# I Want To Catch Crabs



## PhilK (Nov 28, 2009)

Now that the hilarious title has your attention, I have some questions about crabbing.

My mate told me I could buy 4 crab pots from BCF for something like $25. I like the sound of that, and have always wanted to give it a shot. 

Any crabbers out there? I have a lot of questions:
1. How can I tell where good spots are? Mangroves, river banks etc I assume. 
2. What different type of baits do the different crabs go for? As in muddies, sandies etc
3. What are the rules? I can look up size restrictions but males/females etc? I am in Qld.
4. How do I get the crab from the pot? Grab from behind?
5. How many pots can I have out at once, what info do they need on them?
6. Best way to kill a crab?

I'm Googling too but I wanted some info from real people!

Any other advice is greatly appreciated, and feel free to post photos of any crabs!
Thanks a lot!


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## ambah (Nov 28, 2009)

"feel free to post photos of any crabs"... asking for it, aren't ya, lol


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## anntay (Nov 28, 2009)

well i was going to be smart and say when two people have sex and one has crabs then they will pass it to the other person and itch the hell out of you LOL. sorry i cant be of any help never went crabing here in qld only in newcastle


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## itbites (Nov 28, 2009)

Hmmm best place to catch crabs...

My tip..Just look for that dodgy drunk chick thats slumped in the back of a dark dingy pub 

surrounded by feral men


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## andyscott (Nov 28, 2009)

1/ Do you have a boat? It is a lot easier to get into the tight spot for muddies.
2/ Any fish head will be good for bait.
3/ you should be able to find size requirements and bag limits on the net.
4/ With muddies have a small stick handy (10 cms long as thick as a finger), let the crab grab the stick, then grab the crab, I tape their claws shut.
5/ not sure on the pot limit, once again check the net.
6/ Dont kill the crabs, must cook them alive, tape claws shut, Keep them in a foam box with a wet towl.


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## webcol (Nov 28, 2009)

Last christmas at the hawksbury, i got a blue swimmer, and a mudcrab.
I put the mud crab pot right up in the muddy mangroves, and the blue swimmer in the river, about ten meters away from a sandbar.
to get it out of the net, i had to try and stay away from the nippers, and untangle it.
To kill it we put it in a pot of boiling water. 
A pic of the catch and the spot, im going back to that spot in 2 weeks, cant wait


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## Sock Puppet (Nov 28, 2009)

I use witches hat nets for Blue Swimmers, don't know the regs for QLD, can have 5/person in NSW. One regulation I'm sure would be the same or similar is to have your name & address on the float. I use fish frames from stuff I've caught, usually flatties, tailor, Aus salmon etc etc for bait. I drop them in sandy areas with broken weed patches. I put them in the freezer for a while to kill them (don't let them freeze!). I don't boil them whole anymore, I did a chilli crab & salt & pepper crab cooking course at the Sydney Seafood School (Pyrmont fishmarkets, totally worth it for all you Sydney people!) & do them like that when I'm lucky enough to bring home some tasty BSCs. Good luck, there's been some cracker BSCs around down here lately.


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## GeckoJosh (Nov 28, 2009)

Good cheap bait is a can of tuna/cat food with a couple of small holes in it
U guys in QLD are lucky, where i live i have to line catch them
Rule of thumb for catching muddies/blue swimmers is muddies in mangrove creeks and estuaries and B'swimmers in harbors and deeper water
Although you can catch the odd few out of these ares
Another thing now is the time of year to b doing it as they arent as common during winter

If u dont catch any keep persisting as they can be affected by fresh rain water 
so just keep a pot out their throw some burley round the trap (just a little )
and u cant go wrong 
Me and my mate used to get 6 crabs on average out of 2 pots daily using cat food cans ( in Bundyberg )
One ,ore thing alot of peeps steel ur crabs so what i do is weigh the rope attached to the pot under water and tie some strong fishing line to the end of it and tie that to the shore


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## Tristan (Nov 29, 2009)

i catch these guys by hand whilst free diving







and in QLD your best bet for fishing info will be Frequently asked questions about recreational fishing in Queensland


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## moosenoose (Nov 29, 2009)

I was always taught to stab them under the belly in joint spot where the flap and shell met. But since I haven't done it for awhile, or can properly explain it, I did a bit of a search: Painless Killing of Crabs and Other Large Crustaceans -- Gunter 133 (3449): 327 -- Science

Anyone else use this rapid temp-increase method???


