i know how u feel mate, and the next person i see pulling my pots im going to wait for them at the ramp and have a little chat, also i will be taking photos of them and there boat and posting it over every fishing website i know, its a low down dog act pulling other peoples pots

Get the proof guys. Pretty sure it's a $10000 fine for stealing from pots. Guy I know caught someone rehanded last year. He left them to do their dirty work and called fisheries. They were up the next day and camped up there for three days and caught the fucker, it's the best way. Whil they were up there they handed out heaps of fines to all the cocksuckers catching undersize Tailor as well.

thats why i take my camera every time now

On the topic,

I caught a guy doing it and waited for him at the ramp, where he then proceeded to deny it ! until i showed him the photos i took of him on my phone he then began to argue and left in a big hurry! =O)

So hopefully after an experience like that he won't attempt to try it again.

that said has anyone got any this season ? we haven't seen one so far this year heading out from hillarys and it seems everyone else at the ramp is in the same situation....

gday mate pulled the pots this morning and got the 1st cray of the season so far, it was a white to :)

nice maybe they have begun to move?

i see they are getting them off rotto at the moment where a fair bit closer in , where are you at?

behind gi but a fair way south in 10 and 15m of water, go oout again tomorrow and see how we go

Shotgun, warning shot across the bow & remove CAPS LOCK it's bad cray karma

for a bunch of staunch fisherman u piss and moan alot, some one pulling your pots you dont need to post about it get your biggest nastiest mate on board fill him full of piss and show these priks what happens.

Get pics of them if you can but they must show the id number of your pots and rego number of the boat in question. The rego of the car and trailer also go a long way towards a conviction.

Going back a few years the fisheries boys had a telescope and big camera set up on the water tank on the hill top at Qinns rocks taking pics of people pulling their pots to check for those pulling extra pots or someone elses.

One other thing to remember is that pots will walk if there is any sort of swell running and just because there's no crays in them doesn't mean they were pulled, even the best fishermen come up with blanks so why not you?

Its a hard one Noddy, i am sure we would all think of meeting them at the ramp and punching the piss right through em but thats just not the thing to do.

i always carry a camera on the water as mentioned ubove, so as to take photos of my catch and right up the big report, 1 year on and this still hasnt happened

Some photos and straight to the phone, i have fishwatch 1800815507 and the water police 94428600 in my phone in case of seeing low life people like this on and around the water.

Good luck from here on in, Karma we get pricks like that dont worry!!

Just push a few treble hooks into your ropes..points facing down towards the pot. They will find them pulling up the rope on your pot. It works...just remember how many metres you put them apart, lol

Ive been on the receiving  end  of pot pulling accusations when  I  hadnt. Its  not   nice  hey.

 fisheries should do more to continue catching the farkers responsible, in the meantime njoy fishn and  hope u get a bag full of cray for christmas :) and i hope the thieves spend christmas in jail........

 I see what your all saying 

I need to buy a gun

because of thieving pricks but what pissed me off the most was the  useless fisheries departments attitude when i reported it to them. They really didnt give a shit unless i had proof. Never see them our there when it matters.

I used to live on the central coast of NSW. I had one particular bloke check my pot three times. that I know of.

First time I caught him at it as I went around in the boat, mine were the only pots in this little bay so he had no reason to be "checking for his pots." Words were shared and the upshot was that he and I both knew there was nothing anyone was going to do. Cops don't have time and as an amature, the fisherries wouldnt be interested.

About a week later I reset the pots and while I was going about my daily business the next day I look into this little bay from the cliff and there is c$*k head helping himself to the fruits of my pots.

Went and pulled them that night.

Next week I set them again and then waited and watched for co$k sucker to return, fishing from my anchored boat up around the corner. So after half an hour, I hear dip s%*t pull up and go around to say hi. Now I knew there were no other pots in the bay so really I knew he was checking mine. Problem is old mate has a big ugly mate with him. I think he was expecting to see me.

