A dozen "bucks" thanks Brissy river :) But at a cost!

[tradie]

After the success of last weekends crabbing, id been itching all week at work hanging for this weekend to head out for a crab. Set out Friday after work with the mrs down the river to deploy our 8 pots for the night. Pots set on sunset and we would return in the morning......

Saturday morning down the river we go under a cover of darkness to spot X. Hopes are high as the pots had been soaking for 12 hours. Pot after pot came up with around 3 or 4 crab in each pot. Few females around and undersized bucks all sent back. Ended up keeping 6 good sized muddies and one standing out from the rest weighing in at just under 1.8kg, have to minus about 100g from the pic for the plate.

Sadly ended up loosing one pot, went up and down the area where I had set it but no luck. Thats crabbing tho hey, win some loose some.

Called it a day and headed in till Saturday afternoon where we heading back down the river to set our 8 pots again for Saturday night. The river was really ripping and I sent the anchor down to give me a chance to make up a few pots. As I went to pull the anchor up it was firmly stuck on something at the ocean floor!! No matter what I tried the anchor would not budge. Ended up having to cut the rope and there goes my anchor with 4m of chain and about 7 odd meters of rope:( Set the pots that were set up, one of the next pots I noticed had a rip so cut the rope off the crab pot to borrow some to repir the pot. In the moment I totally forgot to tie the rope back to the crab pot!! Next thing I knew my mrs was yelling as that pot left my fingers, its the most helpless feeling as you watch a $45 dollor pot headed straight for the ocean floor!!! So far two crab pots and one anchor! Again pots set down on sunset and we returned Sunday morning at first light.

Back to spot X Sunday morning. Pulled in the 7 pots for another 6 keeper muddies:) Again the river was really ripping and I knew there were only 7 pots out but I could only count 6!! I was positive I was not going to make it 3 lost crab pots! Spent about 30 min driving around and out of a sheer fuke saw something that looked like baitfish. As we got closer there was my float about a meter under water, the river was moving that fast! I managed to get that pot back!!

On Friday afternoon after setting the pots noticed the tree in the river pic below. Was able to tie a rope and drag it into the pinkenba boat ramp and dragged it as far as I possibly could onto the beach, tripping over into the water as I tried to man handle this disaster waiting to happen tree, my phone was in my pocket wasnt it!!!! An easy 6m in length and bloody heavy!!! Ps to the guy sitting in his car at the ramp watching me thanks for the help :evil:

So the count now is two crab pots, an anchor with chain and rope, a mobile phone and a very sore ankle.

To top the weekend off my electronics in my ranger are now playing up, my dash lights wont come on, when I brake my head lights come on and my right indicator wont work, HAPPY DAYS :woohoo: Cars heading in for a service this week will have that problem sorted. So add that to the weekends dramas haha

If you have been down to colmslie boat ramp as of Saturday afternoon you would have noticed another poor boatie in bad luck. Makes my weekend look not so bad! Pics below.

One last thing a heads up for a business at Clontarf "Crab n Gear". Well worth a look. Good bloke didnt mind a good chat and has plenty of stock and can make up pots to your specs. Picked up 4 solid pots for $148 so $37 a pot and they are fantasic. Certainly will get some more.

Thank you very much for reading

[tradie]

One other pic

[rosstralia46]

Bugger about the pots know the feeling have lost ridiculous amounts haha good haul of solid muddies mate well done

[getrigged]

Sounds like a bad dream. Aside from the feed of crabs

[rosco1974]

well done mate.will be hittin teh crabs with everything this weekend coming,from the river to the small boating channel in the rous...recon i should do ok..the muddies out the front of the river will be full as...got 45 muddies out of 4 pots this morning out of 4 pots in the local creek for no keepers but its good to see the crabs there,they where 50mm- 149 mm in size.think i need a little boat to hit my spot z in the creeks

