SOUTH BEND Hurricane F210 Hr Crab Trap Sq 10.5X10.5X10.5, Multi, One Size

I was hesitant with this when I saw the price, thinking it was too cheap so it must be a crappy product. Couldn't have been more wrong. Nice heavy duty cage just like you see in sporting good stores but at a fraction of the cost. Its been a while since I dealt with these cages, so assembly was a little tricky but nothing crazy. Would definitely recommend buying the extra line because this has just enough to tie the doors together.

MADE VERY POORLY. I TOOK TIE WRAPS TO STIFFEN IT UP. BUT DID NOT HELP. TRIED ALL TYPES OF BAIT. NEVER CAUGHT ONE SINGLE CRAB. THIS WAS A WAIST OF MONEY. CRABS MOVE TOO FAST FOR THE DOORS TO RAISE UP AND TRAP THEM. ALSO TOO SMALL. THEY ARE VERY SMART. THIS TRAP WILL NOT GET THE J0B DONE.

Great Crab Trap. Easy to assemble and boy oh boy does it work !! Caught a bunch and threw them into my homemade tomato sauce over linguine - MANGIA !!

Firstly, there are a multitude of crabbing products on the market in varying price ranges; this one is considered a very low end economy product (less than $10 and eligible for Super Saver Free Shipping), so one has to temper opinion on that basis. Having said that, secondly, this one particular crabbing trap is small and lightweight; that, by nature of the milieu, consigns it to a very limited space within the crabbing venue. That is, one can only expect to use it in shallow, calm and relatively clean and clear waters, like that off a marina pier. It cannot survive in anything more than slowly moving waters.The trap itself is a simple thin coated wire, box frame construction with four string pulled, movable doors that open and close when the trap is either dropped or lifted from the water. It additionally requires, but does NOT include a baiting apparatus (such as a bait cage, bag or pin), nor does it come with a rope line to drop and retrieve it from the water. But, once the user supplies such things, the trap works reasonably well given the already mentioned constraints. The instructions are limited to small, barely viewable pictures with simple but vague descriptions on the plastic bag packaging. The up side is, anyone who has ever worked with their hands or mechanical tools would figure everything out in a few minutes. The down side however is, that those who don't have at least some shop class experience would find the instructions to be maddeningly confusing. Any experienced crabber wouldn't have a problem with assembling this trap.My first use with this caught a crab in less than five minutes. The wire mesh spacing is small (about one inch) so this is the right mesh size for east coast Blue Crabs. This trap may be considered a bit small for west coast use. Also, the trap itself can be user modified if one wanted to pursue crabbing more aggressively. Personally, I would change the four pull strings to something stronger, and add weights to the bottom, along with a standing bait cage pillar in the middle to make the whole thing more stable. Obviously, even as a Do It Yourself project, such things cost money; if manufactured and sold that way, it would have taken this out of its economy price range. That's the reason why this deserved four stars; while imperfect, it's nonetheless fully functional (it catches crabs) but costs less than ten bucks.

The basic premise of the trap is relatively good. The come from poor material selection. The use of twisted nylon to open and close the trap failed to work once it got wet (which was the whole purpose of the trap). The thin metal construction also caused flexing of the trap which prevented the trap from opening consistently. This is a case for getting what you pay for. If you want to spend time catching crabs instead of repairing the trap, get a better trap.

I've lived on salt water and been crabbing for blue crabs my whole life. In my opinion, these little crab traps need some reinforcements before use, and a few modifications, but they should function just fine. But then I paid $4.00 each for these things, and I wasn't expecting a professional crab trap. It's not difficult to put together, but you may want to have a good supply of zip ties handy. I used 13 of them on each trap. (A little hint on ease of doing all this: clothespins. Use one at the top of each drop down door panel to hold it shut in the box shape while adding the zip ties. Much easier to handle.) There are tiny loops of wire serving as "hinges" on the bottom of the drop down sides. Salt water would make pretty short work of them, again, in my opinion, so I replaced the thin wire with loose plastic zip ties to form stronger hinges. The two wire pieces that cross under the bottom and come up the corners also needed zip ties to attach them at each corner of the top panel for stabilization. Another zip tie is helpful to attach the two cross pieces to the bottom panel where they cross. The flimsy white string that comes with the crab trap resembles kite string. I cut it off immediately and replaced it with a much stronger cord. Between the weight of the trap, the bait and the weights you need to get it to the bottom in a current (and hopefully the weight of a couple of blue crabs), the cord needs to be a lot stronger to keep from having to go after the trap with a grapple hook. I also removed and discarded the wire contraption fastened to the top of the trap that the cord feeds through to open and close the doors. Heavier cord wouldn't slide through it easily and allow the doors to open and close properly. There's another way to configure the cords without that piece. I didn't mind doing the modifications and reinforcements I felt they needed. I ordered four traps and put two together, saving the others for next season. I'll repost after I try them off the dock this week. I expect them to work just fine.

I bought this Crab Trap hoping for an easy crabbing solution, but it was a letdown. Setting it up was incredibly difficult, with confusing instructions and awkward assembly that took way too long. Carrying it out to the water was also a hassle due to its bulky design and the 1.89-pound weight, which felt heavier than expected. It didn’t come with bait, and I’m unsure what type of crab it even catches. The durability might be decent for saltwater use, but the overall experience was frustrating. Save your money and look elsewhere.