I go over and ask how my crays are, and they just laugh and tell me to piss off. SOOOO I put to use my out of date flares, as only an angry fisho can. Old mate was smoked out and probably considering abandoning ship He eventually managed to find and toss out said flare, to find me waiting with the night parachute brother of that smoker. After sharing my thoughts old mate decided putting his tail between his legs and f&*king off was the better part of valor.

I emptied and reset my pots, fully expecting to return to the ramp to find the car burnt out or at the very least the coppers waiting BUT nope, nothing.

I never saw old mate again but my pots were regularly robbed afterwards so I just gave up and dived for them.

Those were the good old days and I DO NOT CONDONE or recommend those actions anymore.

(For the purpose of the tape I think I left my log on open while I was at the library and a person who looks similar to me with a different experience to mine wrote this post)

Chris oops I mean other bloke

I wonder if the pot pirates make good Cray bait ? .....

As Carnavonite said pots move around in a swell and once they have moved a little bit onto sand you will not catch anything.

A few booby traps sound like fun but the fisherys pull them all the time checking escape gaps measures and what not,fisherys will have you in the courts quick smart if someone gets injured plus once they do check them its alleged they just drop them where ever.

ive heard of people checking water depth and leaving the rope 2m or so below that marking on the gps and just freediving to get the rope, low enough not to get tangled in any motors but safe.

 I use a number 7 kirby through the rope, and if that's bent when you pull your pots next, you know it's pros. You will lose your pots, but the best way to stop pros pulling your pots is use the lightest mono you can (or heavy cotton) threaded through a couple of bean sinkers and spliced through the rope. You can substitute your pot with old ropes and a bit of steel pipe filled with cement. 

All well and good saying that you put hooks and sinkers on your pot ropes to prevent someone pulling them but if that person gets injured then you are in deep shirt by setting a trap and liable for a massive fine /jail plus their damages if its proven.

If you snag your bottom fishing gear on a pros pot you should tie the floats together or some rag / shopping bag to them as a warning to the decky that he's about to get his face smashed in by a half kg sinker. If you have seen the damage that can be done by gear being flung around by a winch it will make your hair curl.

Both my sons have had very close shaves from the same thing while working the deck on crayboats and I wouldn't wish it on anyone else, legal or not.

I wouldn't think the pros would be bothered with recs pots. They arn't pulling all there own pots at the moment as there isn't enough crays .Maybe you are just not getting crays in your pots at the moment A lot of the recs out of 2 Rocks arn't getting much.Just because there empty don't mean they have been pulled .I would say more likely to be a fellow rec fisher whos not catching much in his or her pots.

people pulling our pots in Leeman we gave up.  We'd put fresh dhuie heads in, plus the bait cage would be full, heavy weights in the pots, next morning go to pull them and guess what not even a scale in them, the dhue head had been tired to to the pot with a bent coat hanger, very secure as they'd last about 3 days  in the pot.  Instead of getting angry we just pulled them out the water and now buy them from a crayfisherman (owner) in Leeman, yes you have to know the skipper to buy them, as they don;t sell to the public anymore.

Old fart gave up years ago at GI, go out pots pulled or missing not worth the ruddy hassle getting sh...ty

Just got back from Leeman and the pros have taken extra rope/floats out, so the whites must be on the move, they were in very close when we got there 9days ago.

i bet now that u moved em ages away from where they were , u aint getn hassled no more? freakn thieves cant follow u everywhere mate :) hope ur luck has changed for the better nods cheers

there is a product you can buy off internet...sacraficial anode clips//i dont know weather there legal..but they work a treat ...you get them from america ...they can be from 2.7 days upwards...coil floats so there under water with clip ...when you drop them in take note off time.very accurate ...within 20 mins...your floats pop up (2.7 days) make sure you coil rope so it doesnt tangle....they are very cheap and very reliable ...under $2...make sure your floats are a good 15 feet under...

can use water balloons filled with ink (coloured) fix inbetween floats or float...when some grabs your pot and flings into there boat ...pop makes a mess....