If you are shrimping in 400 feet of water, pulling pots by hand isn't sport; it's torture. To limit out on spot prawns or Dungeness crab without blowing out your rotator cuff, you need a mechanical advantage.
Choosing a Pot Puller depends on your vessel's power system and how "commercial" your gear is. Here is the breakdown.
1. The Weekend Warrior: Scotty 2500
For recreational crabbing with lighter pots, Scotty adapts their downrigger technology into a puller.
- Pros: It fits into your existing Scotty downrigger mounts. If you already fish for salmon, this is a plug-and-play addition.
- Capacity: Designed for one or two traps at a time. ideal for the weekend crabber.
2. The Prosumer: Ace Line Hauler
The Ace Line Hauler is the workhorse of the Pacific Northwest. Known for its "Brutus" torque, it can lift heavy shrimp pots from the deep.
- The Tech: It features a hands-free coiling system (the "Bull Dog") that grips the rope for you, so you don't have to keep tension on the line manually.
- Power: Plugs into a standard heavy-duty trolling motor plug (Marinco).
Shop Ace Line Hauler & Accessories
3. The Gear: Pots and Rope
A puller is useless without the trap. Whether you are targeting spot prawns (mesh pots) or Dungeness (heavy steel cages), you need Leaded Rope.
Why leaded? Because floating rope gets cut by props. Leaded rope sinks away from your engine and stays on the bottom where the crabs are.