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## TahneeMaree (Nov 29, 2009)

andyscott said:


> 1/ Do you have a boat? It is a lot easier to get into the tight spot for muddies.
> 2/ Any fish head will be good for bait.
> 3/ you should be able to find size requirements and bag limits on the net.
> 4/ With muddies have a small stick handy (10 cms long as thick as a finger), let the crab grab the stick, then grab the crab, I tape their claws shut.
> ...



yep, pretty much it, cept we usually "sleep them" in the fridge (car fridge on the way home ususally) then straight into the pot, unless you cook them striaght away after catching...

edit... Pot limit in QLD is 4 pots per person I believe, doesn't hurt to double check though....


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## gman78 (Nov 29, 2009)

Go to the valley.
The hookers there are sure to have some.
lol


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## jamesf55 (Nov 29, 2009)

I wouldn't mind catching a few mud crabs myself, but most of the spots that are good around here are national parks so I don't think we are allowed to catch them there, though people often do it anyway. another fun thing to catch is yabbies, me and a mate went catching them in a creek up in the mountains, we didn't use traps though, we just lifted a few rocks in the creek and the yabbies would swim out, the large ones go in burrows, so we mostly got smaller ones, they are very nice, we just kept them alive and boiled some water, put a bit of salt in and chucked them in live, I have heard once they die they are not safe to eat, could someone please tell me if that is true? sorry for getting this thread off track a bit if I did.


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## TahneeMaree (Nov 29, 2009)

if you go crabbing in a protected zone and get caught, the fisheries officers have the power to take EVERYTHING that you used to aquire the crabs, so be nice lol, cause if they want to they can take your pots, boat and even your car... AND issue oyu with a fine... so make sure you look up where the protected zones are... they're usually signed very well tough...


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## jamesf55 (Nov 29, 2009)

yes I havn't attempted to catch them there yet, was just curious if I was allowed to, might have to find somewhere else. no signage though where I know of people going, I have seen old traps around and people go fishing there so I always thought it was legal. can you catch crabs by hand or with spear? thanks.


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## PhilK (Nov 29, 2009)

Thanks for all the great info guys! Big help. I'm off to Theodore now for a fortnight of beef prac, but I'd be pretty keen to buy a few crab pots when I get back as a little Chrissy present for myself.

Recommendations on the best type of pot, and/or best place to buy from? (Quality, price etc)


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## bump73 (Nov 29, 2009)

I've put these pics up before but here we go again
I just use a rod and reel loaded with 6lb line and a peeled prawn :lol: Total fluke i know and i'll never repeat it but it tasted so goood

Ben


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## DonkeyKong (Nov 29, 2009)

bump73 said:


> I've put these pics up before but here we go again
> I just use a rod and reel loaded with 6lb line and a peeled prawn :lol: Total fluke i know and i'll never repeat it but it tasted so goood
> 
> Ben



Nice catch


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## waruikazi (Nov 29, 2009)

I go crabbing all the time champ here in Darwin i can't help you on the legal aspects but i recon i am the bomb digedy when it comes to finding the mongrels.

I'll start with places that work best. 

Any mangrove estuary has the potential to hold crabs but what i have found works best is a tidal inlet that gets cut off from the ocean at low tide that does not get large ammounts of fresh water runnning through it at any time of the year. If i could work out how to take the pictures off google earth i'd show you pictures of what i mean. 

I recon that the smaller the inlet the better. I have never done well for crabs in the larger river systems, which could be because they are over fished but i think the crabs just prefer the cover the smaller inlets offer.

Ok once you have found where you are gonna crab where you put your pots is the next most important thing. What works for me is placeing your pots into the drains that come out of the mangroves, i start by placeing them at the foot of the drain and move them up with the tide. I also find pot placement within the drain very important, i like to have the pot faceing the same direction as the drain and the bottom of the pot needs to be sitting in the mud other wise the crabs crawl underneath and have a chew of your bait without going inside.

Aswell as the snake drains when there is a sharp edge in the mangroves instead of a sloping bank you will often find crab holes just underneath the mangrove roots. If you can find the holes and put ur pots near as possible to them you will also catch crabs, this is where i manage to catch most of my biggest bucks. 

Now bait. I find that fish carcasses work best but if you don't have any just go to leonard chicken and get some chicken peices, as long as there are bones in it they should work fine.

