How to make a clamshell from a plastic bottle

To catch crayfish, special crayfish traps equipped with bait are used. Crayfish find them by smell, crawl inside and cannot get back out. By installing one such trap at the bottom of a reservoir with crayfish, you can catch dozens of them at a time. If you want to try this fishing method, you should make a homemade crayfish catcher from a plastic bottle. It is so simple that it can be made directly while fishing with virtually no tools.

Materials:

• bottle 10 l;
  
• twine;
  
• wire.

Making a shell

Using a sharp knife, cut off the neck of the bottle so that a hand can fit through the resulting hole. Then you need to cut it again along the line where the thickening begins, where it turns into a regular cylindrical shape.


The cut beveled part is turned over and inserted inside the main half. Then you need to sew them together. To do this, in camping conditions, you can light a fire and burn several holes with heated wire or a nail. It is enough to make 3 holes through which the halves are twisted with wire.



A twine is tied to the resulting trap, by which it will be pulled out of the reservoir. To do this, two holes are burned on the wall of the bottle at the bottom and one near the neck. A piece of twine about half a meter is pulled through them and tied at the ends. The result is a handle.

A couple of holes are burned in the bottom of the bottle for tying bait. It is inconvenient to knit it from the inside of the shell, so you need to make them wide enough.

A long cord is tied to the center of the rope handle of the trap. This fastening will allow you to keep it in a horizontal position when lifting the trap by the thread. Thanks to this, the crayfish will lie correctly on the bottom when cast, and when removed from the water, it will not warp, and the crayfish will not run away.
Then the bait is placed inside the shell and tied through the holes in the bottom. You can use sun-dried fish, first ripping open its belly to enhance the smell. Crayfish also readily goes for garlic, which can be placed in a net or sock so that it does not fall out of the trap. Bait options may vary.


After this, the trap is filled with water and lowered to the bottom of the reservoir closer to the place where there are crustacean burrows.

It can be waded, cast with a long pole, or thrown from a boat. The end of the rope from the trap is secretly tied somewhere. The shell is checked 1-2 times a day. You need to lift it from the bottom using a rope, shake it out or remove the crayfish by hand, refresh the bait if necessary, and throw it back into the water.

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