Brisbane River Session #170

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all

On Saturday, Dad and I decided we would ditch all our fish frames and use them for a crabbing trip in the river. With rain forecast and some cold weather coming, we weren't to confident we would catch any crabs, but we tried anyways. At about 7:30PM, we got to the jetty and set up our pots, and then we started paddling them to different spots in the river. We had a general idea about where to go and also had our sounder, so we found two drop offs on the opposite bank and dropped two pots at the bottom of them, then put one in shallow water and one in deep water off the side of the river which had the jetty (very close together to see if depth made a difference). We were done by about 8:30PM, and with a low tide at about 8:30AM the next morning, we were hopeful of some crabs.  

Pots set up

The next morning we arrived at the jetty at about 8:40AM, and surprisingly there were some others fishing there in the rain (though not catching anything). The first pots we got were the ones closest to the jetty - the first one was empty then the next had a small catfish and a 33cm or so bream in it (not looking good so far, we thought). While I revived the bream my Dad paddled over to the opposite bank and pulled the pots. Unfortunately, apart from a couple of babies (couple cms big), these pots were empty.

So maybe the cold and rain put the crabs off, or maybe they just weren't around. Oh well. At least it was a fun enough way to finish up the school holidays.  

Stats of Trip:

Tide: Put in on a low, left for a high then back down to a low

Moon Phase: 49.2%, not much run - maybe why less crabs

Bait Used: Mackerel, squire, tuskfish frames, mullet and bony bream

Crabs Caught: - 

Air Pressure: 1010

Humidity: 92%

Weather: Rainy, cloudy, cold

Notes: No holes in pots or bait bags from escapees. Bream was quite large for this stretch of the river. 

Overall Success rate: 20% - no crabs

Thanks for reading,

Cheers Hamish

The 'catch'

[Kat]

Good try Hamish.  Better luck next time.  I am certainly no expert but have found that if you can place to your pots near an inlet/gutter/drain coming out from the bank I have more luck.  Don't know whether Brisbane River has many of these like the creek does.

[ellicat]

Oh well, at least you didn't get nipped. haha

 

[Old Scaley]

You’ll get them Hamish, just like you have worked out all those other things you do so well now. Funny, Mrs Scaley decided this morning she would like a feed of prawns and crab for dinner tonight so off to the Fish Factory we went. A half kilo of green prawns and two mud crab pieces (basically two halves) came to $84. Reminded me to dust off the crab pots and get busy catching my own. 

Kat is on the money with the call on drain openings. Not sure if this applies to spots up the river, but a pro-crabber told me a while ago that where you have a drop off, the muddies will wander across the top of the drop off and the sandies will be down on the deep side. And sometimes they are nowhere to be found.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

2 hours ago, Kat said:

Good try Hamish.  Better luck next time.  I am certainly no expert but have found that if you can place to your pots near an inlet/gutter/drain coming out from the bank I have more luck.  Don't know whether Brisbane River has many of these like the creek does.

Thanks Kat. There aren’t many of these around but I think I can remember where a couple ones are near me, which I’ll try next time. 

2 hours ago, ellicat said:

Oh well, at least you didn't get nipped. haha

 

Well said  

1 hour ago, Old Scaley said:

You’ll get them Hamish, just like you have worked out all those other things you do so well now. Funny, Mrs Scaley decided this morning she would like a feed of prawns and crab for dinner tonight so off to the Fish Factory we went. A half kilo of green prawns and two mud crab pieces (basically two halves) came to $84. Reminded me to dust off the crab pots and get busy catching my own. 

Kat is on the money with the call on drain openings. Not sure if this applies to spots up the river, but a pro-crabber told me a while ago that where you have a drop off, the muddies will wander across the top of the drop off and the sandies will be down on the deep side. And sometimes they are nowhere to be found.

Thanks Steve. I’ll try this for next time. We were dropping our pots on the lower side of the drop offs so will have to try the upper sides next time as well as being near a drain. Good luck getting your own crabs too. 

Cheers Hamish

[Angry51]

Hamish, Always set your pots in front of those

little runoff drains, they act as a food source for crabs.

Just make sure they are covered at low tide,the pots that is.

Better luck next time.

Remember, no one is born an expert, we all need to learn.