
The inventor Thomas Edison once said that the value in an idea lies in the using of it. And his quote definitely applies to what’s being called the “Franken Tunnel,” the latest innovation from Eureka, Calif.-based Custom Crab Pots.
Seth Griggs, co-owner of the business, said the “Franken Tunnel” is a new, patent pending design made for catching Dungeness crab. The design is ramp-less, so crabs don’t have to crawl up, but instead walk straight into the pot, thereby eliminating impediments and resistance.
“The Franken Tunnel is what we would consider the best style pot we make,” Griggs said. He explained that the device’s name comes from Frankenstein’s monster, the fictional humanoid creature that was stitched together out of various parts by a mad scientist called Dr. Frankenstein.
“That’s just kind of how it got coined. It was just so outside the box that it made me think of Frankenstein—it’s just not normal,” he said. “Looking at it, people are not going to think it’s going to keep or catch (Dungeness crab).”
Griggs, who said he’s worked at the shop since he was a kid, said the idea for the Franken Tunnel first came to him when he was a teenager in the 1990s, after he saw a video of a crab trying to get into a pot until it gave up after getting its legs stuck in the mesh.
“That’s when it kind of clicked,” he said, recalling how he thought that there has to be a way for a crab to not fight to get into a pot.
“How many crabs are guys missing out on that are trying to get into a pot but for some reason, can’t get in, or they just give up?,” he remembered thinking. “That’s when I started thinking of how to flatten that surface and get ‘em into the pot. It’s been on my mind for a long, long time.”
“The product’s been in development now for probably over seven years, but the concept wasn’t finalized until the 2023-24 crabbing season. Griggs said he passed out about 70 crab pots to a handful of fishermen for testing in California, Oregon and Washington last fall, followed by testing in Alaska this crabbing season. Results have been promising, he said.
According to him, the Franken Tunnel was catching a 12-crab average compared with standard nylon tunnels at roughly an eight-crab average and wire tunnels at a three-crab average.
“They’ve put it through its paces and put it all over the place (along the Pacific coast) and have had good results,” Griggs remarked. “The results were pretty much unanimous across the board for how good they were fishing.”
The device has been submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for review.
“I believe that they also go and make sure that no other product is similar to its type in use,” Griggs explained. “And if they find that there’s nothing else like it on the market—if it’s unique enough—they’ll issue a patent for it at that time.”
But no matter whether the federal government approves or disapproves a patent, the devices, which measure 6.75 inches tall and 7.75 inches wide, are a hit, Griggs said.
“That’s been what’s driving sales this year, is the Franken Tunnel,” he remarked. “We’re manufacturing right now probably close to 1,000 pots of that design that are going to be hitting the water this coming season.”
Custom Crab Pots can also produce the devices as a hybrid four-tunnel, made up of a combination of two Franken Tunnels and two standard tunnels.
“Before, (fishermen) were very skeptical. They looked at it and kind of gave me a little sideways look like, ‘are you sure’?”
But now, after they’ve tested them and seen how well they do, they’re convinced. One fisherman even said that he only plans to order the Franken Pot from now on.
“I stand behind this product,” Griggs said. “It outproduces everything (else).”