Crab pot protection

[Fisherjoe]

We are all very pissed at the (insert nasty words here) who think its thier god given right to help themselves with sharefarming of everybodies pots, Heck Ive had about 6 pots stolen in the last 2 years by these animals, 2 of them in the creek right accross the road from my work at the time :dry:

Now im buying a new boat in the next 2 weeks, Ill be heading out most weekends to fish/spear/crab/scuba, what are some of your ideas for having some pice of mind about protecting your catch?

Of course you cant always fish in the general area with a 12ga buck ready to go to defend your property, Im after some more alternative ideas....legal or not lol

Ive asked the guys at the bait shop at carseldine previously what they had in mind, and they reckon that if you thread small barbless hooks through the 1st metre of rope below your float that they will quickly learn thier lesson about checking other people pots lol

What other ideas do you guys have?

[nathanquigley]

careful of the hook idea... fisheries will be more than happy to proscute you if their the unlucky ones checking on your pots.

I dont think there is any fool proof way of protecting the pots other than perhaps dropping over night in the most inconspicuous area possible, using dark floats (if u clearly remember where u dropped the pot) patrolling your pots regularly or keeping them in your line of sight. Other than that, you simply have to leave em and hope

Regards,

Nathan

[haines490slc]

zip ties

[tangles]

Attach 2 pots together with about 20m of rope so everything is submerged. The rope makes it fairly easy to retrieve with a grappling hook.

[Charlie04]

Tangles - it is as close to foolproof a method as there is from stopping others locating and lifting your pots, but it is also illegal.

In my dad's and grandfather(and great grandfather's) day, they and most other people they fished with sunk their pots in both the caboolture and tweed rivers. I am sure it still happens, it's just not widely broadcast due to the technical(legal) issues associated! :woohoo:

[Jords]

zip ties

Placed anywhere in particular?

[woody1]

zip ties

I have heard of people zip tying the opening if their pots, and coming back to find a different sized zip tie done up!! I think if someone has gone to the effort of pulling up your pot, they won't be worried about cutting a zip tie. It seems, unfortunately the only option is to sink them or babysit. In the pine river I have seen pots thrown up into the mangroves with no float and a balloon or something tied to the tree to mark where it is.

[Uthrax]

Does it say anything in the rules about the float being on the surface??

ie. could you tie your float 1m above your trap, put a rock in your pot so it sinks to the bottom, and then have a rope from the float to a tree on the bank for retrieval and still be technically legal??

[rayke1938]

Only way is to stay within sight of your pots.

Also ensure that you have plenty of weight in your pots and do not place them in areas of high tidal flow.

A lot of so called stolen pots either simply float off or the float is pulled under by the current and when the tide stops running they simply bob up to the surface.

Quite common to see a float bobbing along in the current in the Logan.

If your pots are not made of no1 gauge wire put a brick in it.

Weight your ropes so that they do not float on the surface and foul props of passing craft.

If tieing your pots off on to trees above high water mark use tinted venetian blind cord . It is very strong and inconspicious and doesnt float and place the name tag behind the tree .

It is illegal to sink your pots and also tie them together.

It is a pain in the bum when you are trolling and hook up on an illegally sunk pot. I used to encounter them fairly reguraly in the river and by some strange reason by the time I had untangled my lure from the pot/rope I had drifted a long way from the spot where the pot had been left.

Cheers

Ray

[Charlie04]

Kobaki Creek (off the tweed) is full of sunken pots. Many a swim to retrieve a lure has seen it snagged on a crab pot all on it's lonesome.

Watching them is the only failsafe way to avoid someone else lifting your pots. I have heard of people wiring/zip tieing them closed, but it takes 2 seconds to snap off the wire/plastic with a set of sidecutters.

And this doesn't only apply to crab pots. This happens more than you would like out at sommerset with the traps for redclaw. And considering how easy it is to get a feed of redclaw - it suprises me how many people would do something like that, rather than just go and run a string of pots themselves.

[Davo_Dinkum]

Only way is to stay within sight of your pots.

Also ensure that you have plenty of weight in your pots and do not place them in areas of high tidal flow.

A lot of so called stolen pots either simply float off or the float is pulled under by the current and when the tide stops running they simply bob up to the surface.

Quite common to see a float bobbing along in the current in the Logan.

If your pots are not made of no1 gauge wire put a brick in it.

Weight your ropes so that they do not float on the surface and foul props of passing craft.

If tieing your pots off on to trees above high water mark use tinted venetian blind cord . It is very strong and inconspicious and doesnt float and place the name tag behind the tree .

It is illegal to sink your pots and also tie them together.

It is a pain in the bum when you are trolling and hook up on an illegally sunk pot. I used to encounter them fairly reguraly in the river and by some strange reason by the time I had untangled my lure from the pot/rope I had drifted a long way from the spot where the pot had been left.

Cheers

Ray

ray is on the money here .

i usually just hang around my pots ,back in my 20's we would just do a 24 hr crabbing session and sit on out pots the whole time .

i had never seen my pots float away till we where down the pin and the current sucked them out and around the bar ,the current hammered through ,we lost a few post and found a few all over the place .

my dad has always had weight ropes on this pot ,its a good idea as it saves the ropes floating and getting cut by props .good for u and the guys driving boats past .

sunken pots in channels and waterways with medium to high traffic piss me off ,getting my line hooked on them is annoying .also hitting them with the little motor is no good ,the 3.5 hp has a plastic prop .