[tradie]

well done mate.will be hittin teh crabs with everything this weekend coming,from the river to the small boating channel in the rous...recon i should do ok..the muddies out the front of the river will be full as...got 45 muddies out of 4 pots this morning out of 4 pots in the local creek for no keepers but its good to see the crabs there,they where 50mm- 149 mm in size.think i need a little boat to hit my spot z in the creeks

Cheers rosco thought you would have been hitting the sandies in the bay. Every one I talk to tells me the sandies are going off at the moment in the bay. With my boat I stick to the river which works for me with the muddies. Never really had much luck up the little creeks. From the Pinkenba ramp to the boat passage Ive been crabbing trying to zone in. Reckon there are any sandies in the river?? Best of luck mate you will smash it as usual!!

[rosco1974]

nah mate just playing around...as i said next week i will hit them with everything.my diary says they will be inn...

[Scope]

Well done on the crabs mate, good work on getting rid of that tree too!

[tradie]

nah mate just playing around...as i said next week i will hit them with everything.my diary says they will be inn...

True, might just have to take the week off and go crabbing:D Hope your diary is right mate!!

[Gregpen]

A weekend to forget in regards to the loses but nice haul of muddies.

[Dubbzy]

good one for bringing the log back and making it safe for everyone, cheers mate thats awesome work!

[tradie]

good one you for bringing the log back and making it safe for everyone, cheers mate thats awesome work!

Not a worry mate id hope anyone would do the same. Its really scary just how big and heavy that log was I wouldnt even wanna picture hitting it while moving or even worse at night, bloody big and still sitting on the beach at pinkenba

[mickzxc]

Hey mate, I was heading out when you came in on Sunday. Thanks for the heads up on spot x, I got two bucks in a 3 hour soak. Bloody brilliant. Cheers

[benno573]

good feed there mate... I got 5 on saturday down at the pin, crab sangas for lunch again today! :woohoo:

i\'ll give a big ups to crab n gear too. their website isn\'t the best but the stuff they sell is the goods. I ordered a few pots of them about 6-8 weeks ago, much better quality than the cr@p they pedal at BCF etc, especially love the sewn in bait pocket, it is huge and makes it a lot easier to change/refresh baits. also have all the accessories you need at very reasonable prices. Was put on to them by one of the pro crabbers out in the bay, he gets all his gear through them.

They also have longer ropes and more floats for when the tide is ripping... :whistle:

with your anchor mate, i usually run a trip on the sand anchor, in the river/down the pin as well as on the reefs as you never know what is down there. to do this, attach the shackle to the front of the anchor as opposed to the rear. then lie the chain along the \"shaft\" of the anchor and attach it to the hole at the back with either a couple of cable ties or some skinny rope/heavy leader - something designed to break if enough force is applied (remembering the shackle is still attached at the front). that way if it gets stuck you can apply enough force (usually by driving the boat forwards) to snap the trip (rope, cable ties whatever) and the anchor is then pulled up by the front and usually removes itself from the snag. this doesnt work when the chain wraps around something unfortunately. happy enough to meet you down at the boat ramp one arvo after work to show you what i mean - just drop me a PM. anchors aren\'t that expensive to replace but it is a pain in the you-know-where regardless!

[tradie]

Hey mate, I was heading out when you came in on Sunday. Thanks for the heads up on spot x, I got two bucks in a 3 hour soak. Bloody brilliant. Cheers

Spot x's mate haha, were you the one with the glass centre console, said you had been crabbing at Maroochydore??

If so well done mate Happy Crabbing!! Are you from Brissy??

[mickzxc]

Hey mate, I was heading out when you came in on Sunday. Thanks for the heads up on spot x, I got two bucks in a 3 hour soak. Bloody brilliant. Cheers

Spot x's mate haha, were you the one with the glass centre console, said you had been crabbing at Maroochydore??

If so well done mate Happy Crabbing!! Are you from Brissy??

Yea mate that was me, I'm based in Brisbane but have been spending a few weekends up the coast. Probably head down the coast this sunday, looking forward to it!