Ok I can admit it, I really don't know if its a fact or not. I,m told that a dungness crab will not go around the corner of a square trap to find a way into it. I don't know who comes up with this stuff but sooner or later somebody tells it as if a fact. This time it was a marine biologist at Newport. I have to wonder if his degree came from one of those matchbook degree mills but I didn't want to ask. I walked around for a while thinking I would ask a commercial crab fisherman.
But the more I thought about it I didn't think I wanted to have anybody fall overboard from laughing so I left the dock. Is there anyone out there that has heard this before? Is it some old wivestail? If its true there are sure a lot of folks that bought square traps at the Portland Sportsman Show that are going to be wasting their time in the bays.

I've hears it but square pots out fished my round ones the other day, other days the round commercial type do better. I would love to put a camera above the trap on a rope and see what thier doing down there. Are ther crabs all over the pots right when I pull it? what if I waited 10 minutes longer? How long does it take for the first critter to reach? what do they do when inside? can they get out? Things to think about while dining on thier brothers. :p

NEN

I've been around commercial crab boats quite awhile and I have not seen any round pots on the big boats only the smaller Puget Sound crabbers. I fish the sound alot and can't remember not being able to limit on crabs when I want that many and all I've used in years are the cheap square traps by danielson, I had better quality, small commercial type round traps but they were heavier than hell and cost to much to replace when stolen, so I stick with the cheapies and have no problem cathing crabs in square style pots.

I've been around commercial crab boats quite awhile and I have not seen any round pots on the big boats only the smaller Puget Sound crabbers. I fish the sound alot and can't remember not being able to limit on crabs when I want that many and all I've used in years are the cheap square traps by danielson, I had better quality, small commercial type round traps but they were heavier than hell and cost to much to replace when stolen, so I stick with the cheapies and have no problem catching crabs in square style pots.

I have personally sat on the bottom of the Puget Sound and watched a square crab trap fish. The crabes will indeed go around the pot to find the opening. It appeared to me that the crabes could have cared less. They just wanted the goodies in the pot.

I did notice that all the crabes will show up on the down current side of the pot first. Probably from smelling the bait.

If anything, I'd make sure the trap door to the pot sits on the down current side. You'll definitely get more crabes in the pot that way.

And no, I did not tamper with, or "raid" that pot. I just sat off in the distance and watched it fish. I already had my limit of crabies. Scuba diving for crabes is the only way!

Round ones take up more space per square foot, so I don't know why they'd use them at all commercially unless someone thought they'd work better. Like you, the only round ones I've seen are for Dungeness crab. Maybe they have the square pot phobia?

The Bering Sea guys seem to have done a pretty good job of wiping out that fishery, so the big rectangular pots must work just peachy for King crab, Tanner crab, etc.

Ooops, sorry about posting twice, my computer went haywire this morning