This year I purchased the Scotty Prawn Puller to gear up for prawns. This writeup is a review of the product and intended to give some reasonable feedback on the product.
I like the small size of the Scotty Prawn Puller. The puller is very similar to a scotty downrigger only the boom is even shorter. The small size is a plus for me because it takes up less space in the boat cabin when not in use. It is small enough that I can slide it under the seats in the cuddy cabin on the Striper.
The Scotty Prawn Puller is easy to mount, by removing a single 6″ pin from the Scotty Downrigger, and swapping the Scotty Prawn Puller onto the downrigger base. The electric cord is the same as on the Scotty downrigger and plugs into the Scotty outlet easily.
The Scotty Prawn Puller is quiet and efficient at pulling prawn traps. I used the puller with 5/16 lead core line. The puller had no problems raising two, double trap sets each with 450′ of lead core line, from 300′ depth. It has lot of power if the line gets temporarily snagged on the bottom.
If the trap gets hung up or for any reason the operator needs to stop it is easy to let off the minimal hand tension and the puller gear will loose traction and the trap will stop coming up. By simply pulling by hand a tiny amount of pressure, the pully gear will gain traction and the line will start coming up. The design of the traction pulley is very effective for a variety of rope types and designs including 3/8 nylon or 5/16 lead core trap lines.
In comparison to the Ace Brutus Prawn Pullers, this one does not have a higher overhead pully. This means that when the trap comes up it will not hang right beside your boat, it will be in the water. This was not a problem, to swing the trap into the boat by hand.
In relation to the Ace Brutus Prawn Puller, the Scotty Prawn Puller does not have the large round back pulley on it and when pulling the line it tends to come off horizontally, eg you are pulling it toward your midsection, whereas an Ace unit you can pull it more downwards toward the floor. I have not used the Ace but I am thinking that pulling downward toward the floor would more easily facilitate a one-man coiling operation into a pail. With the Scotty puller the coiling so far was a bit of a pain. When we were deploying the trap immediately we coiled the line in large rings (5′) on the deck and that was fast and easy.
Overall I am happy with the Scotty Prawn Puller and particularly its small size and ease of setup and use. I would not have a problem recommending the Scotty Prawn Puller to anyone looking for a prawn trap puller.
I am currently editing a video for YouTube that shows the Scotty Prawn Puller in action and I will post it in this post when the video is uploaded.
If you have any questions about the Scotty Prawn Puller post a comment in the comments box below and I will get back to you with a reply.
Update 2017-04-27. After several years of use I think the Ace Brutus prawn puller is superior to the Scotty Prawn Puller. With the Scotty Prawn Puller, I do not like that as the boat drifts in the wind while pulling, if boat pivots and the angle to the rope changes and is not straight on, the pully cannot effectively turn to adjust, this causes the rope to jump off the pully and requires the boat position be maintained. The hands free option on the Ace Brutus Prawn Puller is also a superior feature. I will still agree that the Scotty Prawn Puller is a functional unit however consider it to be the entry level unit while the Ace Brutus Prawn Puller would be the one you would likely want to have if you can bring together the extra funds.
Are Scotty prawn pullers guaranteed for life?
Can you tell me if the scotty line puller will pull yellow polypropylene rope?
Alex I have a couple of crab traps with yellow poly and the Scotty puller brings them up fine. Thanks for posting the comment, cheers!
I am curious if you think that the Scotty puller could handle two large shrimp pots well spaced apart in 350 ft. of water with 600 ft weighted 5/16 line?
Ralph – I am running strings of 2 Ladner style shrimp pots on 450′ lead lines and have had no problem pulling this with the Scotty puller. My traps are 50′ apart on the line so for the majority of the recovery the puller is raising the weight of both traps, the lead line, and the catch. Your scenario should not pose a difficulty to the puller.
Could you tell me where the Scotty 2500 prawn puller is made?
Thanks.
Hi Elizabeth, Scotty and Scott Plastics is a Victoria BC based company.