It’s long been known that pine batten pots catch better than jarrah slat pots, particularly when the whites are running, and although there are as many theories as there are fishermen, nobody really understands why.
While almost impossible to quantify accurately, I’d guess pine catches around 25% more at its peak, but is a far less important factor after the ‘whites’ season in December/January.
Pine pots ‘soak’ faster and fish earlier, so if you’re only fishing for a few days, pine may help increase catch rates with the shorter times in the water.
But leave pine in the ocean for more than a few months, and it will get hammered by the Toredo worm, which grows quickly and eats away at the timber.
One option used to extend the life of a pine pot is to pull it out periodically and leave it on deck for a couple days in the sun to kill everything.
Personally, I like jarrah top battens and lift rails (thicker rail on each side) and pine battens on the sides and gate. The jarrah battens hold the pot together so the pot doesn’t disintegrate when you decide to change your pine battens over and your catch is catch optimized.
Oh – and don’t ever use treated pine to re-clad your pot. Crays just won’t go near it!
