April 27, 2026 — Plenty of pot and trap fishermen on all coasts have been storm-bound at the dock, knowing that their bait bags are empty and their gear isn’t fishing. If a big V-notched female lobster is in the trap, she’s very likely eating all the keepers and will have to be thrown back, along with a bunch of empty shells. If it’s early in Dungeness season, with powerful Pacific waves crashing on the bars off many ports, the crabs will be crawling past unbaited traps with little interest.
Russ Mullins of Longsoaker Fishing Systems in Bellingham, Wash., looked at this problem and had an idea: the Longsoaker timed-release bait container. “It holds the bait and keeps it dry until the galvanic timer corrodes away. Then it opens, and you’ve got fresh bait in your trap without ever having to leave the dock.” The patented galvanic timer mechanism causes the Longsoaker to open somewhere between 12 hours and five days, according to the Longsoaker website, but Mullins notes that most fishermen target a fresh bait release near the middle of the expected soak, often one to three days. “Usually, it opens sometime after the second day if the fisherman hauls the pot on the fourth day.”