Cray Potting

 I posted this question earlier - then realised it was in the middle of an initial post from 3 years ago. No wonder no one replied. Any way I'm wodering how easy is is for crays to get out of a pot. As I often cant get out through the week, there can be 7 days between pulls. Is it likely that crays have been & gone during that time? 


snapper_seeker's picture

Posts: 172

Date Joined: 24/04/12

Occys

Sat, 2012-12-08 12:18

 I think that the biggest problem with leaving pots in the water is that the octopus and anything else that likes to eat crays ( everything ) may eat them personally we have pulled pots with occys in them and just cray heads :(

sea-kem's picture

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Date Joined: 30/11/09

 Yeah damn Occies. Had a

Sat, 2012-12-08 12:22

 Yeah damn Occies. Had a jumbo last year that got cleaned out.

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Date Joined: 28/07/11

 Yeah we see the occy attacks

Sat, 2012-12-08 13:58

 Yeah we see the occy attacks all the time. 7 day pull is a little too far apart imo, by then all the bait will be gone and a good chance the crays will have left too. I usually don't go longer than 3 days apart.

carnarvonite's picture

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Date Joined: 24/07/07

Lack of bait

Sat, 2012-12-08 13:58

Once your bait has gone the crays will look for ways to get out and once one leaves the rest will be right behind it.

If you can get hold of orange roughy, hoki or other big fish heads that you can jam in to the bait boxes to make it last as long as possible you may have a chance of holding them in. Until about 9-10 years back we could use cow scalps, hocks etc as a holding bait but with the opening of European markets and mad cow disease it became an offence to use any animal product with a fine of $5.000 per pot.

Have heard of blocking off most of the holes in the bait box to prevent them getting at the bait and making it last longer but have never tried it out so cannot vouch for it, may be worth a try.

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Thanks

Sat, 2012-12-08 15:56

 I might try blocking some holes in the bait box. Its worth a try  

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Date Joined: 17/06/10

fly wire

Sun, 2012-12-09 09:52

i line my bait boxes with fly wire and that seems to keep them hanging around for a while as it takes them a lot longer to get to the bait

Oceanside Tackle's picture

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Date Joined: 23/07/09

Crays

Sun, 2012-12-09 11:29

Ryans been using orange ruffy heads and even after 5 days theres bait left and yes crays also. The orange ruffy bones keep on breaking down and leak out oil. Ockys can leave you with heads only but they can jump into a pot anytime.

Make sure you dont choke your baitbox too much as you want water flow, very important to get the smell out also.

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Thanks for the tip

Sat, 2012-12-15 17:49

 I'll be out tomorrow (Sunday) If all goes to plan I'll pull up a couple of crays & then land a plump Dhuie to go with them.