legal baits for sharks & best bait for crabpots?

[kiara_poltegerist]

Hi guys, just wondering- can i use small bream(undersized) for shark bait, or is it illegal. The mullet up at St.Lucia are darned clever, and it's soo hard to close the net over enough of them whenever I try. They school up pretty tight near lights at night, but it's hard to get close enough to surprise em- thus the desperation. The bony bream i get are too small to be useful baits - 5-7cm.

Another question - er, does anyone think it's worth crabbing now? and what are the best baits to use? Been mucking around the riverbanks at low tide, and managed to spot some nice muddie holes here and there. Just wondering whether it's worth buying a few crabpots or not, because a friend mentioned that crabbing isnt that great in winter.

My quest for a bully in the river has been unsuccessful soo far :S - they never seem to find the baits(pillies) before the catties do :S.

Picked up heaps and heaps of catfish (biggest about 80+cm), alot of ugly eels, loads of undersized bream, river perch and a few flatties, but no luck on the sharks yet. Been bitten off quite a few times with prawn as bait. any idea what that could've been?

[Bud]

Keeping or using any undersized fish for bait is illegal.

Crabs as a general rule are more prolific in the months that have an r in them but they are still there just not as many..but still worth a try. might as well chuck a trap in whilst wetting a line..you've got nothing to lose.

It could have been a pike eel that snapped you of. What line class were you using.

[Bud]

The reason I say Pike eel is that none of the other mentioned fish really have enough teeth to snap you off.(unless you have really light line or drag to heavy) A flatty has fairly abrasive teeth but pikeys have some nasty little biters on them. Hopefully someone else will have some more info. Good luck with the bullies but probably not the best time of year for them (not that I am an expert as I have never caught one)

[jeff f]

try using a chunk of pike eel for shark bait

[kiara_poltegerist]

Bud wrote:

Keeping or using any undersized fish for bait is illegal.

Crabs as a general rule are more prolific in the months that have an r in them but they are still there just not as many..but still worth a try. might as well chuck a trap in whilst wetting a line..you've got nothing to lose.

It could have been a pike eel that snapped you of. What line class were you using.

0o.. icic.. thx alot Bud . yea, guess i'll try for the crabs. sad thing is i've got to probably do my crabbing at night lol - everyone who's talked to me while i'm fishing has asked - \"do you know where to get crabs around here?\" lol. dont want to cause a sudden rush of ppl crabbing lol.

been using 15lb mono for my rigs. yea, could've been an eel i guess. been fishing all close in as i havent gotten my surf rig yet, but not too bad. even managed a threadie in the castnet 1 night - 55+cm .. that was 1 unlucky fish :D .

there've been alot of fish that rush for the rocks whenever i strike too - not been able to stop one of those yet. any idea what they might've been? big bream?

[Dazzamcgee]

mangrove jack....

[ellicat]

You could try livebaiting one of the catties together with a piece of pike on your shark rig. That'd provide smell and movement to attract. Just a thought.

[Feral]

kiara_poltegerist wrote:

The bony bream i get are too small to be useful baits - 5-7cm.

Minimum length for bream is 23cm (nose to tip of tail in case you are being brain washed by those yakkers who dont know how to measure a fish ).

You would not want anything much smaller than that anyway if your after a reasonable sized shark.

Post edited by: Feral, at: 2007/05/17 06:37

[rayke1938]

Quite possible it could be mangrove jack taking you into rocks.

Definatly give the eel a go for sharks. Also small live catfish are good just cut the spines off to make them easier to handle. Any ones that you have left over you can keep in fresh water. I have one in my tank that has survived 2 weeks now I havent even had the aireator running . I just turn the filter on every few days.

Ray

Post edited by: rayke1938, at: 2007/05/17 06:48

[Angus]

Terry used to get plenty of 80cm-100cm Bull Sharks in Shultz on herring. Herring are usually around the 5-7cm mark.

My point is i would not totally discount these as bait.

