Thanks alot Dan

aquaholic · **Joined:** Fri Aug 07, 2009 11:00 am **Posts:** 29

yep...that is the one....the video on how it works is on that link above as well.....and it is that easy, however I just looped the end of the trap line over my back cleat and it worked even better

Oglthorpe · **Posted:** Mon Sep 21, 2009 11:12 pm

Fishing Guide wrote:

Cheers All,

While I did have almost 20 tyee this year most of them came off Ucluelet. Nanaimo accounted for 7 (3 in one very memorable day) while Ucluelet claimed 11. The largest this year was 44 lbs. However...I fished a LOT!

All in all I can state - with no uncertainty - that this was my best year - period! OH...and I am looking forward to an even greater year next year.

WOW, I would love to some pics of all those monsters. I wish I could have found 1 myself.

Fishing Guide · **Joined:** Tue Jul 21, 2009 12:23 pm **Posts:** 566

Cheers All,

I have the fishing down fine...just the ability to remember to stop and take pictures. Have now bought another digital camera that stays in the boat. Maybe this will help me with more pictures. Might need some lessons as most of the pictures posted here are fabulous and the last picture I posted looked like a dog's breakfast.

Two of the tyees this year had DFO on board my boat while catching and landing. That is also a record for me! LOL

I was out last night off Pipers/Neck (what a GREAT weather day) but the fishing was a bit slow. We caught a few undersized but only kept one legal. We did catch 300 prawns and kept 4 dungeness. Guests were from Germany and are rebooking for next August. Nice to see the cruise ship in harbour.

Fishing Guide · **Joined:** Tue Jul 21, 2009 12:23 pm **Posts:** 566

Cheers All,

Quite a change since the commercial crab fishermen began their harvest. I was getting full limits every trip and this trip only managed 4 keepers. Might be time to put away the traps until they are finished. Quite remarkable how quickly they impact the local resource.

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