Crays at peppy beach

 Not wanting anyone's spots more of an idea as to the prevelance of Crays at peppy beach and a rough idea where I could target them at peppy beach 

 

thanks for any help

jess


carnarvonite's picture

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Out Front

Wed, 2017-10-04 19:13

Anywhere out front, early on the whites are right in close in the reef about 100 metres offshore and on any of the small lumps further out.
A reminder that they rarely go in to pots south of a line from Bunbury across to Eagle Bay for some reason or other, not sure if its a lack of swell or some other reason so diving is the answer

black gen's picture

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 That's interesting your

Wed, 2017-10-04 19:21

 That's interesting your point on lack of swell means less Crays in pots 

I've never heard that before but thanks for the response 

MattMiller's picture

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No one knows

Wed, 2017-10-04 20:10

 but it’s true in Geo bay. They just don’t go in pots.

carnarvonite's picture

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Same up here in Shark Bay

Thu, 2017-10-05 06:34

Spoke to a long time resident about making cray pots for the upcoming cray season and was told not to bother as though there are plenty of crays they don't go in pots same as in Geo Bay. Outside of Shark Bay no problems but inside a complete waste of time except if you dive for them

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its true almost everywhere

Thu, 2017-10-05 09:57

its true almost everywhere especially in the whites. Whites are soft so if a swell comes through during the whites 1. it f$%ks up the whites season, 2. Crays get  beaten up or stay in the reef.

Reds, they will move around a little, but generally dont venture as far as they would in small swell.

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 Get yourself a shark shield

Fri, 2017-10-06 17:12

 Get yourself a shark shield and jump in and grab them...might ping a couple of herring while you are on the bottom too

ranmar850's picture

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For what it is worth

Thu, 2017-10-05 07:00

 From long standing experience, crays do not tend to go into pots unless there is a lot of competition for natural feed. While there may appear to be "plenty" of crays in an area, unless you have a lot of smaller actively foraging and growing younger specimens competing for the natural food, the large ones which seem to comprise the populations in the areas you speak of just don't need to. From observation areas which just don't seem to carry much suddenly come alive when a migration passes through them, and suddenly you have pots with not only the smaller migrating crays, but plenty of big ones, too. And if the smaller ones settle in the area, the larger specimens will then have to keep competing. 

Shark Bay was always a conundrum. Many fishermen over the yeares have gone up there and come back empty handed. Just a few big crays.  Natural settlement up there is believed to be quite low, due to lack of sheltered inshore areas  (outside, ocean) for the puerulus to actually survive and settle. They are reliant on relatively sheltered weedbeds in the very early stages of settlement, movng to reef area as they grow.  Shark Bay really fired up when the Big Bank whites run peeled off and went north east looking for somewhere to live. The one year I fished it, the whites had done that, confirmed by blokes who had just run their gear off out on the 52 fathom edge off the passage at the end of the run, gone home for a break, then came back to find those pots choked with white BB cackas.  They spread inshore from there , meaning that those big old reds had to fight for a feed. We caught plenty, pots were always very mixed in size. 

ranmar850's picture

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Whites don't like swell in the shallows

Thu, 2017-10-05 10:27

 Never have, as said above, probably too soft shelled. At least up here, one of two things happen. 

  1. if it is early, and they are not ready for the big run offshore, they will just retreat and hang on, stop feeding. Resume when the swell drops.
  2. if it is later, and they are ready to go, they will bolt.

If you are in the right place, ie, a little deeper, they will come up full, but only for a day or two. Then they are off and running, gone miles per day. Further south, it seems to be easier to keep up with them, up here, particularly close to the mouth/in the bay, they will go ten miles a day, no-one has ever successfully kept up with them. Trick is to get just in front of them get them as they come through. Which means leaving really good crays and going further out again. Tough gig, believe me.

carnarvonite's picture

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10 Miles

Thu, 2017-10-05 19:07

Got some ten miles out from Carnarvon in pots , all biscuities, scabby shells and not a single red or white amongst them.

When living in Bunbury we regularly dived The Huts, Doungup park, Peppy and Forrest beach for a mixture of whites and reds right from start of season through to June, same results regardless of good or bad winter swell.

Yet north of Bunbury was completely different with the whites running as normal and cacca reds staying put

hezzy's picture

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well black gen .....mate i

Fri, 2017-10-06 01:04

well

black gen .....mate i can tell you from personal experience having potted and dived for crays between the maidens in bunners and the mouth of capel river since 1980 ...you will get more by diving in the whites than by using pots .swell as ranmar mentioned in whites is main reason imo

HOWEVER THE CRAYS from capel river mouth to bunbury will pot easily in the right conditions /right time of year ..that being predominantly from late march to end of season in june ..i have used heavy slat pots , stickys and heavy plastics right the way along there and they pot alright with full pots up to 57 crays in a pot on the right conditions

your best time to pot is once the water turns dirty , autumm /winter swell becomes a regular thing above 2 metres and you set up on the hard bottom and reef edges with good bait

my calender diarys from the 80, 90, show regular catches of 130 -180 crays a month from 4 pots ..and that is only about 10 - 14 trips out to check pots inbetween weather fronts back then . bag limits where not unusual , often with lots going back as well

there was a well known bunbury shop owner who advised me about them potting there that well for them in the 60, 70 , they took a shote load to the gold fields race round and sold them to help pay their expenses and betts etc

back in the 70s and 80s several of the smaller 60-80 pot licneced pros in bunbury fished that bit of coast very heavily every season ... usually last two weeks of may through to 15th august ..which was end the of season back then

so give to ago with pots ...stay of the big reef once the water dirtys and learn as you go , beach launch is a must and be prepared to have to row out about 20 metres before you drop the motor leg and start the engine ... smaller tinnys up to 4 metres are ideal for this and so is a dry loading skill when you hit the beach on your return ...........or you risk getting boat and gear swamped and full of hassles

hope that helps

hezzy

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OFW 11

evil flourishes when good men do nothing

 

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I've got to ask the question

Fri, 2017-10-06 17:34

What are biscuities, I've never heard of the saying before.

carnarvonite's picture

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Cross

Fri, 2017-10-06 21:03

They have scabby shells and look like a cross between white and red crays. Its lie they have missed a moult and it shows

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Thank you

Fri, 2017-10-06 22:46

I had never heard the word and I haven't seen any crays like that thanks again for the info.

ranmar850's picture

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We referred to biscuities

Tue, 2017-10-10 07:46

 it was a pro term, lighter coloured crays more light brown  than red, not a real corallie ( very pale, like a white, usually over 28 fathoms)  

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Thanks ranmar850

Tue, 2017-10-10 20:09

Like I said above I had never heard of the saying biscuities and was at a complete lose as to what sort of cray was being talked about.