Prawning _ Please Educate, I'm Ignortant

[Marty S]

As the title states... I am an ignorant prairie coyote killer. I know extremely little about the ocean and it's affairs, much less the ins and outs of shrimping.

I was in Port Hardy last August, and my fishing guide claimed that the shrimp were all fished out, there was nothing left. I always thought the ocean was caked full of the little varmints, and I treated his comments with suspicion. (he also said the long liners came in and fished all the halis out and that's why we only got one little tiny halibut whilst my future good friend David was out nuking them daily)

So when is it shrimp time? Both in regards to W Vancouver Is and Prince Pupert? Do you have to be out early or mid season or late? Are they everywhere? Do the commercials actually wipe them out regularly? Etc

Thanks

[Supermag]

I've been fishing with 4 different charters and the only one I would repeat with is Serengeti.

It's easy for a lazy captain to make excuses about why you aren't catching fish. I've seen them not even want to change bait or lures, not change spots because they don't want to burn fuel.

The good guys bust thier asses to get fish in the boat.

[Tofinoguy]

Originally Posted by Marty S

As the title states... I am an ignorant prairie coyote killer. I know extremely little about the ocean and it's affairs, much less the ins and outs of shrimping.

I was in Port Hardy last August, and my fishing guide claimed that the shrimp were all fished out, there was nothing left. I always thought the ocean was caked full of the little varmints, and I treated his comments with suspicion. (he also said the long liners came in and fished all the halis out and that's why we only got one little tiny halibut whilst my future good friend David was out nuking them daily)

So when is it shrimp time? Both in regards to W Vancouver Is and Prince Pupert? Do you have to be out early or mid season or late? Are they everywhere? Do the commercials actually wipe them out regularly? Etc

Thanks

The commercial guys really clean up them prawns. I get mine in the freezer before the mid May opening so i can eat them all year. This resource really is in trouble due to mis management by DFO.

The Long Liners are very effective fishers with hundreds of hooks and if you can't monitor where they are fishing stay away from that area for while after they hit it there won't be any Halibut to catch in that area.

[waterninja]

I suggest you log onto the BC outdoorsman forum (forget actual name) to ask questions about prawning or other ocean related questions.
I think "Prairie Coyote" would be a good user name.

[Scott h]

Originally Posted by Marty S

As the title states... I am an ignorant prairie coyote killer. I know extremely little about the ocean and it's affairs, much less the ins and outs of shrimping.

I was in Port Hardy last August, and my fishing guide claimed that the shrimp were all fished out, there was nothing left. I always thought the ocean was caked full of the little varmints, and I treated his comments with suspicion. (he also said the long liners came in and fished all the halis out and that's why we only got one little tiny halibut whilst my future good friend David was out nuking them daily)

So when is it shrimp time? Both in regards to W Vancouver Is and Prince Pupert? Do you have to be out early or mid season or late? Are they everywhere? Do the commercials actually wipe them out regularly? Etc

Thanks

He was telling you the truth. Like everything else commercial exploitation will decimate a local population, in this case prawns and halibut. The classic time to fish for prawns out here is winter /early spring before the commercial traps get put in. There season starts in around April/May after the breeding season, and goes til the fall sometime.Remember to toss back any that have eggs on them as that will be your next seasons catch (much the same as releasing big hali's as they are females and the amount of eggs are proportional to there size).

[fluxcore]

I grew up on Vancouver island and I can tell you first hand the prawns are on the decline big time! Crabs are in trouble to. Again this is largely attributed to mismanagement by the DFO. Traps EVERYWHERE & commercials cleaning out bays and new areas all the time.

[Marty S]

Bummer, I've only ever had ocean fresh prawns once in my life, and that was a restaurant in Chilliwack. Gosh, I couldnt fit another one in there!

I get how effective the commercials are, hard to believe tho that they can wipe out the entire coast. Too bad the DFO doesnt close some areas off to commercial harvest and keep some for the little people.

The thing about the halibut tho, I never could figure out why the guide is telling me that there were no halis left cuz the commercials annihilated them, but we were fishing there. Oh well, I better forget about it! Better luck next time out, I hope.

