Fish
Traps
Black Sea Bass Traps Scup Traps Cod Traps
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Black Sea Bass Pots Click on photo thumbnails for full sized view Ketcham Traps manufactures a variety of sea bass traps ranging from thirty-six through forty-eight inches in length. Look at the top photo thumbnail and you will see the top left bass trap is set up using the traditional southern New Jersey entry that is twined off with no hoop. The center sea bass pot design incorporates a semi-rigid plastic mesh formed into a funnel entrance and twin ea bass dump doors. Ballast is provided with the patented SINKOŽ steel cored cement runner system. The high tech SINKO system totally clears the interior of the trap of ballasting materials, they can be easily installed or replaced at sea if necessary and provides the lowest center of gravity possible so you sea bass traps land right. The bottom trap has a hoop Cape Cod style entry, sea bass rear dump door, and plastic runners. The lower three thumbnails are a fairly standard and well proven design setup with twine and hoop single side entry, top clearing door and rear dumping door (508) 997-4787 |
SCUP aka PORGY TRAPS
Click on thumbnail photos for full sized view
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Ketcham's became involved with scup traps in 1977 when the then Mass Dept of fisheries was looking for an alternate fishery for the lobstermen of Buzzards Bay. An article on their study of the scup trap was published in the Oct 78 issue of the National Fisherman. Over the years the most common Scup / Porgy Pot design shown in the top thumbnail is a 24" cube shaped scup pot with 1, 2, or 4 entries. The top scup trap has the 4 entries highlighted in red for photographic clarity. Clam bellies or squid are favorite baits put in the centrally located bait holder. Some scup trap fishermen prefer a divider to create upper and lower chambers. It is very similar to the divider on the blue crab trap you can see on the Eel Trap & Crab Trap page. Second thumbnails are actual underwater scup pot fishing photographs in taken in the Buzzards Bay Scup Trap study conducted in the late 1970's. Ketcham's also builds the figure eight style Scup Pot on special order shown in the third thumbnail, roughly twice the volume of the "cube" trap. Larger per haul catches are reported due to the size, but for some Porgy / Scup Pot fishermen the size may be too much. The bottom photo is a "lobster style" Scup / Porgy Trap we've built from 36" to 48" long. The "lobster" design uses 2 side entries and, in the photo, a parlor section leading to the left. This particular scup trap was ordered with a bait tube of 1˝ mesh between the entries. This is an interesting design as some fishermen swear by it, others cuss it out. There appears to be a "trick" to make this design work well and the boy's aren't talking. Call (508) 997-4787 for more info
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COD FISH TRAP
click on the above photo to enlarge |
Tuning up a cod fish trap in our mill for the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries |