Crabs on rod and reel - Redlands

[Captain_Zero]

Hi all
I Fished the canals down the Redlands on Sunday morning ith my little brother.
Early start was slow with a few undersize whiting and bream all that was hooked in the first hour or so but things picked up after the tide turned with a just legal bream on a cube of pilchard.

I had the rod in a holder and after a while with no touches I picked it up to check and there was what felt like a snag. I started to wind and there was movement towards me and just a dead weight. I was thinking I had caught a rock or stick however when it came in to view it was a good size muddie. I called out to my brother to grab the bucket - no net. He quickly dumped everything out of the bucket and I sent him in to knee deep water to help land him. He came back with all his toes. I had hooked it well on a stump where his leg should have been. The crab was 17cm across and a buck. A quick call to my wife who jumped on Fishweb to confirm the legal size and he was in the pot.

We also landed two sand crabs in a similar way -one a jenny that had to go back - the other a good size male.

With the two of us inexperienced in handling crabs I am sure we provided some good laughs to anyone that happened to see us trying to pick them up while avoiding the claws.

While I have hooked crabs before I have never been able to land them as they usually let go.

The rest of the session was uneventful with small flounder, whiting, moses perch and bream landed all sent back to grow some more.

So end result was one mud crab, one sandie and one bream to take home and a few laughs with my little brother. Not bad for a land based session on a Sunday morning.

Unfortunately when the crab was cooked it yielded little meat as it was not full - is there a quick and easy way to tell - but it still tasted great.

Cheers

Chris

[Si]

Hi all
I Fished the canals down the Redlands on Sunday morning ith my little brother.
Early start was slow with a few undersize whiting and bream all that was hooked in the first hour or so but things picked up after the tide turned with a just legal bream on a cube of pilchard.

I had the rod in a holder and after a while with no touches I picked it up to check and there was what felt like a snag. I started to wind and there was movement towards me and just a dead weight. I was thinking I had caught a rock or stick however when it came in to view it was a good size muddie. I called out to my brother to grab the bucket - no net. He quickly dumped everything out of the bucket and I sent him in to knee deep water to help land him. He came back with all his toes. I had hooked it well on a stump where his leg should have been. The crab was 17cm across and a buck. A quick call to my wife who jumped on Fishweb to confirm the legal size and he was in the pot.

We also landed two sand crabs in a similar way -one a jenny that had to go back - the other a good size male.

With the two of us inexperienced in handling crabs I am sure we provided some good laughs to anyone that happened to see us trying to pick them up while avoiding the claws.

While I have hooked crabs before I have never been able to land them as they usually let go.

The rest of the session was uneventful with small flounder, whiting, moses perch and bream landed all sent back to grow some more.

So end result was one mud crab, one sandie and one bream to take home and a few laughs with my little brother. Not bad for a land based session on a Sunday morning.

Unfortunately when the crab was cooked it yielded little meat as it was not full - is there a quick and easy way to tell - but it still tasted great.

Cheers

Chris

nice. still would have nice though. im no expert but barnacles, other growth and a orangey colour indicates they are full and havent shed their shell for a awhile. you can also pinch one of their in the upper segment to get an idea how full

[broncodude]

If you flip the crab over and use your thumb to press underneath youll be able to tell if it is full or not. if you can push it in a little bit then generally its empty if its solid you have a nice feed on your hands

[Captain_Zero]

Thanks guys, flipping them over and avoiding the nippers was the part I had the most trouble with!

[timddo]

A quick way to tell if a crab is full is the colour. A light green colour means it's half full, black is generally full, so is purple and brown. Just place your 2nd finger under the pointy end of shell, the side and press. If you can press it,it's half empty.

When a crab is hook or holding bait, Number one rule is not to take it out of the water. Once it hits the surface , it will let go

[Watto79]

Agree with Rosco above..

I think the best and safest way to tell for inexperienced crabbers is..

While holding crab firmly by both flippers in one hand, place index finger of other hand onto side of shell directly under last point of carapace (above where claw joins body) and gently push in..

This can also be done by turning crab over to underside whilst holding by flippers and gently pressing in on the small segments of the underbody..

If it is easy to push in crab is empty, release for next time..

If it is firm/hard it is a full crab..

From experience, most crabs caught on line are empties...especially if they are holding onto the bait etc..

Nine times out of ten a full crab will let go almost straight away unless hooked whereas an empty/half full crab will hang on for most/all the way in as they are extremely hungry!

Hope this helps for next time around..

Cheers

[Moonlighter]

Catching crabs on a line....ah the memories!

We used to put a pilly or whiting skeleton inside the end of an old stocking, tie to the line, and flip in in near the deep edges. If a crab grabbed it, their claws would get caught in the nylon stocking and we'd have them in the net before they could break free. Might be worth trying this method at Raby Bay too!

Cheers

ML

[sandbankmagnet]

Checking and pressing the underside is ok, but I reckon you can tell straight away by the wear and tear on their teeth on their nippers. Particularly for people new to crabbing. They can reach underneath and get you if you don't know what you're doing. Bad advice in my opinon. Sorry, but I've seen a mate get done doing this (newby). If they look like new teeth, they're empty. Worn right down, and they're full. Just indicates how much they've been chomping on before they moult and grow new nippers. They have one fighting and one eating nipper, so one might be sharp and the other worn down. As the others have said, colour is also a good indicator. A nice chocolate brown with a maltese cross on his chest plate from too much rumpy pumpy.

[justjack]

if its any help i have an old post i put up a while ago.... has some helpfull pictures, all the males are moulting at the moment so there will be more walking around this time of year http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/sho...ighlight=empty

[Reefmaster]

Nice surprise there Chris well done.

if its any help i have an old post i put up a while ago.... has some helpfull pictures, all the males are moulting at the moment so there will be more walking around this time of year http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/sho...ighlight=empty

Jack could you please clear your PM's or email me on greg@wickedfishing.com.au. Need to chat what we spoke about.

Cheers,
Greg

[choppa]

Agree with Rosco above..

I think the best and safest way to tell for inexperienced crabbers is..

While holding crab firmly by both flippers in one hand, place index finger of other hand onto side of shell directly under last point of carapace (above where claw joins body) and gently push in..

This can also be done by turning crab over to underside whilst holding by flippers and gently pressing in on the small segments of the underbody..

If it is easy to push in crab is empty, release for next time..

If it is firm/hard it is a full crab..

From experience, most crabs caught on line are empties...especially if they are holding onto the bait etc..

Nine times out of ten a full crab will let go almost straight away unless hooked whereas an empty/half full crab will hang on for most/all the way in as they are extremely hungry!

Hope this helps for next time around..

Cheers

not sure if i agree here 100%,,,, being one that has caught my fair share of crabs on both rod and line AND in pots,,,, i wouldn't go out on a limb and say one way ensured full crabs more than the other,,,, as pointed out in a different reply,,,, most crabs on a rod will let go if the break the water,,, i don't think that it would boil down to a half full/empty crab versus a full crab having the ability to decide on what's going on,,,, if there hungry thats why they grabbed the bait,,, or entered the pot in the first place

choppa