I build BAUER wire mesh prawn traps. square 24"x 24".
Wire is black pvc coated made in the USA, will not crack, peel or rust.
East coast lobster fishermen use this type of wire, and the traps last up to 15 years, as a sport trap it could last a lifetime.
No net mesh to replace every few years, will not rip like netting or rot.
wire size is 1/2 x 1" smaller than the commercial net mesh (7/8), so you catch
more prawns.
$ 75 each.
These traps out fish the regular cone shaped traps everytime.
I can also supply weighted ground line at very reasonable price.
Located in Sidney BC call 250-361-7724

will add photo soon.

Cheers,

Any chance you might consider increasing your mesh size. There is a reason commercial traps are the size they are > they don't catch the small ones that really are too small to be usable.

Good luck with your venture!

My double pennies worth....

+1

I totally agree that mesh size should allow undersize prawns to escape, much like the crab traps that allow undersize to escape through designed openings. It just makes for easier sorting, now if only we could figure how to allow the females an escape route.

I haven’t had time to get back into the forum lately, but I under stand what you are saying about the wire size.
The commercial prawn fishermen are required to use a wire mesh that will allow a square dowel of 7/8” by 7/8” to fit through the wire mesh. This insures that they only take the largest prawns (jumbo), they would have to let everything ells go anyway.

One size down from the Jumbo prawns that commercial fishermen can keep, are still of a respectable size, and if you are prawning in an area that the commercial guys are also fishing in, you will have a hard time getting more than a dozen or so jumbo prawns in a trap. If you were using Larger mesh size, say 1” X 1” (what I use for building commercial traps ) you would be going home with only a handful of prawns. Keeping the next size smaller prawns is quite acceptable and proper for sports guys. We do not have the same impact on the stocks that the commercial fisheries does.
I have traps with 1” X 1” wire mesh if anyone wants them.
Thanks for the comments.
Nahmint1

Hi nahmint 1
Can you post a picture of your traps.

X2 on posting a picture. If I can look at it I may be interested.

Nahmint is a bit shy on posting pictures, but here is a link to a picture on the Aquatackle web site(located in Sidney, I believe).

They look good to me.

http://www.aquatackle.com/2100/

Hi guys,

No, I’m not shy, just had a lot of stuff to deal with.

Prawntraps.ca has a picture, as does Aquatackle.com, but I hope to get some more up soon.

I have ordered more wire out of the US. I hope to have it in a few weeks. I’ll have enough for 160 traps to start with.

I’ll be making them all winter log, last year I sold about 130 of them, and I couldn’t keep up with the demand. Just word of mouth sales, I want to go fishing too.

Thanks for all the comments,

Nahmint1

Namint1,
I've been using some old commercial traps that have 1/2" x 1" on the bottom and two sides and 1" x 1" on the top and other two sides. Some are 18" x 18" others 2' x 2'. I found them to be a good mix in that you don't get a lot of small prawns, but you don't loose all the mediums either. Do you make any like that?
What are you selling them for?

Cheers