[hl649]

I was a fisheries biologist for DFO for a while in my past. It is true that the majority of the managed fisheries are at a decline and that they are mismanaged. There is an exceptional biological management team in place on the west coast that tries their best to manage the fisheries for a bright future. The problem arises when politicians get involved and veto the good science.

The truth is that in most fisheries on the west coast, the accumulated recreational fishery harvests more fish than the commercial fishery.

[fluxcore]

Originally Posted by Marty S

Bummer, I've only ever had ocean fresh prawns once in my life, and that was a restaurant in Chilliwack. Gosh, I couldnt fit another one in there!

I get how effective the commercials are, hard to believe tho that they can wipe out the entire coast. Too bad the DFO doesnt close some areas off to commercial harvest and keep some for the little people.

The thing about the halibut tho, I never could figure out why the guide is telling me that there were no halis left cuz the commercials annihilated them, but we were fishing there. Oh well, I better forget about it! Better luck next time out, I hope.

The halibut are usually able to come back given a few years, when I was a kid we had a crabbing area in a small bay called Hissnet bay that had a few creeks running into it and the crabbing was out of this world for years......"generations" and 3 commercial crabbing boats over ONE weekend cleaned it out, it's never rebounded. 20 years later and it's still dead! Talked to my buddy and he set some traps last season just out of curiosity and other then 1 or 2 on an overnight soak it's still dead. Weird thing is the bay was FULL of jellyfish that would end up on the trap lines.......fun lol but now you can tube & ski in there without an issue cause there gone two.

[huntsfurfish]

Originally Posted by hl649

I was a fisheries biologist for DFO for a while in my past. It is true that the majority of the managed fisheries are at a decline and that they are mismanaged. There is an exceptional biological management team in place on the west coast that tries their best to manage the fisheries for a bright future. The problem arises when politicians get involved and veto the good science.

The truth is that in most fisheries on the west coast, the accumulated recreational fishery harvests more fish than the commercial fishery.

Guys on here are not going to want to here that.

[Salavee]

Originally Posted by hl649

I was a fisheries biologist for DFO for a while in my past. It is true that the majority of the managed fisheries are at a decline and that they are mismanaged. There is an exceptional biological management team in place on the west coast that tries their best to manage the fisheries for a bright future. The problem arises when politicians get involved and veto the good science.

The truth is that in most fisheries on the west coast, the accumulated recreational fishery harvests more fish than the commercial fishery.

There is a lot of credible info available that suggests that your last statement is far from the truth. Commercial and FN fisheries combined have much larger quotas and much larger harvest numbers than the Rec Fishery . Where did you get your info ? Just curious.

[Scott h]

Originally Posted by hl649

I was a fisheries biologist for DFO for a while in my past. It is true that the majority of the managed fisheries are at a decline and that they are mismanaged. There is an exceptional biological management team in place on the west coast that tries their best to manage the fisheries for a bright future. The problem arises when politicians get involved and veto the good science.

The truth is that in most fisheries on the west coast, the accumulated recreational fishery harvests more fish than the commercial fishery.

I don't have a hard time believing that. There are a ton of freezers FULL of more fish than can be eaten and every year tons of freezer burnt fish and game gets tossed. The commercials are very hard on by-catch and fight tooth and nail for openings that should be left untouched. There is more than enough blame to be spread around to all user groups......

[Lornce]

Since no one has really answered your question about fishing for em here is the very basics of fishing for Prawns.

We would set Prawn traps early mornings before setting out for our fishing for the day, or late evening, I keep the sets down to 2 - 3 hours and find that during the winter I average about 150/trap per set 2 years ago. You need to buy a trap ($65 to $90) and have about 500 feet of line plus a highly visable float like a Scottie float. You can find used ones pretty easily at the coast cheaper. Bait Cakes work really well for bringing them into the trap, salmon heads or cat food. The more oily and fishy a bait smells, the better it will work.

Try to hit a contour line where the bottom goes from soft to hard. They are deep, 280 to 350 best but in some places 150 to 180 is good. Dropping traps is easy, but bringing them up that is a chore. Put a 2 pound ball on the bottom of each trap. Put a weight mid length on your rope so other boaters don't get tangled in it.

Please check current BC regulations for all fishing particulars.