Here are many different crab traps out there, and it can be quite confusing when trying to choose a trap to start out with. We’ll narrow them down into several categories here, and try to help you make the right choice.
Ring Net Crab Traps
This ring net crab trap is typically composed of two concentric metal hoops, with a net surrounding the rings. Rope is tied to the largest ring to allow you to pull the entire trap out of the water. There may also be a pouch in the netting of the smaller ring to allow you to place bait.
To use this trap, you stand on a pier of some sort and throw the entire assembly like a frisbee into the water. Once it has settled on the bottom, the entire trap lays flat on the floor, allowing crabs to crawl into the trap. After you wait, typically around 10-15 minutes, you pull up the trap using the rope. You want to pull up at a gradual pace. The gradual pulling will separate the two metal hoops, and the crabs that were attracted to the bait within the small ring will become trapped as the larger metal ring is pulled above them. As long as you pull at a gradual pace, you’ll eventually end up with some crabs! This is one of the simplest and cheapest traps to start out with.
Box Crab Traps
Box crab traps come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but the way they work is very similar. Typically there are flaps or openings that are designed or shaped to allow one-way entry. The crabs will be able to crawl in, but not out of the trap. These involve less hassle, as your pulling speed or angle will not matter. Once the crabs are in the trap, they will stay there until you pull them up. They can’t escape as they would from traps such as a hoop net crab trap.
Crab Snares
Crab snares are used with a fishing pole. Bait is placed into the cage into the center, and the snare is cast on a fishing pole. Once it hits the bottom, you wait for crabs to come near. After about 10-15 minutes, you reel in the snare quickly. This causes the wire hoops around the snare to close around any nearby crab legs or claws and allows you to reel in a crab or two.
Pyramid & Star Crab Traps
As you can guess from its name this crab trap is in the shape of a pyramid only when being pulled to the surface, when resting on the waters bottom its look more like a star shape which is why some people often refer to it as a star crab trap. This trap is very similar to the ring crab trap, it can be packed and stored flat but again like the ring trap need to be checked regularly for crabs as it has no walls or cage to stop them from escaping.The benefits of this trap over the ring one is its build is slightly better and can be used in waters that have got stronger currents but for this added bonus you will have to pay a few dollars extra.
Commercial Crab Traps
Crabbing can be a very fun day out for you and your family at the beach but to some it’s there lively hood and career. Commercial crabbing is a very tough job out on the open water so it is imperative that the commercial crab traps that they lay on the waters floor attract and catch as many crabs as physically possible to be able to turn a small profit and earn a wage.
Commercial crabbing is heavily regulated by local state laws to ensure the crabs are not over fished and given enough time to breed and repopulate, so if you are thinking of crabbing commercially then you will need to check the rules, regulations and laws for the state you intend on working in.
Unlike normal traps, commercial crab traps and huge in size when compared side by side, some can easily be over 60” in diameter which can hold a fantastically large amount of crabs that will end up on the supermarket shelves around the world.
Commercial crab traps can be left unattended but for only a certain amount of time and they have to be placed in easy to access spots so they can be retrieved easily without problems,most states disallow crabbers placing there traps in channels and at the entrances of streams.
One thing you will also find on commercial crab traps that you won’t find on normal ones is a small stainless steel plate like a dog tag identifying who the trap belongs to in case its missed or swept by the current from its original location.
Please contact with us if any questions, our sales team will always be happy to provide you with the most professional info.