To get the crabs out of the pots i just open the pot and tip them into an eski with ice and some mangrove leaves (the leaves calm them down and stop them fighting each other) i don't bother tieing them, too hard in a little boat. If you manage to catch a red mud crab be careful, they are psychotic little things and although they taste delicious they will destroy all the other crabs in your eski. To kill them ice water works well but what i often do is flip them over pull back that little flappy thing and push a knife up toward their mouth, instant dead crab.

Oh and another little tip, throw your pot ropes up into the mangroves. It makes them easier to find and stops the tide from dragging your pots away.


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## waruikazi (Nov 29, 2009)

PhilK said:


> Thanks for all the great info guys! Big help. I'm off to Theodore now for a fortnight of beef prac, but I'd be pretty keen to buy a few crab pots when I get back as a little Chrissy present for myself.
> 
> Recommendations on the best type of pot, and/or best place to buy from? (Quality, price etc)



Don't get those round ones, just the rectangle cheap ones will do you fine.


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## TahneeMaree (Nov 29, 2009)

jamesf55 said:


> yes I havn't attempted to catch them there yet, was just curious if I was allowed to, might have to find somewhere else. no signage though where I know of people going, I have seen old traps around and people go fishing there so I always thought it was legal. can you catch crabs by hand or with spear? thanks.




I wouldn't try catching crabs with a spear in QLD... if you do, MAKE SURE you're not aiming at Jennies (females) as it is illegal to keep/kill jennies...


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## waruikazi (Nov 29, 2009)

It's a shame you guys can't keep the Jens, they have much much sweeter meat than the bucks. I never let the jens go.

Here's some pics i just found of me and my mates spearing some in Kakadu







Delicious!


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## chickensnake (Nov 29, 2009)

tie the claws up and put them in the freezer for5 mins so they go to sleep then you can just drop them in the boiling water easily without having to fight them to get in lol hope that helps


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## SyKeD (Nov 29, 2009)

Blue Swimmers are the best eating crab imo.... my granfather use to go crabbing all the time, caught heaps of them soo tasty!!!!


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## waruikazi (Nov 29, 2009)

chickensnake said:


> tie the claws up and put them in the freezer for5 mins so they go to sleep then you can just drop them in the boiling water easily without having to fight them to get in lol hope that helps



Seriously unless you are storing them tieing them up is a waste of time, just ice them in an eski and drop them into the pot or stab them like i described.


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## TahneeMaree (Dec 1, 2009)

i think in some states you can keep jens that are past a certain size? Apparently they stop breeding once they get over this size? Sorry for all the question marks lol, I'm just making guesses based on what I have heard...


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## Sdaji (Dec 1, 2009)

TahneeMaree said:


> if you go crabbing in a protected zone and get caught, the fisheries officers have the power to take EVERYTHING that you used to aquire the crabs, so be nice lol, cause if they want to they can take your pots, boat and even your car... AND issue oyu with a fine... so make sure you look up where the protected zones are... they're usually signed very well tough...



What about if I was using my mate to swim down and grab them for me? Could they take him?


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## pythons73 (Dec 1, 2009)

If you want to catch crabs,go into your nearest town for the night,hook up with a few stray women,and with any luck you will get some crabs..Sorry wrong crabs..LOL...MARK


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## PhilK (Jan 2, 2010)

Sorry to resurrect a dead thread guys, but I got 4 crab pots for Chrissy. I was hoping just for the rectangle ones, but Santa got me the round pots with 4 entry holes.

I have a couple of questions that are probably pretty dumb...

Question 1: When they are out of the water on the ground they are just collapsed. There doesn't seem to be a mechanism to keep them 'standing'.. I assume the float does that? But what if the water level drops? Then won't the whole thing just collapse and prevent any crabs from entering? When I take the pot out to get the crabs out they will just collapse too.. won't that be a pain in the bum to get them out of a collapsed pot?

Question 2: the pots came with 4 floats, but they didn't come with any rope.. What length of rope should I attach to the floats? What TYPE of rope should I use and what knot?

EDIT: Waruikazi I can't believe you could spot them walking around.. I've never seen a muddy walking about.

Thanks very much again for all your help!


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## Elapidae1 (Jan 2, 2010)

In western australia it is illegal to spear crabs cause you cant measure them before there dead


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## gunny (Jan 2, 2010)

they should have 4 little black 25ml pipe stands attached to the bottom of the pot that keeps them standing. they will have a little groove in them that the top ring of the pot sits in.


