Ocean reef car park was almost full when I left there at 5:30am thismorning, crazy! Heaps of boats lined up ready to launch too

none from two pots Mandurah 5 fathom

all the other guys this morning said none also James service 

 We got 3 from the James Service today. So hopefully it's a starting down here. About time seeing all these NOR guys cleaning up. 

 We have been getting 5-12 a day on the james service havent checked them in a couple days now so hoping we might bag out when we pull them tomorrow. 

 ouch going to beck hecktik when i start pulling my pots from OR

 got our  3 person bag today, only just last pot got us over the line.

Pots are thinning out now so numbers must been dropping off for a few.

being taken out today Bodie,lots of brand new ones, their bombing around us

 Hundreds on the back of the reef this morning.

Should I be moving my pots out to that contour the line? They are current at the back of that reef we are picking up 5 -7 crays from 3 pots but mostly jumbo reds and a couple of whites, any suggestions?

 Got 6 in one pot and 1 in the other. Happy with that after leaving them for three days due to work and injury.

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/baldivis/miscellaneous-goods/crayfish-for-sale-fresh/1096273739

Hey guys

Are you allowed to deploy pots for someone else? Obviously you can't pull them.

My dad is thinking about joining in but can't get out for a few days. Can I deploy them on his behalf? 

 Brad. I have done so based on my interpretation. So long as you don't have more than 6 on a boat   Cheers. Westy. 

 Running properly out of pt peron now. Took the tanks to top up the limit and only needed a couple. 

westy/brad

i would not be doing so without the licence holder on board ,
silly as it sounds i think you could/would be technically charged with interferring with fishing gear that does not have your gear ID on it , regardless of knowing the owner and having his permission to do so etc etc

it is one charge per pot you have on board with out the licence holder being there if you where pinged .so cheaper to wait till your dad can go out with you imo

hezzy

Only one but stoked. hopefully some more to come. thanks to the advice from Westy74 and the likes I got off here. Came from a pot my wife made so she's over the moon that her pot worked and not the commercial one. Will be interesting to see what next week brings.

 The highlight today was seeing the smile on my sons face.....nothing to do with the crays ....all about seeing Nick Nat, Le Cras, Cripps and Kennedy at the ramp going out on "Le Boat". 

 Thats awesome Westy!

Im glad Kennedy has been found, I heard he was lost for a while...Or was that just for the one day

 Woo hoo First pull today 24 in first pot and the other had heaps too. So it was pick and choose the biggest while rebaiting. 

 Bloody good effort!! Best we have done is 14. but bit of a newby with the crays. You in deepish water?

 Well done Andy!  

Is that you in the first pic, or your son?  Just joking.. LOL!

 Cheers guys, 7m KT pots on sand directly in front of reef. 

 Just 1 size for us today from 4 pots off Hillarys on a 2 day soak in 15 - 17 meters.

Id say we are about 40m east of the pro line on drop off.

So far from 18 trips since start of season only 17 crays.

At least I dont need to worry about having to many in the freezer out back :(

 Randall

60 is good going, well done. hopefully our low catch isn't due to pulling our pots after school drop off.

I cant see how that would matter, hopefully we get a few more Sat and Sunday.

i just like going out on the boat and this time of year with the warm weather its a great start to the day, a few crays just tops it off.

 Well Ill see how we go tomorrow and maybe move two into our old spots we used to fish in the 12ft dingy

 I put 1 pot in 18m today

will let you know how that one goes tomorrow 

 16 between 3 of us this morning, the first pot was empty, looks like I might of put the bait lid on the wrong way around coz it was wide open with no bait, haha my bad. 2nd pot was off the mark a little so only a couple in that one. The other 3 pots Had enough in them to make it worth while. Also seen Nick Nat down there this morning again, had a quick chat about the crays with him, seems like a nice bloke 

 Bagged out for the first time this morning. Actually got 9 from my 2 pots with the smallest (still legal size) getting safely returned.

Thanks again to Westy and Bodie for the guidance.

The whites are getting a little bigger as well.

Keep your ropes short boys and girls. The length of some of the ropes floating out of Ocean Reef are ridiculous.

 Well done Brad mate, good to see your getting into them. When did you last check them?

we got out bag this morning from 2 pots, plenty of Crays out there now, even had a friendly chat with a pro out on the water and watched him pull a couple pots and the Sharks following them around. Their pots easily had 20+ in them!

