Two floats are best, so the tide has got something to pull on, leaving the other exposed. Check if there are any local fishery bye-laws about colour etc.
The amount of rope depends on where you intend to set the pot.
If you are ‘rock-dodging’ - setting the pot in gullies close inshore, you need only a few fathoms. (A fathom is an arms’ stretch) Too much will leave floating line to catch in unwary outboard props.
Off Llanrhystud, where I fished, the water was nine fathom for ages out, and so 12 fathom of rope was sufficient, but here the water is deeper and the tidal pull stronger, so I need more. I have been mean so far and am using 6mm rope, which might have a hidden advantage as it is pretty hard to pull up, so might discourage interference!
Setting pots singly is good for targeting favourable looking spots, and means you can fish amongst a load of other peoples’ gear without crossing their lines. The disadvantage is a single is more prone to move in rough weather.
The commercial inshore boats fish 20 fleets of 20 pots, with buoys at each end.
I aspire to fishing 20 next year. If I rig them in pairs, that will give me 10 fleets, and I’ve identified enough local ‘ground’ to work them in three areas with 3 fleets on each, with one extra fleet as a ‘kamikaze’, to set in crazy places. Even with 2 pots, you start exploring!
Once they are there, I expect the pots to stay out. One of the hardest decisions used to be when to bring them in. Bringing 150 pots in onto a beach was always a messy affair. There must have been about 2 miles of rope, all well-encrusted with weed by the Autumn.
The seas get wilder and colder, and your pots more at risk and less likely to be fishing. The choice used to be forced on me by the demands of other work, but now I’m tempted to leave my gear out there and see what happens.
It’s good to have a mission for the kayaks anyway. I intend to set the net every so often, so want to keep the boats on the beach.
We paddled along to Fishguard last Saturday, and it was magic. There wasn’t another boat in sight. Checking the pots added to it, even though this time they were empty.
Last night was wild, with a North-Westerly gusting away like a train. I went down to see the sea this morning, to try to pick out my buoys in amongst the white-horses and see whether they had moved.
A good, bracing walk that I wouldn’t have undertaken without that incentive!
Just listen to this man, trying to justify his addictions... .