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## chickensnake (Jan 2, 2010)

The black pieces of pipe are what hold the crab pot up, they have a grove in them and all you have to do is push it up under the top metal ring. LOL dont stray too far from your crab pots "pot poachers" will always find, check and steal your pots and whatever is in them. I walked 30mins through mangroves thet were that thick i could only see a meter or so ahead of me to hide a crab pot, when i went to check it the next day i found an open trap footprints around it and an empty stubby in my crab pot.


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## PhilK (Jan 2, 2010)

Oh is that what the black pipes are for? They're all tied together like a little steeple above the pot so I thought that's what you tie the float too...

Pot poachers are slime.. I can't believe someone would do that.


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## gunny (Jan 2, 2010)

On the radio up here a bloke rang up complaining because he had pulled up someones crab pot and they had put hooks through the rope injuring his hands. The next call was the owner of the pots giving the last caller a mouthfull telling him it served him right for trying to rip off his pots. was a good show lol


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## TahneeMaree (Jan 2, 2010)

Yeah, We've had many pots slashed beyond a hope of repair, if they're gonna steal your crabs they could at least have the decency to take the time to undo the pot. >_>


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## waruikazi (Jan 2, 2010)

PhilK said:


> Sorry to resurrect a dead thread guys, but I got 4 crab pots for Chrissy. I was hoping just for the rectangle ones, but Santa got me the round pots with 4 entry holes.
> 
> I have a couple of questions that are probably pretty dumb...
> 
> ...



Question one has been answered... lol can't beleive you couldn't work that out 

Question two: I usually use about 10-12m of rope just tied off with a blood not, any nylon rope will work. If you look at your pot chances are there will be a peice of rope that you can tie onto, don't use it! Instead you should tie straight onto the main body of the pot, i've often seen that rope snap. 

My last tip is to look after your pots! When you store them it is a good idea to hose them down so you get the salt off otherwise they rust really fast. Also keep them in the shade cause the UV will damage the mesh and rope material.


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## chickensnake (Jan 2, 2010)

Also make sure you take the bait out!! A guy where i live left his fresh bait in a pot and just threw it in his shed, the next week he went to use the pot and found a carpet python in it lol.


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## PhilK (Jan 2, 2010)

Righto thaks guys... I'm feeling pretty stupid I didn't work out the pipes!

I was told to be careful with the ropes as certain ropes are very slippery when wet.. So waruikazi do you mean just tie it onto the metal ring?

Cheers guys, hopefully will catch something! Going to Bribie soon, and getting a good kayak tomorrow so will give them a go!


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## jinin (Jan 3, 2010)

Muddies: Mangroves, mainly under/in crevices.etc i use a piece of metal wire with a hook on the end, to tap around inside the crevice , if you hit a a crab, you'll know it, But you don't want to injure the crab you just want to know whether one is there, then you can place a bait. Another thing with the wire, most muddies will fight it off, they grab onto it and you can pull em out of their hole. To kill the crabs i just put them into a deep sleep(in the freezer for 1/2 an hour) then into the pot! Good luck!


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## waruikazi (Jan 3, 2010)

PhilK said:


> Righto thaks guys... I'm feeling pretty stupid I didn't work out the pipes!
> 
> I was told to be careful with the ropes as certain ropes are very slippery when wet.. So waruikazi do you mean just tie it onto the metal ring?
> 
> Cheers guys, hopefully will catch something! Going to Bribie soon, and getting a good kayak tomorrow so will give them a go!



That's it.


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## bundysnake (Jan 3, 2010)

you will find plenty of crabs at kings cross NSW


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## Weezer (Jan 3, 2010)

itbites said:


> Hmmm best place to catch crabs...
> 
> My tip..Just look for that dodgy drunk chick thats slumped in the back of a dark dingy pub
> 
> surrounded by feral men



Got a phone number or address for her ?


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## PhilK (Jan 3, 2010)

Just picked up an awesome kayak.. Keen as to get out there and hive it a shot with the pots! Thanks heaps guys.


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## Asharee133 (Jan 3, 2010)

dont forget photos!!


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## PhilK (Jan 9, 2010)

Right one last question...

I bought 3mm poly rope (10m each pot) on a recommendation from a mate.. The floats have a hole running through the middle MUCH thicker than 3mm.. is the rope I bought too thin? What's the best way to attach the float to the rope?

What's the best way to attach the rope to the pot?

Cheers guys for all your help.


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## waruikazi (Jan 11, 2010)

Just go a blood not on either end. 3mm is thinner than i used but it will still work.


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