In fact id be threading 2 or 3 onto a single hook set up so they still kick and throwing them out

Angus

[Cowfish13]

The fish that run for the rocks could be big Cod or even Jewies. As well as previously mentioned Mangrove Jacks

[kiara_poltegerist]

0oo.. good good... hehe, time to beef up my tackle... have to hurry up putting the Biomaster back together again.. . been fishing on ultralight

[BIG DAVE 1]

a good bait for crabs is river hen! but yeah i dont think catching them is easy or legal. my best advice is find a river hen that happened tohave an arrow fired from \"SOMEONE ELSE'S BOW\" lol

DAVE

[Cowfish13]

I forgot to mention it, but the best bait for crabs for us is a 40cm Snapper carcus. This may be hard to get (and catch) but when you try it, it is the best bait for any crab, especially Sand Crabs. Even in the Logan river, In one pot we had half a Snapper carcus, and the other had a whole Mackerel, The Snapper got the crabs.

[Feral]

Cowfish that just means crabs have brains - mackerel is cat food!

[Cowfish13]

As if:ohmy: . Mackerel is an awsome eating fish

[Feral]

no offense - but I'll go with the crabs opinion

[Oceandonkey]

kiara_poltegerist wrote:

Bud wrote:

\"do you know where to get crabs around here?\" lol.

i hope you pointed them in the direction of fortitude valley

[kiara_poltegerist]

haha, well, i did point them in the right direction, but i didnt mention that where i found the muddy holes was a few klicks along that direction :P

[kiara_poltegerist]

some idiot stole crabs from my crabtrap today *(&@#. or so i assume, when i came back to check my trap, it was in the wrong place, the bait was missing and the flap was open :angry: . does this happen often here?

[rayke1938]

Yes. Welcome to the land of the sharefarmers.

All you have to do to prevent it happening again is to hide in the bushes with a baseball bat and watch your pots 24 hrs a day.

When i leave my pots unattended i usually seal them with a couple of zip ties but that only keeps out the amatures.

You are lucky they put the pots back Some times they will pinch them or even cut them open with a knife.

Ray

[Bud]

Best bait for crab traps that i have discovered are these two: in your little crab pot bag put a mullet cut into three or four pieces and three or four pillies, the next one is some KFC...it really does work and if all else fails you don't go hungry.

If I leave my traps unattended I tie some real heavy fishing line to them and then tie the line to a tree root or something then bury the exposed line in the mud..

[Master Sardines]

unfortunatly welcome to the real world. Ive had a joker try to steal my pots rite infront of me... lol not for long :laugh:

[kiara_poltegerist]

my pot disappeared today

[ellicat]

I know the likelihood of theft is high, but is it possible it was lost to the current. I've heard that's not that uncommon.

[AlsHilux]

kiara,

i'm not surpirsed your pot went missing in st lucia.. i lot of hungry (and drunk) students in that area that could never afford mud crab.

i've never caught anything in pots in our stretch of the river, so don't worry.. my best luck seems to be with a catfish head on a big hook.. cast it out, let it sit there for 5 minutes and then bring it in slowly. muddies will usually hang on til they get near the edge if you don't reel them too quickly. once they are near the edge, hit em with the landing net and you're sweet.

[kiara_poltegerist]

haha, i've resorted to something like that - i made an asian style crabtrap- it's called a bintur where i come from, and when i feel a crab hanging onto the cattie, i clip the net onto the mainline with a snap and slide it down . huge crabs man - 1kg++

yea, i've noticed one or two students fishing. met this couple who were fishing - without bait, and calmly helped themselves to my bait as well!!

webbfunk can relate to this as well lol. first time i met him there was another couple there. seeing i gave him some prawns to fish with, the bloke goes over, grabs a prawn (or two?) before saying - \"can i have some prawns please\"? dude...

[kmetius]

bait up your line with prawns for the crabs i always seem to catch crabs with my rod not fish!