Best shrimp pots for kayak

I've been looking around at shrimp pots lately, but haven't been able to come to any conclusions as to which design I really want for shrimping off the kayak.

On Amazon they have pots by Protoco (19x24x9") and Willapa Marine (24x24x9").  I'm sure both would catch shrimp well, but neither collapses.  So I'm wondering how hard they'll be to deal with on the yak.  For that matter I can't find anything that has a legal mesh size for spot shrimp that does collapse (7/8" square block must pass through rigid meshes, 1.75" stretch measure for flexible meshes).

Anyone know of a worthwhile collapsable (and legal for Puget Sound spot shrimp) pot that's available? 

If not, what have those that have shrimped off their yak found to work well?

Well, after the overwhelming response  to my question I went ahead and bought the SMI 24" square traps at Johns Sporting Goods.  Theyhad a deal where the trap, 400' of lead line, and 1 yellow bouy was $99.  I got 2, plus a Scotty Trap Eaze, a couple pot harnesses, bait tubes, a couple extra bouys, and bait pellets/oil/cat food.  Used a 20% off coupon for that extra stuff.  All told it was almost $350 after sales tax.

We'll see how it all works here in a couple weeks.

Good luck! I love me some shrimp  Definitely not an easy task from a kayak 

I've been doing it for years off a kayak. First year I made the choice to pull hand over hand. Yeah, I was younger back then. After 4 pulls from 200 to 300 feet of my trap with an extra 10 pounds and shrimp inside, I couldn't lift my arms up past my shoulders for two days. I won't do that again.

The method I use now is two kayaks, one is the power the other is the fulcrum. When it's time to pull I tie a line from my buddy's stern to the buoy loop while feeding the line over my lap (in a SINK). He lays into it moving away from my boat at a 90 degree angle. I get pulled sideways a bit, but mostly the line feeds over my deck and comes up 4 times faster than I could ever pull it. I give a shout out when I see the trap coming and finish the last 10 feet by hand. He gets a cut of the haul, everyone goes home happy. Make sure both boats have licenses, the WDFG are out in force on shrimp days.

I use a standard full-size trap, 450' of line, add 10 lbs to the pot, 2 or 3 buoys (one is yellow). Never and issue to balance them on the deck of the SINK, should be even easier off the Hobie this year. I'll be scouting my spots in Elliot Bay this year, log my GPS waypoints and head right there when the gun goes off at 7 AM on 5/4.

Good Shrimpin to Ya.

couldn't you use a buoy with a slide on it and haul it up like a power boat on the Columbia river pulling and anchor?

Good luck with the shrimping.

couldn't you use a buoy with a slide on it and haul it up like a power boat on the Columbia river pulling and anchor?

Good luck with the shrimping.

Sure, a big float with a snatch-block / jam cleat assembly does the same thing, probably cost $200 and an afternoon to set up a decent rig. But then I'd have to do all the work, my buddy does all the work for bag or two of shrimp. 

Bi-Mart sells a bouy/side system for less then $30  you just need the rope and trap.

My buddy drives his own car, loads his own boat, and sometimes even brings the beer. I like my deal better.

Still haven't done this from the yak, and not sure I'd want to try paddling/pedaling with the big ass shrimp pots we used on the canal....actually less enticing is dealing with the feces show on the canal.

Shrimp pots don't weigh that much so travelling with them is not too bad.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Never tried pulling pots from a yak--i've been doing it the old farts way like this for the past month.


Got enough bugs for the year--now it's time to get back in the yak and go for hali and salmon again.
T2

Well, I got out there on Saturday.  Was in place and dropped my first pot right at 7AM.  Was about half way between Rosario Beach and Biz Point.  Got 22 shrimp between the 2 pots.  Forgot gloves, so lost a bit of skin off 4 fingers (index and pinky on both hands).  Had to buck about a 2kt current on the way home.  G&F boat came over to check me out.  Not to check on legality, just because they had to see my setup for themselves.  They could hardly believe I was able to shrimp from the yak.

I'm, amazingly, not that sore.  Fingers hurt from the rope, but muscles are in decent shape.  Advil and Aleve I'm sure helped a lot with that. 

Once my hands heal up, and I have a set of gloves, I'll definitely do it again.  That and I want to put another Scotty base on the boat so the Trap-Ease can actually be useable.

Saw the pictures on Facebook.  Glad you got a few, they looked decent sized but there wasn't a reference on the pictures.

I'd say the tails averaged 3-4". 

Not sure about PNW but I used half sized pots from here:  http://www.alaskashrimppots.com/services.html
 

The fold flat so taking them out is no problem.

I used a downrigger to pull my pots.  There are folks like AKfishing, Fungunnin, and Howard McKim out of Ketchikan that drop and retrieve pots with a rod and reel.  I'm too much of a wimp. 

Here's my setup.  I fished it down to 500 feet wiith no problems.