HMB 11/28- Missing Ambush Riing

I was out in the beautiful conditions this morning at HMB, launching just after daybreak from the "old pier." I had one promar ambush ring that I had bought because of the current regs, and two regular rings or "hoop nets." I  worked and area that had been productive for me in years past, turning left out of the jaws and working my way south parallel to the beach in 35-40 fow. I was leapfrogging the pots as I went and it was a really slow pick. I started to work my way offshore somewhere between the green and red cans to where there was a group of a half or dozen or so kayakers on Hobies.  At that point my rings were all pretty close together and I was getting inpatient so I decided to just leave all 3 for longer soaks  and paddle out to a rockpile/kelp patty just inside the red can and have a sandwich and see if I could pick up some bottom fish. While I was out there there was some chatter on the radio that began with "hey, I found a submerged trap" and the following conversation (I'm paraphrasing) ensued. It not clear if it was just 2 people. Sounded more like 3 or 4 chimed in. I'm sure others who were out there heard it as well and may have a better recollection.
 "does it have a buoy?" 
"Yeah, it was just submerged"
 "Maybe it's abandoned" 
"Pull it"
"Is it a ring?"
"No, it's a trap., and it's full of crab! and they're huge!"
Is there a license# on the buoy?"
"Yeah. Come over here and check it out"
Shortly after that the radios went silent
I opted not to weigh in on the conversation even though there was not a ton of slack  in my rings when I last dropped them in 40 fow. At the time I thought "oh abandoned trap," not realizing at the time how odd it would be for an old abandoned trap to be full of live crab.
I was getting tired and concerned about wind picking up so I paddled back towards my rings.  As I was paddling in the group headed back towards the harbor.  It was still nice and calm and I could see two of my floats from over a quarter of a mile away without even looking at my GPS  and I picked those up (the two hoop nets). I paddled to the waypoint I had marked and my ambush ring was nowhere to be found. I traced my trail and scanned the area with binoculars before giving up. I was bummed since I only had one of those and I know they are really hard to come by now. It made the paddle back to the harbor even longer. At the parking I chatted for a few minutes with a gentleman in a Tacoma and told him about my missing ring. He had heard the conversation on the radio and was in the area and he was convinced it was mine. He said it was a Promar Ambush, but I'm not clear if he actually saw it.
Anyhow, this could all be a coincidence and my ring could still be out there. It was a 50' line minus what is used to tie both ends up and it was weighted with only a river rock from my garden that I threw in a bait bag. It could have walked until the float was under water and still be out there. I'm curious though if anyone else heard the conversation and what they made of it. Better yet, if someone on this board was part of that conversation it would be good to hear from you. If someone with good intentions rescued my equipment it would be great to get it back if that could be arranged. Or if anyone will be out there during the next week and runs across it-here are the details:
Promar ambush 32" outside ring with blue coating. Typical red and white float. There are a series of bolder recent numbers/letters. Those are from my Oregon 3-day shellfish license from my trip last month. In faded sharpie there should be my GO ID and either my initials or first name and first letter of last name "MC" or "Mark C" The float and trap are connected by weighted line.

Cheers

Mark

Bummer you lost your hoop. A typical crab buoy provides enough flotation to float a Promar ambush trap so if it was swelly or you didn't have enough scope on your rope it could have simply floated away. One time in Tomales I put out some Ambush hoops and went drifting for halibut. About a 0.5-1 mile from where I set my trap I saw a float that looked like mine. Sure enough its was my hoop floating happily along. I was really lucky I saw it before it passed me. Now I put out a lot of extra rope if I anticipate tides, wind or swell might move my traps, and add weight to my hoops. I also put my name and phone number on my floats in case an honest person finds them. In your case, maybe the hoop had enough crabs in it to submerge the float and that is what the people on the radio were talking about. Still, if they could see it they should have left it since you could have seen it too. 

Bummer you lost your hoop. A typical crab buoy provides enough flotation to float a Promar ambush trap so if it was swelly or you didn't have enough scope on your rope it could have simply floated away. One time in Tomales I put out some Ambush hoops and went drifting for halibut. About a 0.5-1 mile from where I set my trap I saw a float that looked like mine. Sure enough its was my hoop floating happily along. I was really lucky I saw it before it passed me. Now I put out a lot of extra rope if I anticipate tides, wind or swell might move my traps, and add weight to my hoops. I also put my name and phone number on my floats in case an honest person finds them. In your case, maybe the hoop had enough crabs in it to submerge the float and that is what the people on the radio were talking about. Still, if they could see it they should have left it since you could have seen it too.

Interesting. I didn't know the float could keep a trap like that suspended. I am used to dropping pronmar collapsibles with 5 lb in them, But it would have to be sitting on the bottom for the crabs to get in there, no? I suppose floating away is a possibility. There was very little drift in the area, but it was left unattended fir the better part of an hour. I was running  the rope  through my hand as I deployed them and could  kind of feel them hit bottom though, and it felt like I could feel roughly how much slack was left in the line.

Sorry for your loss.  I lost a janky but good 'ol working hoop today 

Not sure if really helps or not, but I clip on a weight on the line approx. 10-15ft. below the buoy. Supposed to help keep excess floating line from the surface to prevent boat entanglements and possibly adds a pivot joint in the line instead of just a straight line to buoy

Sorry for your loss.  I lost a janky but good 'ol working hoop today 

Not sure if really helps or not, but I clip on a weight on the line approx. 10-15ft. below the buoy. Supposed to help keep excess floating line from the surface to prevent boat entanglements and possibly adds a pivot joint in the line instead of just a straight line to buoy

Yes I’ve seen those. A good idea when not using weighted line, which I do.


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