Muddies and Bream on poppers!

[bermo82]

Hey All,

Well gave Cleveland area a crack this morning, I was on the water at 5am set the pots and had a look around for an area to fish. I stumbled along this mudbank point which had thick weed clusters breaching the surface, and as well as that there was heaps of surface action so I changed from a softie over to a little popper and started casting. 1st cast resulted in massive swirl and a fish following the popper but not having a go at it.

2nd 5th and about 10th cast resulted in me getting too excited and pulling the hooks on 3 fish. I was baffled by what they might have been as it wasn't an area I expected to see trevors/queenies etc.

anyway couple casts later and boom I'm on not a big fish but my first good bream at 27cm on popper. it was cracking little session on popper and great to catch a different specie on popper!

Finished with 2 nice muddies and 1 sandie but the question I want to pose is that I've caught a lot of crabs recently bucks and jennies with no claws, a couple of the bucks have been VERY good crabs. Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this or is just a coincidence?

I'll try and upload the photo from my phone! (it's not an iphone so no internet access)

Hope everyone has managed to get out and enjoy the cracking day!

Cheers
Bermo

[chop]

I ran into a bloke setting pots in the mangroves at low tide (I was walking the bank) a few weeks ago and he mentioned that people were abusing the crabs as there are heaps with only one claw. I didn't know what he meant but sorta figured people were over crabbing the area?

[bermo82]

Yeah Chop,

I've spoken to other avid crabbers who have the same view I thought I'd pose it to the forum for discussion!

[Agrav8_and_Lulu]

Cheers Bermo on the thread, always good to come home with at least something in the esky. Congrats on the bream to, well done mate.

[Todddo]

Good stuff!
I have seen one guy pull in a muddie at manly and he ripped the claw off and threw it back. I asked why and he said "I get a feed and the claw will grow back". They actually do that practice over in the states, they just take claws. There are so many crabs because of that reason!

[Funchy]

Sound like you had a lot of fun Bermo well done! :D

[lucee81]

its common up north to take one claw of a pregnant jennie as they can still eat and it grows back.
http://www.mesa.edu.au/aquaculture/aquaculture07.asp

here is a bit of info. Im not sure if its legal to take just the claws of a jennie in QLD as you can not take the crab..

[sambos]

Pretty sure here in queensland you are only allowed to have claws if you have crabs onboard.Also matching crabs numbers to claws ie 4 crabs no more than 8 claws in your posession .My theory on the clawless crabs is possibly with all the flood activity lately flushing the crabs out of their normall little terriory into the main system, is that they are coming into more contact with other males thefore more fighting till they claim a new location.

[Freeeedom]

Correct Sambos. It is illegal to possess crab claws without the rest of the crab. I assume that this is to prevent people taking claws from jennies and undersize bucks and throwing the crab away so it can't be measured. It's also illegal to keep a crab with the shell removed - again so it can't be measured.
Here's the link.

http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/28_3065.htm

Cheers Freeeedom

[bermo82]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Pulled the pots out this morning for a total of 6 muddies and 2 sandies for the weekend! pretty happy with the result and managed to share some crabs with the new neighbours who were very happy with that!

Regarding taking claws in queensland, as Sambos pointed out, it's illegal to be in possession of a claw that cannot be matched a legal crab in your possession even if it did belong to a legal crab.

Anyway I've got to go and eat fresh mudcrab and enjoy a cold beer! Lifes tough!!!

Cheers
Bermo