 Better morning 15, one right on size released.  This pot had 11.  The two day old pot we have just put in almost on top of this.....  nothing.  Other two pots had two each.

 Just the single cray for us again with 4 pots, the deeper pots both had zip in 17 - 18 m.

Slow going, 

How long do the whites run for guys?

Got our limit today off OR but a bit hit and miss. Thinking of moving to the back edge of 3 mile.   What are others doing. Are they slowing on the inside??  

 Thanks mate. 20m is too hard for me until I get my winch installed haha. Might drop a couple just on the edge and see how I go. 

5 fathom Mandurah none

thats 100 nm for nothing so far 

3rd day pulling ours today. 14 this morning, 12 in one pot off ocean reef. 

eight yesterday. lots of pots out there......

slept in, launched at 930am. Was a lot quiter at ramp i must say. wind was up a bit, but was still fine..... dont have this luxury before work midweek tho ;)

Soaking for today/slept in this morning and first pull will be tomorrow morning. In between Hillary's and OR.

 Out from Mandurah. Starting to pick up now 

thanks guys. Gave up on Mandurah - someone must of been checking them for me everytime

I can't think why I never even got a single Cray, moved them James service, Murray reef. Five fathom all on sand just near reef

Moved to Rockingham. First pull 15 in one pot didn't check other one. Even had the same bait from Mandurah 

Hey Barracuda , same was happening to us in the same area but they were only targeting one of our pots , came very close to catching them but we were just too far away from them to prove it ,so next day out early and followed them around closely and guess what , 18 in that pot today , all the other pots were fishing well.

 Just curious what people are doing with all their crays? Its only possible to keep 24 at home right? I see guys getting their bag limits every day and wondering do they eat them all. Freeze a couple and give a few to relies / freinds? Are we allowed to give them away... We not even bagging out and have a hard time keeping up. And Mrs has been pickling them too.

Is it best to freeze uncooked? 

Cheers

 We put 2 pots in the Friday before last out of Hillary's, pulled the next day Saturday for 2, Sunday for 8, Monday for 25(kept 16), Tuesday for 13, Wednesday for 12. So after taking 51 crays in 5 days we were done, even had half a box of bait left!

Mandurah picking up. Mate just came to see me and has been bagging out at 5 fathom. Was interesting they got (2 lics) 16, 16, zip then 3lics 24. Had excess crays on the 3 days they got them, but NADA in 4 pots Friday. Huumm - they saw a boat cruising away from their pot area on the Friday and suspect they were burgled.

 Battled 25 kt seabreeze this afternoon to check our pots.  First one is a new pot and still soaking.  None in that.  2 pot had 12 in it.   next one had 19! 

Had to throw 15 back!

 Thanks for the explanation on the quantities allowed to be kept at home, I read it as 24 for the whole house..So you say its 24 each person in the house or 24 per license holder? 

Another thing we were doing wrong was freezing tails...My pro crayfisherman mate says this is a no no and they must be frozen whole. So have sorted that out with a big pickle jar!

Does anyone cook then freeze? I'm guessing this would make them mushy when defrosted.

You cleaning up Randal. We still yet to pull off bag limit.. So so close on a couple of occasions. 15 Sat. 13 today but surprisingly 1/2 reds, and just sized today. Was a bit of a battle in the tinny today, couldnt get out till 9

 Years ago we would use 1ltr milk cartons when freezing crays, you just cut the end off the carton and put the cray in.

They then stack easy in the freezer.

I wouldnt cook and then freeze, they freeze better not cooked.

 At o/reef in the morning everyones getting a feed.suprising how it all flows up there

Despite the big line at Hillarys, launch and retrieve was very easy.

First time pulling this morning and we bagged 3, surprised that 2 were reds. Does this means the pot is too deep (20meters of water)?

Either way I'm chuffed to get some runs on the board. Will be back out tomorrow!

 reds usually mean too close to the reef, We got 1 jumbo female today which was tarred up so she went back, we were too close to the reef.

20m from hillarys might be a little deep still, come back into 13-16m on the back of the 3 mile. Crays are thick, real thick! they were falling out of the pot when coming up today!

Spoke to a couple of boats back at the ramp, sounds like some doing it tough today sounds like some are still inside, we have 1 pot inside the 3 mile still and still holding a dozen or so crays a day.

 First keeper, a scungy red male I picked as undersized due to missing whisker. But he was easily size. Only setose/spawners in pots, hardly any pots in the water here yet. At least a week away, which would be normal.