Crab Pot Theory

[fish2eat]

Yeasterday I motored my bay cruiser from Runaway Bay to Aquarium Passage off the Brisbane River

At 7 knots, you get to see a LOT of scenery and notice things.

One of the things that stuck me was of the hundreds of crab pots I passed, I would estimate over 10% had floats that were covered in green slime, indicating that they had not been handled for weeks. Many of these would have been regarded by their owners as "lost" or "stolen", but may well have drifted far enough with tidal movement away from where they were placed, that their owners could not find them. I have "lost" many over the last few years.

I now believe that the "average" retail crab pot is not heavy enough to hold its ground if placed in a moderate to strong tidal flow area.

PS this does not even cover the loss of pots whose float ropes have been cut by propellors.

[NeilD]

A lot of those pots may have been pro ones. Many of them are so grown over they are barely visible.
An awfull lot of "stolen"pots are just washed away. I have seen boats drop pots in the edge of the main chanel of the Rainbow and you can see them drifting before they have dropped the rest. I'm surethey would have blame pot theives. Even a brick would not have helped there.

Neil

[solwota]

Those moss covered pot floats belong to pros i think. Sure are hard to see. I have hit a few in the dark around mud
cheers
richard

[aussiefool]

the pros working down this way sink their pots so if you did not see them drop them you would never know where they were.
I also think that a lot of people drop their pot at low tide and do not allow enough rope for the top of the tide so when they come back the have gone under

[fish2eat]

yes I agree aussiefool, many pros don't use floats at all. I could tell that many of these floats with slimy green moss had not ben "handled" for some time as well.

[fisher28]

if your trip was through the week then they would have been pro pots,seems to be more and more each year,if these guys do sink em then they dont do it where we trawl,thats for sure.a lot of the lost or stolen pots could be because people consistently come out and use milk bottles and what not for floats,as soon as the tide gets some run in it,they drag under water until the tide stops running again,usually after the people have gone home.

[Bris_Vegas]

Not sure what the moss covered ones are.
But one thing is for sure.
If you dont put extra weight in a pot in the brissy river you game.
The current can be very strong in a lot of teh river.
We pull pots up on our handlines on a regular basis.

I dont believe these are the fault of pot theaves and just think its more to do with people not taking into consideration the current.

Angus

[fish2eat]

if your trip was through the week then they would have been pro pots,seems to be more and more each year,if these guys do sink em then they dont do it where we trawl,thats for sure.a lot of the lost or stolen pots could be because people consistently come out and use milk bottles and what not for floats,as soon as the tide gets some run in it,they drag under water until the tide stops running again,usually after the people have gone home.

Nope, it was Sunday........pros don't usually put pots out on Sundays cause there are too many rec fishos iaround.

[robersl]

the moss covered ones at mud are pro,s he has them allround the island i think he should be made to clean them and make them the standard size so you can see them the floats are nearly the colour of the water

shane