Rigging box traps with tops??? Pix?

[Hroonk]

I inherited a bunch of old box traps...I usually only trot line, but want to use the traps sinces they were free. I read on here a while ago about wire-tying the doors shut to improve catching. I was going to wire tie two opposite doors shut for simplicity, but is there a better, more proven way? I remember something about closing 3 doors and placing the bait in the far corner. How do you rig your pull string then? Just tie it to one door?

Thanks

[POLECAT]

I experimented with closing 2 & 3 doors permanently. Both were better than having all 4 operational.
What I liked best was having only one door able to open. That allows two baits to be placed in the far corners. The crab(s) had to go farther inside the trap to get the bait and they had only one escape route, not 2 or 4.
The 4 lines that attach to the doors are not modified in any way. Leave them the way they are. You may wish to place insect screen mesh in the corners to keep the crabs from getting to the bait from outside of the trap.

[Crabslayer]

Jerry, did you notice an increase in your catch with one door open vs. all four?

[POLECAT]

I did run a spread ONCE with 2 & 3 door closed traps and kept score. That was many years ago. I recall the traps with 4 operating doors caught fewer crabs than the other two types, but the records are long gone unfortunately.

In traps with 4 open doors, the crab can go only half way in the trap. Any farther and it's on its way out another door. By closing those doors you can make the crab go farther inside with fewer avenues of escape. It makes sense that more crabs should be caught because of reduced escape routes and farther distance to travel to the only opening.

Where I think the modification excells is when a very large crab enters the trap. There's much more of the crab inside the trap . Less chance it can escape.[tongue]

[Burchbeer]

I am going to try this on a few of mine too and see what happens.

[masterbaiter]

two doors closed seems best for me but i will experiment with the one door theory and report results, bait is still the key factor!!!

[Fat Jimmy]

And here I used to give my little brother all sorts of hell cause he would throw the traps back in before he would make sure all of the doors would open! I guess i've still got A LOT to learn about this crabbing!! [grin] FJ

[facsman]

Has anyone ever tried zip tying 1, 2 or 3 doors shut on the topless traps??

[POLECAT]

Not yet, but I definitely intend to. Once again, the bait can be placed in a corner of the trap rather than in the center. I intend to make it as difficult as I can for the critter to escape.

[Crabber]

Very interesting.


I shall give this one door trick a try.
Thanks Jerry.