Got The Pots In (landbased ...)

[kmcrosby78]

Finally got around to getting my pots in landbased at a spot I've been meaning/wanting to for ages. Had them in before but not in as far as they are this time so fingers crossed they are full of crabs tomorrow.  Didn't seem like anyone else walks the banks so that's a good sign and should be too tight for tinnies so barring someone on a kayak/canoe going in there I should be OK. Some nice drains joining the main channel so all looks in order. Half a big mullet in each pot so here's hoping they're hungry. Decided rather than get up early tomorrow morning to check them on low tide I'll do them tomorrow arvo - as long as noone beats me to them they'll get the night high tide plus the big daytime one. All going well I'll stuff some more bait into them and keep them in for the next couple of days as I have my two out of town brothers and their kids in town. Fingers crossed!!

[Danielle]

Just GPS'd your movements. The pots are now empty. You should top them up because I'll be hungry again tomorrow.

[kmcrosby78]

I thought you already had .......... oh hang on, I shouldn't say that while you're unwell .......

[Binder]

Good luck with the pots!

It is pretty hit and miss whether you get anything these days.

 

[Gad]

Andrew, if you just use Caps Lock it get`s your message across clearer.

don`t know what`s doing it, I`ve seen a few happenings of  multi posting over the last week or 2.

 

[kmcrosby78]

I just assumed he wanted to wish me extra, extra, extra good luck ..........

[Binder]

yeah dunno what happened there, seemed to work normally when I posted it.

But yeah - lots and lots and lots of luck to you

 

[Danielle]

9 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

I thought you already had .......... oh hang on, I shouldn't say that while you're unwell .......

Don't be pussyfooting around me haha!!!!!

[kmcrosby78]

Checked them this arvo and not the result I was after. 3 out of the 4 pots were empty and the 4th had a just under buck that was missing both claws. They have started growing back so hopefully he makes it. Also had an approx. 30cm cod in one pot. Was short on time and had an esky with me to put 'the catch' into so decided rather than pulling them out and facing a couple of trips back to the entrance, I moved them up another 100m or so and added more bait. I'll pull them in the morning but obviously not feeling real confident - would be great to jag a couple for my effort. If not I'll console myself that it was good exercise .... 

[jon]

G'day kelvin, bad luck on the crabs. Not sure if this will help for your location but I n the crabbing I did in the last week or two I found The jennies seemed to be right out the front in the main river or estuary arms which I have found normally means the bucks will be right up the back of the drains and systems, but I happened to find them not quite so far up and just up a bit from the creeks mouths etc. although When I was crabbing it was closer to rains that we had which will affect their movement. ( this is only my opinion I'm certainly not an expert on the topic) hopefully you get a few tomorrow

[kmcrosby78]

Cheers for the info Sef. Mine are probably 2/3 of the way up a creek system so hopefully this arvo's rain will flush them out. I got up at 5:45am this morning, got ready, opened the back door and it was raining. Quick check of the BOM site revealed a storm/heavy rain heading that way so I though bu99er that and went back to bed with the plan to pull them out this arvo. Well .... that didn't happen either due to the storms so I'll get up early tomorrow morning (probably even if it's raining unfortunately ...) and pull them and hightail it home to the boys before the wife has to leave for work. Fingers crossed!!

[Old Scaley]

2 day old bait in 28 degree water - better take a clothes peg and some rubber gloves @kmcrosby78. Good luck Kelvin.

[Gad]

with the amounts of rain the area got over Saturday and Sunday if there are any creeks running some fresh dropping a pot or 2 in any hole outside the creek mouths may be worth a go.

An old reckoning is a month after land temps rise the water temps rise to the occasion so February may have a few hot fishing sessions in it

[kmcrosby78]

Spot on Steve, bait was on the nose. Two pots were empty, one had a large (well, 4 foot but very fat) eel in it and the other pot thankfully had a just legal buck plus an undersized one and a smaller eel. So at least something for my efforts although less once I got home and thought to check how full it was (left it inside the pot for the trip home) and it aint real full unfortunately ....

