Size of craypot throat?
Submitted by Reefsta on Sat, 2021-02-06 13:12
Putting together a craypot with some recycled jarra, but will use one of the red plastic throats for the opening. I have two sizes, both beachcombed last winter, with the smaller around 91/2" and the bigger about 11" diameter. Any advice on whether the smaller or bigger one would be best?
Saulty2
Posts: 657
Date Joined: 28/05/10
the opening
not a fan of slppery plastic , have made my own out of pine wood -finger type 210mm square not hard , however if determined 9 & half inch is more than adequate .
Reefsta
Posts: 311
Date Joined: 03/08/19
Might give wood a go then
Thanks Saulty2.
I made a jarra pot last year with the smaller plastic throat (240mm) and caught more than enough in the lead up to Christmas, but I gather that was an exceptional year. So I may try the wood fingers you suggest and do a comparison between the plastic throat and the wood. Only have jarra to work with though, so hope that is as good as pine for the throat.
quadfisher
Posts: 1146
Date Joined: 28/09/10
These a coupla weeks back thru small rednecks.
quadfisher
ranmar850
Posts: 2702
Date Joined: 12/08/12
If you are going finger neck...
...make sure you taper them. Unless things are very different down your way, parallel shaped necks just don't catch very well. It's more about the ratio of the size of pot to the size of neck--full pro size, go full 265-270mm. Don't use a big neck in a pensioner pot. Stick to the smaller one. I did this for a long time, and as pro's, we tried everything you could think of, and a few things you wouldn't have.
A few other things to consider you might not have thought of. If you go finger neck, make sure you are using plastic bait baskets and have the blank side to the neck. Put a plastic coated wire basket in a finger neck, you can get a big dominant one just sit in the neck feeding, keeps the others out. Wire are fine with red necks. if you make your own ( although I have seen some built this way by resellers) do not fall into the trap of nailing the neck to the front frame so there is no gap between the neck and the front. Just won't catch very well, make sure you have at least 70mm gap there. if you wire extra bait in, make sure it can't flap around and touch the outside battens. Crays love to grab stuff like that and sit outside and eat. Wire it through the bottom of the basket, and tight. If using fish frames, cut them short for that reason. if there are an above-average number of occies around, keep all your bait inside the basket.
Happy dayz
Posts: 450
Date Joined: 29/04/18
Hey Ranmar out of curiosity
Hey Ranmar out of curiosity when you were fishing commercially what set up did you guys do best with finger or plastic necks ? Cheers
Happy dayz
ranmar850
Posts: 2702
Date Joined: 12/08/12
Plastic, overall
Look at all the gear stacked up in boats, largely plastic in later years. I think finger necks were more expensive, slightly, IIRC? And you have more maintenence, deckies had to be careful you didn't get a stray loop of rope inside the neck as you were throwing them off, or it would catch a finger and rip them out. It was actually a bit revolutionary when we started using them--traditionally, the only place you saw red necks was in the round steel pots, where they were a replacement for the woven cane necks originally used. I'm having to think hard now, but I think we really started using them roughly mid eighties, in large numbers? The built-in bait baskets, which are acccepted as the norm now, were also a later innovation. Previous to that, we wired in the plastic-coated wire baskets into the finger necks. as well as hocks, and baskets of hide. Crays tended to just sit in the necks and eat through them. And seals could stick their head in the neck, nip the corner of the basket, and rip them out to eat the herring. Thankfully, not many seals up our way.
I do remember having to cut little holes through the top surface outside corner of the red necks, so we could wire the bait baskets and hocks/hide in, so the necks must have been in use before the built-in baskets came along. I think it was Activ Industries that first gave us the option of the built-in baskets, at least up this way. And innovations like a bolt welded onto the steel bottom to attach an anode to, no more twisting wire anodes on, which would often get a bit loose, rattle, and not work. As well as shot cord to secure gates, instead of the old twist latch. Certainly a more expensive pot, but we quickly saw the benefits.
