queensland Sandies aplenty

[kmcrosby78]

Had one of my brothers in town this week so we took our kids out and ran some crab pots out from Wello Point. I was busy We’d arvo so Dad, my brother Dan and his 3 kids set the pots in the arvo for an overnight soak, a 10kg box of whole mullet (cut in half) being the bait of choice. Was still quite windy at this stage of the week so figured the pots would be safe from ‘undesirables’ and dads boat handles the conditions fine. 
 

I had a dentist appointment Thursday morning (yay .... ) so was very pleased when I rolled up and they had 36 crabs from the first pull . One of them was gigantic at just over 15cm (11.5cm is legal). Doesn’t sound much but makes a big difference to their bulk.

 

I went out with them Thursday arvo and we moved a few around (mostly to deeper     5-7m water but some stayed in a closer in channel in about 3m). Got from memory about 15 which was Ok for a daytime soak and an outgoing tide (water was very brown on the outgoing). Interestingly there what may have been trevally smashing several groups of baitfish in less than one metre of water.

Went out this morning to pull them out and got another 24. Quite a few throwbacks and jennies (many berried up which is good to see). So about 77 for the three pulls . 
 

Cooked about 40 up this arvo in seawater and sat down to a good feed  with a couple of beers. Used the crab cooker I bought off a guy on Gumtee a few months back for $80 (brand new but box had water damage - saw them at Anaconda on our way home for $237 so a nice saving ). 
 

I had to take off as we had to get home and start packing as we leave tomorrow for 8 days at Hastings Point (hopefully a fishy report to come ) but my other brother was going to cook up some chilli crab and then the rest were going to be frozen green for another big chilli crab cook up in a few weeks when everyone’s in town for my nieces christening - gout here we come .... . 

 

This was my first time actively crabbing (ie. moving pots around to work out where they were and weren’t) and it was very enjoyable. Oh and much more successful then dropping them somewhere out of convenience on the way to go fishing ... . 
 

Oh almost forgot - we pumped some yabbies Thurs arvo before launching and stopped for a quick fish on sunset off Wello Pt for 10 or so undersized bream, squire, Moses perch, tuskies an grass emperor. Good fun.

 

So, get out there and get some crabs while they are still on (from what I have read they have been for a while now. 

 

 

[kmcrosby78]

Had a large, fat wobegong that somehow wriggled in to our standard size pot .....

[kmcrosby78]

[ellicat]

There's some serious feasts there, mate.

Good luck on your holiday.

[Ed.]

Very nice haul, I take it everyone down at your place likes Sandies? It's amazing how those wobbies can get in there, I used to work on crayfish boats down in W.A., when I was much younger and we used to get them in the craypots, they were bloody hard to get out of those pots as those didn't have any gates on them (donut type) so had to come out tail first. Had some for dinner a few times, not the greatest but also not the worst fish that I had eaten.

[Old Scaley]

Holy crab feast, Kelvin. That is lot of crab to get through. Feel free to drop some over on your way to Hastings.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Great report and tasty looking result @kmcrosby78. Would’ve been good fun! 

Have fun in your holiday.

Cheers Hamish

[kmcrosby78]

15 hours ago, Ed. said:

15 hours ago, Ed. said:

Very nice haul, I take it everyone down at your place likes Sandies?  

Yep, we are all quite partial to it. My brothers kids have enjoyed plenty of mud crab feasts as they’ve grown up around Rocky - they especially love  ‘Qld lollipops’ (big muddie claws).  My youngest loves them, the older one is not as keen. We were all gobsmacked at our newest nieces ability to inhale crab - at ten months old she kept going strong and appeared to get grumpy when her dad was too busy feeding himself and her supplies ran out ..... .

[kmcrosby78]

12 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

Holy crab feast, Kelvin. That is lot of crab to get through. Feel free to drop some over on your way to Hastings.

Thanks for your very kind offer to help us with our ‘predicament’ Steve ..... shame I only saw this once we got down here ...... . You take advantage of the good weather yesterday?

[Old Scaley]

8 minutes ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Thanks for your very kind offer to help us with our ‘predicament’ Steve ..... shame I only saw this once we got down here ...... . You take advantage of the good weather yesterday?

No mate. Usually avoid the school holidays and weekends these days. Haven’t been for a fish since the Monday before Easter. I dropped the pots in down the port and got 3 monster sandies in the 2 hours I was out so there are some big boys around. Only fished the last 2 hours of the run in and first hour of the run out. Lots of fish on the sounder but turned out to be big and small catfish. Should be good in a week or so. Enjoy Hastings, lovely spot. 

[jon]

What a haul mate well done indeed!!

[benno573]

On 10/04/2021 at 8:37 PM, kmcrosby78 said:

We were all gobsmacked at our newest nieces ability to inhale crab - at ten months old she kept going strong and appeared to get grumpy when her dad was too busy feeding himself and her supplies ran out ..... .

I have a similar problem with my wee one - I cannot shell prawns or crabs fast enough!

 

great hauls of crabs there mate, although using that many pots must be classed as cheating surely...

[Ed.]

Nah! 2 adults + 2 kids = 4 pots each=16 pots, at least that is what I think is allowed... but I could be wrong!

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

On 10/04/2021 at 8:52 PM, Old Scaley said:

Only fished the last 2 hours of the run in and first hour of the run out. Lots of fish on the sounder but turned out to be big and small catfish

Bummer they were only catfish Steve. I've been having the same problem upriver lately - I catch some around the fifty mark and some around the fifteen mark! No bream, perch, or anything else. I'm back from camping now so I hope that the river has cleared and more desirable species (and some bait) might have come out.

Cheers Hamish

[benno573]

7 hours ago, Ed. said:

Nah! 2 adults + 2 kids = 4 pots each=16 pots, at least that is what I think is allowed... but I could be wrong!

Wasn’t suggesting any illegality... just out and out cheating coz I can only use 4!