how to catch prawns without a castnet :S

[kiara_poltegerist]

hi guys. anyone have any good ideas on how to catch prawns without a castnet? is there any prawn trap or sth? getting rather desperate for a good fish now, lost close to 10 lures with only 1 tiddler to show for it:unsure:. coles prawns are er.. abit unsuitable for bait, and the only seafood-seller i know of is at brett's wharf, too far away, should've bought more scads yesterday :S :S

Itching for a good shark now... something that will at least pull drag...

Post edited by: kiara_poltegerist, at: 2007/04/30 04:21

[Feral]

Traps will work well, unfortunately leaving a hole in the trap big enough for a descent size prawn will also be leaving a hole big enough for a pike eel to come and eat all your prawns as they come into the trap! and give you a good fright when you open the trap.

Where do you live, I am sure someone can put you onto your closest bait shop!

[sharker]

What bait would you use if you were to use a trap to catch prawns?

[Feral]

fish frame

[ellicat]

That's a \"chicken or the egg\" kinda answer Feral.

Failing having a fish frame you could start with a bit of bread and/or a bloody type of meat.

If that fails try stubbie caps. I heard beer and prawns go well together.

[Oztrav]

ellicat wrote:

That's a \"chicken or the egg\" kinda answer Feral.

Failing having a fish frame you could start with a bit of bread and/or a bloody type of meat.

If that fails try stubbie caps. I heard beer and prawns go well together.

yeah they arent too bad hey

frozen prawns work quite well actually the bigger the prawn the bigger the catfish anyways as you would know if you have nibblers around just use strips of mullet

isnt there an old saying that if you cant catch fish on a stip of mullet you cant catch fish

[rayke1938]

You will catch them in shrimp traps with fish or a lump of meat.To prevent eels you will have to modify the trap by stitching in the neck of a [;astic soft drink bottle to keep the eels out if you restrict rhe inlet to around 1 inch to inch and a quarter that will do the trick. You can also use cable ties to hold it in place.

Ray

[Brian D]

You guys are lazy.

I used to catch prawns by hand with a head light and a scoop net.(Tweed River, Narrabeen Lakes, Dee Why Lagoon)

I actually wired a motor bike battery to a 6 volt torch and changed the bulb to 12v. I would carry the battery in a bum bag and velcro the torch to a cap.

Then I walk up and down the bank shining the torch into the shallows, spotting prawns by their eyes and scoping them up.

I don't know where you live Kiara but any creek or river bank at night should be a good starting point.

If you realy want value for your catch keep the prawns alive until you can't find any over the oncoming nights then the fish will be looking for prawns and you'll have on the hook.

[Dazzamcgee]

Sorry to hijack the topic but does anybody know what the regulations regarding hand hauling prawn nets are??

[Troy_79]

Hey brian, dad and i use to go prawning at the narrabeen lakes aswell it was a great spot. we would go out at night with a torch and net i was about 12 or 13 at the time and i loved it.

We Also fished dee why for tailor with lots of success. We also use to get prawns at the lake which lead into dee why beach ahhh memories:)

[werewolf]

mate by far the easiest way to get live prawns without throwning a net yourself it to sweet talk a mate who can

Failing that buy a cheap net and start practising. Someone posted a link to a ripper tutorial vid on here recently which is VERY helpful. But no seriously mate they basic technique will take about an hour and then its just practise practise practise to get a good consistant opening. You won't regret learning to throw a cast net.

[rayke1938]

Catching prawns with a hand scoop and a light on a run out tide works providing you have clear water its hopeless in the brisbane and Logan.

Using a bait net is ok the usual restrictions apply ie 6 ft drop , 50 ft long and max 1 inch mesh. problem is finding firm bottom to run net.

Ray

[Brian D]

Dazzamcgee wrote:

Sorry to hijack the topic but does anybody know what the regulations regarding hand hauling prawn nets are??

I understand 1\" square mesh, only one net and I think it's a 8' reach.

[Dazzamcgee]

Thanks guy's for answering my question....I was going through some of my bits and pieces and found my old hand hauling prawn net. It still has NSW rego on it so I wasn't to sure what the reg's are up here.

Do I need to renew the rego for up here???

Also where on the northside would I be able to use it??

[Bud]

If all else fail the \"Aussie seafood hut\" one at inala and another on the bayside sell fresh green kings for $9.99 a kilo. Works out well considering a pack of prawns is 3 or 4 bucks. the best part is whatever you don't eat you can take home and add butter and garlic...a couple of beers...the footy...ahhh sounds like heaven:cheer:

[Feral]

Dazzamcgee wrote:

Thanks guy's for answering my question....I was going through some of my bits and pieces and found my old hand hauling prawn net. It still has NSW rego on it so I wasn't to sure what the reg's are up here.

Do I need to renew the rego for up here???

Also where on the northside would I be able to use it??

Dazz, no licence required for nets here, just has to meet legal requirements, which I think Ray outlined above. If it does not meet requirements, I'd lose it, as technically even sitting in your shed it can earn you a fine.

[Dazzamcgee]

Thanks again, yeah thats why I asked if I needed to burn it before I get burnt:pinch:

Post edited by: Dazzamcgee, at: 2007/04/30 20:40

[jeff f]

alot of nsw nets have a cod end, illegal in qld.

[Brian D]

Troy_79 wrote:

Hey brian, dad and i use to go prawning at the narrabeen lakes aswell it was a great spot. we would go out at night with a torch and net i was about 12 or 13 at the time and i loved it.

We Also fished dee why for tailor with lots of success. We also use to get prawns at the lake which lead into dee why beach ahhh memories:)

Hey Troy who's your dad - maybe I surfed with him!

[Troy_79]

Brian D wrote:

Troy_79 wrote:

Hey brian, dad and i use to go prawning at the narrabeen lakes aswell it was a great spot. we would go out at night with a torch and net i was about 12 or 13 at the time and i loved it.

We Also fished dee why for tailor with lots of success. We also use to get prawns at the lake which lead into dee why beach ahhh memories:)

Hey Troy who's your dad - maybe I surfed with him!

My dads name is Ian but he was never a surfer. he went out once and got dumped onto some rocks and grazed his head:laugh: he never went out again he just sticks to the shore with his fishing rod.

He was in the army so we basically lived in every capital city so we did a great variety of fishing.

[Do$tylz]

Sorry guys but what does a \"hand hauling prawn net\" look like?

I've got a net that I can drag between 2 people that i havent used in years. Is about 1.5m tall, 10m wide. Is that the same thing?

It was great for getting bait fish and a feed of gar at low tide at Nudgee Beach.

[jeff f]

same thing do$

[Brian D]

A hand held scoop net is like a landing net with fine mesh, 1\".

The other is what I call a drag net - its about 100' long and you drag it around a pond or similar, I use em in teh Logan but gezz it's hard work.

Post edited by: Brian D, at: 2007/05/03 16:20