Yep. Stolen

Had it happen to me so i just gave up. Best thing i could have done haha

 Look two posts down and there is two for sale,

coincidence? Hahahaha I'm sure it is

 Lost 4 last year...

Look around a bit, usually several hundred meters downwind.........I thought I had lost a few of my pots a few yeara ago, but pretty sure some low lifes had pulled my pots, pinched the crays and then thrown the pots back over after drifting a fair way.....

a few weeks later they were stolen by even lower life pricks......

I now trade fillets for crays, as no way am I going diving where great whites live.....

I said to you not to put them there as they are too shallow and close for scumbags to come and grab them did you end up engraveing or branding them because if the pricks that stole them and are too dumb to notice and put them down with their floats and they get lifted by fisheries they are gone or go back and see the guy who sold them to you and suggested the spot he may have some freshly soaked ones for sale isnt that 3 you have lost now?

 I have a mate that lives in safety bay and  we had the same problem. My advice, get up early and beat the mongrels to it.  We used to pull the pots mid-late morning and lose pots or pull up empty pots with bait baskets gone. I haven't been out with him for 6 years now as I live up north. He has told me screw the pots, I'd rather catch them by snare. What are your duck diving skills like Petermac?

 This season I had my pots stolen from back of garden island I had my id ingraved all over my pot I rang fisheries sent them photos and they said there gonna do pot checks

That's why I set mine fairly deep (40 meters). Haven't had anyone thats been bothered to steal them yet in that depth.

when we launched at bent st today they(fisheries) where having a go at an old pair of grey heads about not having there potting license on them (was in the car) , they had a real old pacemaker that looked as old as them , right beside them on the ramp was me and my mate in a pretty serious looking fishing boat and fisheries didn't even speak to us

 Some one should hide a gps tracker in some one day

then give them what they deserve 

touch wood mine are all engraved plus have fluro paint on them so if they go missing and I see them on gumtree somone will get a unhappy visit some are wood and some are plastic bit odd to cut a section of plastic out of a pot done the same with the brothers,and young blokes pots

gotta be careful as well because if theyve actually dragged and you replace them you can cop it from Fisheries.

Was quite common for Fisheries to bust professionals for overpotting from that scenario

Or even worse for some lowlife to take your pot and set it elsewhere with your floats still on it

potting isn't worth it pots nicked or pulled i am going back to diving

If the mongrels do get caught, what are they charged with. Is it steraling under police, or is it pulling a pot thats not yours under fisheries.

Or even better is it both?

found 1 back at my original spot ,i figure he moved it caught crays with it and towards the end of the season put it back where he got it from  

peter , if you dont want to lose pots , to either swell movement /dragging or pot thieves ,

help yourself by doing the following

1 buy or build heavy steel based full size slat pots , with steel weights in the bridle end of the pots ,reason .... thieves hate to pull heavy pots, and they wont drag , full size pots are not that easy to carry on the boat deck for them or you , makes nicking them harder

2 definetly mark you gear id into both top frames on your pots , mark them deeply into the wood &take a pic of em at home like this , write it on with a marker pen then cut it in with a grinding wheel ,.... reason every time the pots comes up to the boat , first thing they will see is your gear id , makes em think twice before thieving them as they are identifiable , and removing the gear id , is difficult , to do , by either grinding them out ot replacing the timber, pot thieves dont like hard work either way ,& contact fisheries give em your gear id &pic if they do go missing ,
you never know how lucky they/you might get, in finding your gear out there , again pot thieves usually are in a hurry and arent that clever ime

3 check em early as each day , near on daylight no matter what , you gotta beat the thieves to your own gear and catch

4 dont set em in high risk places , lots of boat traffic in an area increases the risk of pot thieves spotting them and making an easy steal of them

i have done this with my gear over many years now , pot theft rarely happens to me , i lose more to big swells down south , than theft , even then losing a pot is a rare event for me ,only happens occasionly

try it a see how it changes your outcomes ,

hezzy

Maybe Fisheries & Water Police should pool thier resources in a joint venture to catch these lowlifes, couldn't see it being to hard for them to set up a sting. Make our taxpayer dollars return the favour to us fishos doing the right thing.

was told fisheries are watching pots around Rotto dont know how true this is

No money in laying around a sand hill on Garden Island watching thieves take your crays.

Just one decent effort by them will clean this matter up but it won't happen

Its just to cold up in them there sand hills at 4.30 in the morning.

They only surface at around 10am when the day has warmed up a bit

my pots are behind garden island, slats and had none stolen, but haven't caught any crays either. in saying that I haven't seen any one bringing pots back ashore.

Its only a matter of time.

 Fisheries should set up some pots with gps trackers, put them in close, and wait for them to be stolen.

GI,years ago from theft and bait raiders.

Also here in Leeman not losing pots, just bait raiders, as when we went fishing, dhuie or snapper heads would go in (hanging) if the weather turned foul, keep the crays in for a couple of days. We'd pull, empty, not even a scale.

cant beleive people would got to the effort of pulling your pot just to get the bait?????

if the weather turns foul you leave them in there for a couple of days, and then wonder where your bait went????

roberta ,

im struggling to think you are losing your bait to theft , honestly ,, especially over many years its more likly ther method you are using to tie the bait in to the pot thats at fault

id respectfully suggest you try not ''hanging'' your bait in pots just loose if that is what your doing ?? and actually fit some proper bait baskets to them or at least use some proper bait baskets to hang them in ,the thick plastic or plastic coated wire ones are great for this

ive used all sorts of bait in hanging baskets , tie the basket up at the top,close it all the way along , then tie it into the pot either side of the neck , they will stay there this way fine , you wont lose bait , try it see if it helps

hezzy

 I had the generous pricks steal my crays but rebait the pots, go figure that one out lol

 Sea kem

 You would be surprised how many pots I see diving with ropes cut off - some of your pot thieves are likely skippers running over your ropes. 

I have been told the same thing by divers down here at falcon, a couple of diving mates have said there are a lot of cut off pots in 8 - 10 metres of water on the weed banks.
It seems that there are a lot of blind skippers running around in boats down this way. If you have lost good pots and have their position marked on a chart plotter it's worth while to get a diver mate to have a look around at the spot where the pot was put to see if it has been cut off. At least it was a good idea until Mr GW made his/her presence known.