Muddies, Sandies and Spanners, which, what and how

[kitacooch]

Hey there, new to crabbing, just wondering the main defferences in fishing these 3 crabs, can i buy a pot suitable for all 3 and if so what??

Do each crab respond to certain baits better??

Habbitat for each, i understand muddies like mangroves. and basic mud crab pots.

Am guessing the sandies hang around sand :dry: but there is a lot of sand out there. and are the traps/pots differnent??

Know nothing what so ever about spanner crabs.

cheers

[mick fillet]

hey mate. cat fish is good bait,chicken frames from woolies works good too so does mullet.i have picked up both sandies and muddies in the same trap at once in the brissy river.what river system you plan on working.you gotta watch where ya drop ya pots cause alot of inlets and creeks could now be green zones. i reckon the best way is to get some quality pot and have a crack.

[jon]

theres still some muddies aroung the brissy are, but peak of summer is the best time. despite wat some people say fresh bait like chiken frames mullet catfish is the best. try placing your pots a few metres out from creek mouths. or on outside bends of rivers where there is a bit of a hole and muddy bottom. i like to leave my pots for two turns of the time but i still check every few hours if im out there. for sandies try some of the channels around morten bay and make sure wherever you put your pots that you have enuf rope and that the current isnt so strong it will take your pots. be sure to name your pots and floats and try to stay around in you boat to watch them coz theres too many pirates out there especially at the hieght of muddy season. hope this helps mate

[big dave]

to get spanner crabs you have to pritty much go out to the 30 fathoms and you use a different style trap. just watch what you use as bait as sharks tend to have a chew at it as well

[kitacooch]

to get spanner crabs you have to pritty much go out to the 30 fathoms and you use a different style trap. just watch what you use as bait as sharks tend to have a chew at it as well

Oh damn, didn't realise they were outside, well there you go, I have never eaten them before, are they worth getting the special traps and putting up with the traps in your boat while lugging them out there?? Do you get crays in same pot same location??

So sandies and muddies same pot similar areas, should be easy enough to fish for each.

What about bugs, how do you get them, traps?? are they here down south in broadwater or only the bay, i am Gold Coast, most likely hangout will be slipping sands near Jumpin Pin.

cheers

[big dave]

they are just a flat trap nothing special. easyer to take out, heres a link http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0009/228339/spanner-crab.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/commercial/fisheries/otl-fishery&usg=__3K8UK585RlqvqG0RE8FmL4flsyQ=&h=434&w=310&sz=132&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=17C7GBHfsPXMgM:&tbnh=129&tbnw=94&ei=n3GFTcbVBoyCvgOhmazcCA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dspanner%2Bcrab%2Btrap%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26channel%3Ds%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D575%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=269&vpy=84&dur=414&hovh=132&hovw=94&tx=102&ty=108&oei=n3GFTcbVBoyCvgOhmazcCA&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0

[kitacooch]

MMM how do they work?? do the crabs just get cought up in the netting when crawling over the top??

[simmy]

thats it in one!!!

[Old Scaley]

to get spanner crabs you have to pritty much go out to the 30 fathoms and you use a different style trap. just watch what you use as bait as sharks tend to have a chew at it as well

Ok, happy to be shot down here, but I have memories of childhood holidays at Amity Point on Straddie and spending plenty of low tides out on the Amity (or maybe it was Nash) banks and gathering spanner crabs into the old sugar bag and then back home and into the copper to boil them up. At a certain point in the low tide, you could see them scurrying across the sandbanks and then burying themselves quickly when you ran up to them, just like soldier crabs. A bit of a stick into the hole and up they came. I am talking back in the late 60s, so please tell me my memory is not that bad and this was possible??

[rosco1974]

old scaley,yep you are right..i have been camping at amity since 1980 with my family and friends..we use to get them down the basin at the end of the caravan park in the soft sand..can remember seeing baby spanners as recent as 2005

cheers rosco

[cboy69]

I found one on the beach at bribie Island years ago. He tried to hide in the sand, but I dug him up with my thong. I let him go as it was only little and I didn't even know what it was at the time