So you're ready to catch some Alaskan Shrimp. We aren't experts on the subject, but we are succesful enough to eat a shrimp buffet while out on the water and then pack away enough shrimp to last most of the winter. Gearing up for shrimp isn't cheap, but the rewards can be worth it. We truly believe that Alaska Spot Shrimp are superior to any other shrimp we've eaten. They have a sweet taste comparable to a main lobster. Most of our shrimping has been done in the waters of Prince William Sound, although we also caught shrimp during our June 2008 Inside Passage Cruise in South East Alaska

The first item you're going to need are some shrimp traps. There are multiple options available, of course we have our favorite. Our pots have been bought for around $50 each from the West Marine store in Anchorage. They are a simple square, plastic coated mesh wire trap with four entrances. They require modifications before use. Similiar traps are available at B&J Supply in Anchorage with the advantage of coming pre-weighted. Kachemak gear shed in Homer sells another version that is larger and more expensive, this pot has a parlor prior to the main holding area. There are also collapsible traps available in Anchorage at Donaldson Supply. BE CAREFUL, some retailers will try to sell you shrimp traps that don't meet the regulatory requirements for mesh size. Sportsman's Warehouse was selling a trap that had too small a mesh and would swear that an unnamed ADFG representative had said they were OK; not good enough for me.

We buy the West Marine Traps because they are cheap and they work. Modification then begins. These traps MUST be weighted. Any time I hear a fellow boater complaining about someone "stealing" their traps my first thoughts are if they weighted them to keep them from being dragged away by the current. We weight the West Marine traps by buying two pieces of rebar for each pot. I buy pre-cut rebar at Home Depot. I paint the rebar with black plastic coating spray and then use ty-wraps to secure them to the bottom of trap. Some online research I've done says that shrimp want to feel protected and not be exposed when they go in to check out the bait, for that reason I install shade cloth on the top and two side of my traps as allowed by current ADFG Regulation. I didn't find shade cloth in Alaska and bought it at a Home Depot in Washington State. I secure the shade cloth to the trap with ty-wraps. Next I modify the harness where you will attach the buoy line. We attach a longline snap clip to each harness. These clips are very effective and should never fail if used properly BUT.....we did have a buoy line come up once with the pot missing and now we also attach a large snap swivel to every harness. We have a friend who made fun of our double attach point, until he too lost a pot attached with only a longline clip. Next I look at the escape device that opens if the trap is lost to keep it from fishing eternally. Sometimes modification is required to make them legal. This may require adding cotton line or removing hog rings. Refer to current ADFG regulations and compare them with you pot.

On to bouys, there is always legend of people pulling others shrimp pots. We decided to deal with this in an original way. We special order Polyform size A-0 buoys in a dark green color. Most buoys you will see are flourescent orange, visible for almost a mile. You won't see ours until you're within a 1/4 mile and only if you're looking for them. We mark them on another important piece of shrimping gear, our GPS Chartplotter. We NEVER use floating line, so a boat could run right over the top of them and just move them aside. We special order these buoys from Seattle Marine in Washington State.

For buoy line we exclusively use 600' leaded longline. We also keep extra 200' lenghts of leaded longline on the boat in case we are shrimping in deep water or very close to deep water so that we can bring our total buoy line length to 800'

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