doran crab pot thefts

Was reading in another thread from google and someone came up with the great idea of using dye-packs. You know the exploding kind that banks would use to mark stolen money or something like that. I think that'd be great to implement and shouldn't be too hard to rig up with a safe-switch for when you actually want to open the trap.

When the dye pack explodes, it releases an aerosol of red smoke, red dye (1-methylamino-anthraquinone) and, in some cases, tear gas.

awesome!

The crazy thing is that regulation was only implemented a few yrs ago! Until then, it was technically legal to pull someone else's unattended pots. I'm pretty sure that reg was pushed through by Coastsiders in response to HMB scumbaggery.

How about some concertina wire & razor blades halfway up the rope?

How bout  a sting ray in the pot. I pulled a lobster hoop last year and had a huge sting ray in it. Scared the s**t out of me.

I lost 4 traps at doran opener . I had  them set far out maybe too far, on a over night soak came back the next day 2 where gone . I got some new killer bait which was given to me for my other 3 traps  which i Barrow from friends at ncka.
had high hopes for them, So i overnight them again and went to timber cove to fish with a few boys from ncka . Had the honor to fish with " the champ  of ocean cover 2012 the Dude and pond poacher .we had a good time ,did well at timber  cove 2 lings and a few rockys . We came back that afternoon to doran and couldn't wait to see my prize in my traps ,so the dude and I went out to collect our trips , again 2 of them went Mia wtf . I was so piss .whats the chance off them getting stolen again.on top of that i had a my first yard sale on my way back in . Sorry Al and Kiel .Spent 6 days at doran had a great time meeting cool people from the ncka ate like kings . Thanks guys for making the me feel so welcome .

I'm all for replacing the rope with barb wire for at least the first 6' or so at the top.

Yep after my little adventure last week that happened, I left them for an overnight soak for the first time. One legal! Definetly got hit. It's the sh*ts when you can't even fish without a hassel.........

Be careful about boobytrapping your traps. Even the best-intentioned plans can backfire. 

 

I'm not sure you can attribute all the loss to theft or someone messing with the traps.  Last sunday I walked a section of beach around the mouth of Americano Estero and found two floats and rope, the floats looked brand new.  One had III (3) printed on it.  There are probably lots more along that shore.  While I trust you guys know your knots, it is possible someone's prop snagged a line in the dark.  As to environmentalists releasing your catch, I doubt it, even environmentalists eat crab- it is well regulated and not endangered.

Be careful about boobytrapping your traps. Even the best-intentioned plans can backfire. 

   Maybe he lost count....

It would be a pain but as was mentioned earlier maybe dropping some dummy floats with bricks on the bottom around your pots I bet if they pull one or two floats near your trap and find a brick on the end if the line they will move on. Scumbag thieves are generally lazy and opportunistic. If you make it too much work for them they will most likely move on to easier targets. Plus you are wasting there time and giving more opportunity a for them to be caught.

I also thought it would be fun to take two   floats with a nice long run of rope and a coupe cinder blocks or pulley setup and make a nice U rig so when they pull one float they fight against the other one feeling like a nice heavy pot. Would be fun to watch some scumbags try and figure that one out.

Or if someone wanted to spend some money. Garmin makes a nice GPS that ties to your dog collars for hunting. Stash that in a float and hang out by to boat ramp until someone nicely brings your traps back for you. I think there are some cheaper radio type tags like they use for tracking tagged animals. Although these sort of stings are likely  best left to the LEO's

Just some food for thought...

Pore's post got me thinking    How about rigging up a trap so that when you pull on it once, you trigger a trap to open that is filled with a few dozen of those balls from a kids ball pit, or some ping pong balls.  The pull the trap and are instantly identifiable and hopefully very confused   

Or maybe buy a few of these to tie down the line of your floats  http://www.amazon.com/Dummy-Hand-Grenade-Pineapple/dp/B000MF2FEW

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Haha I have the same thing written on my buoys. I've also added " Remember I can see you and know where you live  " So far my stuff hasn't been raided this year.

It's true that some guys don't tie their floats and or ropes on well enough. I found about 150 feet of rope way out in the water with no float. I pulled up the trap, it was a brand new ring. I asked a power boater to take it in and leave it on the dock at Doran. I'm sure the owner thought it was stolen but I was not going to leave 150' of blue rope floating just below the surface. You could hardly see it. So some of this is pilot error. Some is not and a pox on those who would steel the traps of others. There does seem like a lot of rabble at Doran in particular. I had friends who worked at the marine lab out there who told me the commercial guys pulled their traps. That was a long time ago but I won't set traps at Doran unless it is a party scene with you guys. I believe the crabbing would be much better at Goat Rock as long as you weren't worried about the Landlord and it wasn't too big to get out.

I'm not sure you can attribute all the loss to theft or someone messing with the traps.  Last sunday I walked a section of beach around the mouth of Americano Estero and found two floats and rope, the floats looked brand new.  One had III (3) printed on it.  There are probably lots more along that shore.  While I trust you guys know your knots, it is possible someone's prop snagged a line in the dark.  As to environmentalists releasing your catch, I doubt it, even environmentalists eat crab- it is well regulated and not endangered.

Not vegan enviros. It doesnt sound that far fetched to me at all. Who in hell would bother to empty the traps of fish heads and then empty the bait jars. huh?