Considered keeping the larger eel for crab pot bait but between the extra weight I'd need to lug and the fact that he was in a pretty angry mood common sense prevailed and I let it go.

My suspicion is Sef was right and the crabs were already downstream towards the creek mouth before I pot my pots in. Hopefully anyway .... otherwise either the system is devoid of crabs (which I doubt) or there wasn't enough rain to flush them out (possible, I don't know enough).

So ..... I have a decision to make whether to perservere in the future in the hopes of working out when they'll be in the section I can access. I'd certainly like to put my yak in there sometime and get the pots right upstream when I think the timing is right. In a way it was good exercise and good to get out and do something, but on the other hand you're left with plenty of stuff to clean the mud off, a car to leave air out to de-smell, and it's hard to be positive when you go to step up onto a bank and lose one gumboot in the mud and have to hop back down to retrieve it .........

[Gad]

9 minutes ago, kmcrosby78 said:

it's hard to be positive when you go to step up onto a bank and lose one gumboot in the mud and have to hop back down to retrieve it .........

eons ago when I did a lot of crabbing from the bank in the Burpengarry, Coochin creek areas, I had a bamboo pole about 5 metres long with a piece of fencing wire shaped into a Y and wired and taped to an end of the pole. I used this to set and lift pots by running the rope along the pole and leaving about 60cm to the pot to swing out and feed the rope out for setting and guiding/pulling the rope through the Y when retrieving. Simple and effective, no lost footwear

But if walking/wading up creeks, I`m told mud packs are good for your skin

[Tybo]

I ran a few pots yesterday when I went chasing prawns. Wasn't too confident in getting a crab, but thought I'd give it a crack anyhow. Went back this morning to collect, most pots were completely empty, bait untouched. However managed one legal, and decent sized buck, so was worth the effort. Managed another kilo or so of prawns yesterday too, so am stocked up on seafood at the moment.

17 hours ago, jon said:

G'day kelvin, bad luck on the crabs. Not sure if this will help for your location but I n the crabbing I did in the last week or two I found The jennies seemed to be right out the front in the main river or estuary arms which I have found normally means the bucks will be right up the back of the drains and systems, but I happened to find them not quite so far up and just up a bit from the creeks mouths etc. although When I was crabbing it was closer to rains that we had which will affect their movement. ( this is only my opinion I'm certainly not an expert on the topic) hopefully you get a few tomorrow

Jon, you're info is pretty spot on. Mud crabs aren't friendly, especially to each other, and when food is scarce they consider each other prey. Jennies and small crabs will generally avoid areas containing large males, probably for fear of being eaten. So if you're pulling in pot after pot with jennies and small crabs, move your pots either up the creek or down the creek. Rain also makes a big difference when it comes to catching mud crabs for a number of reasons. The main reason I believe is that the majority of the time, muddies will conserve energy and sit in there holes, waiting for something enticing to lure them out. I believe muddies like pretty much all mangrove crabs love nothing more than sifting through new mud. What gets them really going is a good dumping of rain which washes all the leaf litter, mangrove floor compost, and other **** down creek drains, and eventually settle into the deeper holes within a creek or river. This is where crabs of all sorts will be altogether, as they put aside their differences and filter through the debris looking for goodies.

We still need a few days or so of a decent rain to get this effect happening. Last February was wet and I did well on the crabs, hopefully this year will be too.

[Tybo]

3 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

2 day old bait in 28 degree water - better take a clothes peg and some rubber gloves @kmcrosby78. Good luck Kelvin.

With a lot shallow water coming down from upstream of me, my sounder was reading the water temp yesterday at 30.6 degrees. After 12 hours, the bait this morning was nothing short of putrid. I wish I could've had a shower at the ramp as I was afraid to get back in my car.

Glad you got one at least for your efforts Kelvin, always makes it worth it. I think the old muddies get a hammering around Christmas time, quite often it's nothing you're doing wrong, it's just there are no more legal crabs in that creek.

ps. eel makes great crab bait