We've been running a finger neck amongst our shared 6 pot amateur gear for about five years now, certainly no stand-out for catching. Our best pot is our heaviest, steel bottom, red neck, a bit more ballast than the rest. I can't over-emphasise how important ballast weight is, and how weight on deck is not necessarily a reflection of weight in the water. Most of you would have worked this out, but for those who like to use wooden bottomed pots, or flirt with using concrete, etc, for ballast--well, I'll bet you've had pots just disappear, and blamed pot thieves. Concrete just about floats in water, metaphorically, you need twice the dry land weight to match it with steel in the water for ballast effect. As for wooden bottoms, all that wood soaks up a lot of water , feels heavy on deck, but floats in water. if you have ever dived on a pot---I used to make a sideline living pot-diving up here before my first skippers job, then dived on my own snags for a long time--wooden bottoms, with 20 kg of ballast, are moved around by the slightest swell. They skate as you watch them, drag them out of the hole, go to ascend, they are just back in that hole again. This, of course, was sometimes touted as an advantage, because they could move until they jammed up against a ledge, but generally, crays like their dinner to be stationary.
Happy dayz
Posts: 450
Date Joined: 29/04/18
Great response mate
Great response mate everyone on here appreciates your knowledge
Happy dayz
Reefsta
Posts: 311
Date Joined: 03/08/19
Great info
Many thanks for everyone's thoughts. I only began tryng my luck potting crays last year, starting with a very old discarded jarrah pot with a single bait basket. Now I'm enjoying the simple woodwork to put a couple of new ones together, using scrap jarra, plus the option of a pile of red plastic throats and bait baskets collected off the beach last winter. So it'll be fun to play around with the configuration and see what happens. Might even think about putting pine fingers inside a red plastic thoat on one to compare with the other etc. Probably getting as much enjoyment out of making the pots as catching the crays. I fish mostly alone and hand pull the pots, so worked only out to 15m during the run of whites before Christmas. Used fresh tailor and herring for bait and caught more than enough to keep me happy. Not really fussed about cathcing heaps, just want to learn more about them. So I'm interested enough to make a couple of decent pots and learn how to catch the reds through winter. Have knocked up the frames and ripped a pile of jarrah battens, so reckoning to make the pots about 800mm long, which with about 15kg of weight is about the limit for hauling safely on my own.
Saulty2
Posts: 657
Date Joined: 28/05/10
15kg ??
be sure to put the heavier weights mostly forward /close to the pulling rope & a lesser within 100mm of the back
ranmar850
Posts: 2702
Date Joined: 12/08/12
Put it all up the front if possible.
For a couple of reasons. Firstly, they are easier to handle on deck, basic leverage. And secondly, you want to weigh the bridle end down. More stable on the bottom. As Saulty says, if you have two, put the heavier one to the front. And get the lighter one up against the transverse bar that most steel bottom have.
Reefsta
Posts: 311
Date Joined: 03/08/19
Weight
Thanks Saulty2, that has been how I've been spreading the internal weights. The first pot I made weighed maybe 30kg overall, which was manageable. Not keen to hand pull any heavier on my own, mainly because that final flip over the gunwale can be a little awkward . 15kg of that was weight inside, so I put 10kg at the hauling end and 5kg the other. Hopefully that is enough to keep the pot steady on the seabed, at least in lower swell cnditions, which is what I focus on.
Gunnawundai
Posts: 48
Date Joined: 04/04/18
Necks!!!! They are called
Necks!!!! They are called necks, at least Noah and my good ole long departed Dad called them necks.
Reefsta
Posts: 311
Date Joined: 03/08/19
Got it
Thanks for so much great info everyone and especially grateful for those insightful details from Saulty2 and Ranmar. Plenty to ponder now, regarding weights and position of bait so they have to enter to get at it. Looking forward to a Redneck phase as I put a pot or two together.