[Keen-as-fisho]

I lost two on friday night, one floated away in the current and the other, the rope snapped But yeah I stay within sight of them.

[madmullet]

hmmm its a hard one. what we have done in the past of high theft is we left a guy on the bank with a rod, camera and a walkie talkie. we have caught 3 people and when we get a walkie call we follow them back to the ramp, ask them very nicely about the crab or pots, they of corse deney it and then show them fottage and then we teach them a lession hehehehehehehehe :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

[Gad]

Rayke1938 is on the money. If your crabbing legally you stay in sight of your pots or you take the chance that the lowlifes are not around while your pots are in.

One thing I`ve learnt over the years is,the crappier the weather,(wind ,rain or both)the less chance of sharefarmers being out and about. On crappy days you mostly have the creeks and crabbing areas to yourself,and anyone moving around is easily noted.

As far as sunken pots go, if my prop or lure finds one,if I can lift the pot up,the owner can lookup on the nearest bank above the high water mark and find his illegal,now totally inoperable pot.

The moral of this is,if you sink them do it in way out of the way places,because I`m not the only one who doesn`t have a sense of humour where sunken pots and props are concerned.

[kiara_poltegerist]

hmm.. with all this being said, what csn one (legally) do to someone you catch red handed farming your pots? had this issue many times, and had 8 pots all farmed today. bastards didnt even shut the pots properly after taking everything.... i swear it's one of the retards from the rowing clubs. suckers can afford a boat but not crabs.. pfft

[Fisherjoe]

hmm.. with all this being said, what csn one (legally) do to someone you catch red handed farming your pots? had this issue many times, and had 8 pots all farmed today. bastards didnt even shut the pots properly after taking everything.... i swear it's one of the retards from the rowing clubs. suckers can afford a boat but not crabs.. pfft

take them out to international waters, then everythings fair game lol

[Lost it]

If caught "red handed" your only "legal" option is to note the boat rego (if applicable), take a photo or video of the crime in progress (if possible), just get as much detail as you can and call 1800 017 166 and report it immediately with the location etc. Sometimes they will get busted big time. It is really the only legal option available to us.

Apart from that, you deal with it to the best of your ability at the time and hopefully you win.

[kmcrosby78]

I just noticed the subject line - intentional spelling mistake or accidental ..........

[Lost it]

:silly:

[Guest]

If caught "red handed" your only "legal" option is to note the boat rego (if applicable), take a photo or video of the crime in progress (if possible), just get as much detail as you can and call 1800 017 166 and report it immediately with the location etc. Sometimes they will get busted big time. It is really the only legal option available to us.

Apart from that, you deal with it to the best of your ability at the time and hopefully you win.

Well put that's realy the only legal option you have. :side: If you took it into your own hands who knows what might happen to you..... :dry:

[rathabfishin2]

Also be extra vigilant during school holidays...especially in the sunshine and gold coast areas. I have only ever had pots stolen during school holidays as I do stay in the general area. If i head out of sight for a flick somewhere I do not do it for long and come back for a drive by. IN saying this there is so much more boat traffic during the holidays, making it harder to notice the thieves in the first place, and the only ppl i have caught have been kids are on school holidays and have a boat licence.

[J-DOG115]

have just come back from reddy bay where some of the pro crabbers have a tendency to cut off fishos floats so we would just try to check them just befor sunset and first thing in the morning and hope that nobody checks them though the night as well as just keeping a an eye on them though the day..

joel

[coldy]

I know your pain.....I had 4 crab pots stolen from the Pin area this past Sunday. Luckily a friend in another boat saw the ratbag pinching them and took photos of him his boat and boat rego. He then followed this prick back to the ramp and took more photos of him loading his boat on his trailer with my pots ....with very distinctive floats still on board. He noted his car rego and when he drove away got me on the radio with the bad news. I called into the police station later that day made a complaint and handed over printed photos and a disk and witnesses contact details. The policeman was very helpful. I am awaiting the results as I type this......I will let you all know the outcome. P.S. Thanks Neil for your vigilance and not calling me to early....I would have ended up in trouble for punching the asshole. Cheers for now coldy

[BassTracker]

You have to remember that in queensland any type of booby trap designed to catch, hurt or mame a person in classed as a man trap and can be a pretty big deal if you get caught. I do know of someone (no names mentioned) who caught someone in the hervey bay area right outside thie house on the creek pinching the crabs and pots, it was a very sow trip to the boat ramp with a .308 soft point in the engine block of the outboard.. haha.. we all want to or feel like doin that. You can now buy on ebay spy cameras with 8 to 24 hour battery life and internal sd cards, these come in the shape of watches radios you name it. They are about 8 to 20 bucks each, even if they save your pots once its worth it. You then also might be lucky enough to get the boat rego and a good picture of the blokes, they will feel pretty stupid having to take a day off work (if they work) to front up to court for stealing and be fined and maybe a criminal record that they may have to explain from time to time, and the stigma of it.

There was a really good idea came out with a catch that deteriorated over 24 hours in salt water, you could loop your rope and whn the catch broke, up comes your float, you could also pre soak them in salt water for however long you wanted so they would pop up after 8 or 12 hours or whatever, great idea, cheap too but not leagle in qld..

[Bi_polar]

Its scary how many people must do this. I sat at the end of a line of pots earlier this year within eyesight but not too close and observed no less than 9 boats slow down and inspect my floats looking around to pull them. It was only when i stood up and waved to the boats that they moved off. It was very disturbing.

[sml6991]

Attach it to a fake floating crocodile/shark haha