Went out to check the pots today and got a nice bag of good sized male reds, including a jumbo, and a small female white.

I write this post to set out a couple of observations of our cray season, which is voluntarily going to come to an end (you can only eat so many crayfish) once we have the quota vacuum packed in the freezer (which is hopefully after this weekend).  We have set deep, ignoring the whites run on the nearshore reefs (perhaps incorrectly and a week or two there during the next December run is planned) and have generally got large models.  The disadvantage has been the number of berried and/or tar spot and/or setose crays we have thrown back – which would probably be 200kg or more.  No complaining though, as we have got lots and lots of quality.  It also helps when you catch all of your own bait so there is no need to pay for that.

We have generally set in 2 different areas on the old coral 6-7 mile out.  After much observation, these spots are quite different in the crays they produce.  We have named one area “the brot%&l” as it constantly produces pregnant females.  Yes, the odd male (punter) or juvenile female keeper is there but it has brought many tears with the number of throw backs.  The other area we call the “sports bar”, given the ratio of males to females and the big aggressive bucks we have got.  This is not just a random thing, we have been potting for quite a while and the trend is consistent.  I don’t know if anyone else has experienced a difference in areas where one produces predominantly females and the other males?  No need to guess where the pots are now.

We were pulling the pots from the “sports bar” today and surprisingly got a tar spot.  I thought it looked a bit strange so instead of throwing is straight back I had a bit better look.  WTF, it was a male – I don’t know if anyone else has had that experience?  I think our “sports bar” has another little different type of bar nearby!

I was wondering what fisheries would have said if we brought it back and got checked at the ramp?  “You have in your possession and illegal western rock lobster”, “no we don’t it is a male”, “yes you do it has a tar spot”, “how could it produce more crays?”.  The guide refers to “tar spot females”, but I guess it is an argument that I didn’t want to have over 1 cray.

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