Eagle Claw CTRAP-1212 Star Crab Trap

Nothing like your average folding crab trap. Worked really well of the fishing pier and caught about 12 crabs with it for the couple hours I was crabbing. Will definitely be buying more . Very good quality, and works really well. I would definitely reccomend getting this trap wether you go crabbing everyday or just want to try it. You won't be disappointed,.

It worked for the first couple of tries with minor problems like the box did not close fully but then the rope that controls the boxes movement tangled and the box didn't close anymore so I threw it away after it happened again and gain. I never caught anything with it and the weldings on the panels started to break off

So there is a lot of issues with this trap out of the box:1. It does not come with a bait holder. You need to add one in yourself.2. The line guide is too low. The loose line will lay across the bottom of the trap where it can snag, or scare away crabs when you pull it.3. It is too light to shut itself properly. It needs to be weighed down by a catch or from your bait or it will just lift without closing the doors.4. This trap is meant to be placed straight down gently. Don't even think about throwing it cause the springs will flip the doors around the bottom.5. This trap is kind of small compared to my box traps.That being said, I did end up making some modifications to the trap. I used a metal clothes hanger to make a triangular bait holder that I attached across the bottom. I re-attached the line guide to the top of the bait holder so that the lines for the doors remained suspended (probably similar to what another reviewer, Robert, did). The trap will no longer fold down flat to store neatly, but that's fine with me. Problems 1 and 2 solved.I added 8 oz. of weight to the bottom of the trap. This doesn't make the trap too heavy, but is enough to have it close the doors before lifting the bottom. Problem 3 solved.I crabbed from a boat where I was using topless box traps along with this pyramid trap. I tossed the box traps and set this one in the water gently next to the boat. While this wasn't ideal, it kept the doors from springing open too far. Problem 4 solved.There's nothing I can really do about problem 5. HOWEVER, there is one very important thing to note: Between my three large box traps and this pyramid trap, this one ended up catching the most crabs! It even ended up catching a terrapin that was kind enough to join me in a selfie before returning to the water.So ultimately, it ended up being pretty successful after a few slight modifications. I don't think I will get another one, but I will continue using the one I have.

I purchased this right before we went crabbing at Grays Harbor, WA. We found many disadvantages of this crap trap1) No bait box: Since this crab trap does not have a bait box, we used a wire organizer and zip tie to hold it in place. This seems to work great in holding the bait. These two items you can purchased from Dollar Tree.2) The white cord is too short to actually do crabbing at the ocean shore. We fixed this by buying the longer cord from Dollar Tree and tied it with the white cord. This seems to work out fine.3) It is too small for the crabs that you can keep4) The white cord got tangled very easily and sometimes when you pulled up the trap, it did not close properly or even went backward.Pros: CheapOverall, we did not get any crabs that we could keep by using this trap and we end up buying the two ring crab net from the store nearby which worked much better than this one and could hold more crabs. I would not recommend this trap.I didn't take any pictures for this trap since it did not really work for us. The picture showed how you can make your own bait box from stuff from Dollar Tree.

The trap opens and closes, as it should. However, instead of a heavier material to make the trap last longer, i.e. nylon or wire leader they used cotton string that is attached to the corners that is pulls in the corners when pulled up from the bottom. Otherwise, it is okay for the price I paid.

This was so fun to use. We were up in Menemsha at the docks and we had a blast launching this. I wish the string was nylon but it worked well day after day. We used squid for the bait.

This crab trap is garbage. It is so bad that it was easier to jump in the water and try to get the crabs by hand. I gave it 1 star because is the lowest rating that you could do. Otherwise I would have given it - 4 stars. don't buy this crab trap unless you want to give it to someone you don't like.

I love these little traps.. I modify slightly with a rigid piece of wire from center bottom to just slightly above top of pyramid with loop to run open and close strings through for my own use.