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Crabs And Flatties In The Bay


dhype

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Hi Raiders

Took my brother-in-law out for a fish last weekend to teach him the art of soft plastic fishing as he has used bait all his life.

Showed him how to rig up the Pumpkin seed GULP and the rod actions required... in no time at all he scored this!

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He kept scoring quality fish after quality fish... while I was only getting little fish fingers! Talk about being outdone! :05:

Another good fish from my brother in law on his first SP fishing trip.. might have taught him too well!

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We kept casting the SPs and landed heaps of flatties and keep half a dozen or so for dinner. While fishing we dropped over a few crab nets and managed plenty of crabs.

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With plenty of fish and crabs in the esky I called over the entire family for dinner and had an absolute feast! :beersmile:

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This weekend was a lot tougher on the water... Saturday - A last minute decision resulting in the wife and I arriving at the boat ramp at 4pm! With only an hour or so to fish before it got dark i wasted no time dropping off the crab nets and setting up the SP rods. In the hour we were out there I managed to pulled in this nice trav on a nuclear chicken SP and 7 crabs! :thumbup:

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Sunday - Got to the Foreshore Road boat ramp at 6am to find a massive queue to launch! Trolled around for 2 hours for a donut! Tried for squid at a few of the weed beds for another donut. Over to the flats and started flicking SPs for 2 hours only to find tiny flatties wanting to play ball. :thumbdown:

With no fish in the bag and with a fresh supply of green weed I zoomed over to Captain Cooks Bridge to try for some blackfish (first time fishing for them).. this resulted in another donut! The only thing that saved the day was a few more crabs! Thank god for that!

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While at the sand flats I meet up with fellow fishraider FishFeeder and his son who were also having a tough day... it was great having a chat to them!

Hoping for a better day next week.. see you all on the water!

Cheers

Trung / DHYPE

Edited by dhype
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You certainly brained the crabs. Were they heavy or light? I found when teaching someone I always keep a little knowledge up my sleeve:biggrin2: so as not to be outdone especially on the first outing.

Regards Jeff

hi Jeff

all the crabs so far were packed full of flesh except for maybe 3 of them that a bit light... Going to try some chilli crabs tonight with yesterdays catch- can't wait!

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Hey Dhype,

If it wasn't for your crab reports, I would still be thinking that I have to wait until the summer!

You are certainly a very accomplished fisherman.

I take my hat off to you.

My wife and I love crab but I can never seem to get the basics right.

No-one I know has any idea so I find myself experimenting.

So far the experiments have had poor results.

I watch deadliest catch on the TV and I salivate as the pots come up with king crabs....

Then again, I have to take seasick tablets just to watch the guys working the Bering Sea.

Those guys are nuts.

Well done on the crabs and flatties - a feast fit for a king....and his family....

Tony

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Some of those flattys look a bit small mate..

Sheesh is that the best you can do for your first post mate :thumbdown:

Take another read of our site rules please. If you have any queries a message to admin or a moderator will be the way to go.

Let's hope your subsequent posts are a contribution to our site.

mrsswordfisherman

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Hi everyone

I have received a lot of PMs for more info on the crabs so i'll put up a few pointers here instead...

First of all I have only been crabbing for 8 months or so (still a newbie) but this is what i have seen in Botany through try personal trial and error.

* Traps used - cheapy $6 witches hats from any tackle shop.. you are allowed 5 per person

* Bait - fresh is best, i have read that old smelly bait is good but from my experience fresh bait will result in a better catch. I find whiting frames by far the best bait if you can get a hold of any... yellowtail, flathead also good. For some strange reason they dont seem to like beef/steaks, travally or bream frames! Chicken and canned catfood is also ok if you are desperate.

* Tides and times - anytime of the day is good but find there is no crabs if there is no tidal/current flow... the flow of the tide must carry the bait scent to the crabs..

* depth and location - I crab in 1m to 5m of water. Anywhere there is a combination of sand and weed you will find crabs! Try Silver Beach, Kurnell, Towra and Woolaware bay... the key i found is the sand/weed combo. Think flathead terrotory :biggrin2:

* I check the nets every hour or so as i find i get multiple crabs this way... the struggling/feeding crabs seem to attract others to the net. I fish while crabbing so don't mind waiting the hour...

* Keep an eye on your trap! I have caught a few younger chaps helping themselves to my crabs... very wrong! :ranting2::thumbdown:

* Lastly.. read the fishraider article on crabbing.. this is where i got my start from! great artical it is

Think that is it.. if i missed something let me know and i'll see if i can help.

Cheers

Trung / DHYPE

Edited by dhype
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Chili crab Yum! try this: cut the main section into quarters (large blues) and take the legs off. Heat the wok until its smoking then add oil and a couple of cut chilli's ,juice a lemon and add and also put the lemon carcass in, juice of 1 lime and add the skin also, salt and pepper. Cook until all has warmed through then add the crab and cover with lid and cook until crab has turned a nice red. This is a great snack when having friends over for a bbq.

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