Csail
N/A
Any advice welcome.I bought 3 pots. No idea what to do so advice on deployment areas,bait,laws etc?
Lobster pots
- Thread starter Csail
- Start date
AngusMcDoon
Well-Known Member
The best place to lay them is where it's most inconvenient to every other water user. For example, a couple of years ago I saw 3 laid right on the leading line into Aberystwyth harbour. Perfect spot. Couldn't have been better. Lobsters are well known to frequent places that are inconvenient to boats on the surface.
Secondly, you need an old 1 gallon flagon as a float, preferably covered in a few years of old guck and slime so that it appears black. You don't want anyone else to spot them and steal your lobsters. You need to attach this with the line, described next.
The line - it must be the floating type so that any excess floats around on the surface. Now you need to get the length just right and there are 2 options. 1) Short so that your float is just out of sight below the water surface at high tide. This enhances the invisibility. 2) Way too long. This is especially effective when floating line is used.
The bait - any old thing. It doesn't really matter. There are barely any lobsters left to catch anyway
Laws. You having a laugh, aren't you? If there are any laws, it's imperative to ignore them, flout them, disregard them etc. You get the idea.
Follow the above, and you will be as professional as the professionals.
Ludd
Well-Known Member
Bait=rotten fish heads
Rocky areas on contour lines=lobsters
Sand/mud flat bottom = prawns
In between=crabs
You will probably catch sod-all if there's sod-all left to catch!
Mark them well with FLUORESCENT buoys.
You can use upto 5 or 6 without a licence,I think.
Foxy
Well-Known Member
Very rotten fish needed for lobster. Stick a mackerel into a freezer bag and leave it in the sun for the day. You should almost be able to pour the resulting goo into the bait bit of the pot.
Fresh fish seems to attract crabs rather than lobster.
Rocky bottoms are best but you must leave the pot overnight as lobbys are nocturnal critters. Make sure the pot is well marked etc like above, and if possible, in a spot which you or anyone else wont run over. If there are many pots nearby, expect yours to be raised and cleared out early in the morning...
License varies according to area and county. Most places you can have up to five or so each day with no bother... dream on, although we once had 12 of edible size in our one pot. We have also ended up with shark sized Bull huss, which whilst tasty was a real adventure removing from the pot.
Oh, you should also get an idea of the minimum size for your catch. Look on the net for it.
Good luck!
Patrick and Sinead
S/V Foxglove
Fresh fish seems to attract crabs rather than lobster.
Rocky bottoms are best but you must leave the pot overnight as lobbys are nocturnal critters. Make sure the pot is well marked etc like above, and if possible, in a spot which you or anyone else wont run over. If there are many pots nearby, expect yours to be raised and cleared out early in the morning...
License varies according to area and county. Most places you can have up to five or so each day with no bother... dream on, although we once had 12 of edible size in our one pot. We have also ended up with shark sized Bull huss, which whilst tasty was a real adventure removing from the pot.
Oh, you should also get an idea of the minimum size for your catch. Look on the net for it.
Good luck!
Patrick and Sinead
S/V Foxglove
Csail
N/A
Just back from pulling it up and....small lobster, some fish that i don't know and shed loads of big prawns and crabs. (sandy bottom)
Foxy
Well-Known Member
Fantastic!
Bosun Higgs
N/A
Law? There is a catch limit for people like you and me of two per day. There are size limits too. Don't ignore them - the "professionals" are likely to shop you to the fisheries if they see you operating in what they regard as their "patch" ( assuming they havent stolen your gear) and the fines are significant.
Location. Ignoring the sarcasm of the "places inconvenient to yachts" reply there is some truth in it. Put your pots where it's inconvenient for the potter boats to lay a string. For example I once laid mine underneath some mooring buoys and came up with two big spider crabs.
Clean water, rocky outcrops, put down in 5m depth or more.
Bait? Thats what God made mackerel for, but in desperation I have used Tesco value sardines in oil and they have worked well. You need something that smells a bit ie is oily so it will waft downstream to the crabs / lobbies.
Location. Ignoring the sarcasm of the "places inconvenient to yachts" reply there is some truth in it. Put your pots where it's inconvenient for the potter boats to lay a string. For example I once laid mine underneath some mooring buoys and came up with two big spider crabs.
Clean water, rocky outcrops, put down in 5m depth or more.
Bait? Thats what God made mackerel for, but in desperation I have used Tesco value sardines in oil and they have worked well. You need something that smells a bit ie is oily so it will waft downstream to the crabs / lobbies.
agurney
Well-Known Member
Bait - a tin of cheap cat food with some holes poked in it. Should last a while and be a bit more pleasant to handle than rotten entrails.
Alisdair
Alisdair
Euphonyx
Well-Known Member
On deployment areas, the best advice would be NOT to deploy them on someone elses "patch". That's a pummeling offence in my neighbourhood!
Topcat47
Well-Known Member
I suppose this might represent a completely new thread, but comming into the Solent, by Bembridge I found myself surrounded by clear 5-litre plastic bottles used as Pot buoys. They were very hard to spot in the sunlight. Having been caught by the rudder on a pot buoy in the Swinge, I tend to view invisible ones with some alarm.
SAMYL
Well-Known Member
jimmyss
Active Member
Agurney is right - make it tuna flavour, it seems to work well.
Cat/dog food in their tins may poison the lobster and may lead salmonella in those who eat it... be careful
Bosun Higgs
N/A
That was always the argument against using dead rabbits which are, apparently, very good but illegal bait.
As I said earlier, try Tesco value sardines in oil. Pretty cheap and nasty. Alternatively see what bits your local fishmonger will give you out of his bin.
oldharry
Well-Known Member
More than likely. Also you will need a diver to recover the pots as the floats and lines will have 'come adrift' within the first 24 hours.
Heckler
Well-Known Member
They are still there in Aber, saw them today, but what beats it all is the dildo that has shot a string in the middle of the channel in milford haven, I mean to say it can cause us to have a seriously bad day, but a 100,000 tonner wont even notice his polyprop line!!
Stu
pvb
Well-Known Member
This picture shows the little collection of goodies I caught on my rudder, just by the "safe water" mark outside Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne, a few years ago. The marina refused to send their workboat out to help, as it was "outside their insurance area", but offered to call the lifeboat out instead, which I declined. So I motored flat out at about 0.1kn dragging it along until I was just inside the entrance, then they sent their workboat. The offending "fisherman" was one of their berth holders, and it was apparently well-known that he didn't see any point in paying extra for weighted line.
Csail
N/A
Off out again today to deploy more, good fun. My buoys are flourescent green with reflective flags and no where near boats go.
Ones that p me off are the little tiny black buoys when we night sail.
Ones that p me off are the little tiny black buoys when we night sail.
robertj
Well-Known Member
If you lift your pot to find the rope has been cutand retire then u have encroached on the seabed of a local potter who owns it! If you lay it there again he will remove it etc.
This happened to a good friend of mine till he learned the the Potters own areas of seabed and will defend their seabed.
He later got into a tit got tat situation which I advise against.
Lay where they can't put in strings of pots and u should be ok.
This happened to a good friend of mine till he learned the the Potters own areas of seabed and will defend their seabed.
He later got into a tit got tat situation which I advise against.
Lay where they can't put in strings of pots and u should be ok.
pteron
Well-Known Member
How does one own the seabed? Is it a case of having bigger heavies than the rest?
Bosun Higgs
N/A
Possibly. But its just petty thuggery and theft for the most part. If I see them do it then they will go to court
