Thurs morning sandcrabbing

[hodges4]

Took myself crabbing this morning, rather disappointing.
Started off to the right of the leads at Wellington Point about 6:00am - nothing after 1:30 hrs so moved to between Green and St Helena where I used to catch a reasonable feed many years ago.
Result was better with 4 crabs but unfortunately only 1 legal and surprisingly no females. Gave up around 10:30 and went home.
I was using 4 suicide dillies and chicken frames for bait. Tried different depths out from Green of 6 to 20 ft and definately not on reef.
Where am I going wrong? Wrong tides, wrong bait, too soon after all the rain or is it just fished out.

Any comment appreciated, it's far cheaper to buy them the way I'm going.

[charleville]

I suspect that you are doing nothing wrong.

I had equally poor results east of Mud Island in deeper water last Friday using refrozen plichards as bait. A few baby crabs resulted but no keepers from a spot that has yielded well in the past.

I am always hoping that a real expert in crabbing will write an article in the fishing mags and who might offer insights gained from years of experience into things such as water temperature, amount of fresh etc so that we might all learn a bit.

I am surmising that there is still too much fresh in the Bay at this stage for the crabs.

[Scott Ashe]

Hi mate,

Sounds like a rather disapointing trip. I was thinking about doing the same around my usual haunt- the banana banks (usually do pretty well)but the reports have been few and far between lately.
would head at at about 4:30am I would plan my trip a little differently, I Would head out about 4:30 am and crab to about 8:30-9am, with a high tide in the middle at about 6:00am.

I have used chicken frames, before with success but usually use mullet cut in half.(one bait serves two dillies ) with better results

Hope this helps next time

Cheers
Scott

[Gadget Man]

It's hit and miss. Caught 9 keepers last Sunday east of Mud, with less than that number of small throwbacks. Worth mentioning, no Jennies.
No special technique. Mix of bait - chicken and fish strips.

Cheers

[whitingkiller]

hodges4,

has been a shocker of a sand crab season this year..

sandies don't like any discoloration in the water..

best time to crab is daylight until about 8.30am..then give it away..

best bait i found is whiting frames (summer or winter, doesn't matter) as this is there natural bait in the area that u r crabbing..

had a shocker myself this season, only one trip of more than 20 crabs

[sandbankmagnet]

too much fresh around I reckon. Limits the sandies but brings on the muddies.

I had last Thursday off and with a mate caught 7 muddies during the daylight in the passage.

[Scott Ashe]

Hi Sandbankmagnet,

Sounds like a good mud crab trip, I guess you are talking about "Bribie Passage" when you refer to passage. It's a bit far to travel to from Victoria Point, otherwise I' d give it a go. Thats better than one crab overnight, from four pots.(But at least all pots were still there)

Cheers
Scott

[Vitamin Sea]

Took myself crabbing this morning, rather disappointing.
Started off to the right of the leads at Wellington Point about 6:00am - nothing after 1:30 hrs so moved to between Green and St Helena where I used to catch a reasonable feed many years ago.
Result was better with 4 crabs but unfortunately only 1 legal and surprisingly no females. Gave up around 10:30 and went home.
I was using 4 suicide dillies and chicken frames for bait. Tried different depths out from Green of 6 to 20 ft and definately not on reef.
Where am I going wrong? Wrong tides, wrong bait, too soon after all the rain or is it just fished out.

Any comment appreciated, it's far cheaper to buy them the way I'm going.

Hi

I have found that the crabbing areas around Green, Wello are pretty well finished by late November, you need to go further afield this time of year.

Try and pick a day with a large high, small low, preference being a low about 2 - 3am, ie: plenty of run

I use mullet, but there is nothing wrong with whiting frames or, as some use, chicken carcass'.

As others have mentioned, don't think water quality is helping either.

Good luck

[jarhead]

Left vicky point ramp at 9am yesterday on our way to the southern amity banks to try for a feed of whiting, we dropped 3 pots on the western side of the banana banks in 3.5 to 4 metres, used a bonito from a previous trip outside.
Pulled them at about 12.30pm on the way home for a total of 18 sandies, 1 female, 3 keepers the rest undersize, half a dozen only just. We ended up with 10 whiting between 25 and 33cm. One thing i did notice was a lot of pots between cleveland and peel in 8 to 12 metres, probably pros due to discoloured floats, wich i hav'nt noticed being there before.

Cheers Wal

[jarhead]

pic of esky