Rotto dive

Tough day in the office.  Boss said go get some crays, so I dragged my feet and gathered the required gear and together with Till, headed off to Rotto for a couple of dives.  It was a tad lumpy going over, but once there, the water was slick as!  At one stage the anchor rope was just hanging straight down.

 Learnt a couple of things.  The sized males and non setose females were all in deeper water, the setose and berried females (all big) were in the shallows.

First dive, pulled 8 and only one was setose, all were size.  Second dive, we pulled 10 between us, 7 were setose or had berries so they were let off straight away.  Saw several more that were clearly carry berries, so they were left alone.

We also some how lost a cray from the live well, don't ask me how.  Still scratching my head.

 

 


Faulkner Family's picture

Posts: 18051

Date Joined: 11/03/08

nice feed there guys, hope

Mon, 2009-11-23 21:14

nice feed there guys, hope you dont find the missing cray in a few days. dont know where the lumpy water was , flat as at 10 am and didnt change till around 1. 

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RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together

Lucky Tim's picture

Posts: 2536

Date Joined: 28/11/07

certainly sounds like the

Mon, 2009-11-23 21:22

certainly sounds like the crays have come on in the last few days. Might try to sneak out for a quick dip before I fly out on Thursday. Shame about the mystery cray but at least you still came home with a feed.

alfred's picture

Posts: 3097

Date Joined: 12/01/07

I actually think they are

Mon, 2009-11-23 21:27

I actually think they are starting their walk, saw heaps of empty shells.

SamC's picture

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Date Joined: 30/08/06

Nice lads!

Mon, 2009-11-23 21:23

Sooo keen to get out there it's ridiculous..

Head out for a jig at all Alfred?

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Cheers,

Sam

alfred's picture

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Date Joined: 12/01/07

Not while the crays are

Mon, 2009-11-23 21:26

Not while the crays are about!  Will likely do very little fishing again this season and spend more time diving - that is until I know the dollies are on the bite!

alfred's picture

Posts: 3097

Date Joined: 12/01/07

We were on the water a

Mon, 2009-11-23 21:23

We were on the water a couple of hours earlier launched at OR and headed into the win, but by 9.30am it was clam as.

Having said that we were still cruising at 22 knots there and 29 back.

wayneleech's picture

Posts: 362

Date Joined: 27/06/08

yeah we saw heaps of empty

Mon, 2009-11-23 21:40

yeah we saw heaps of empty shells aswell - this was diving out from mindarie...

most of the crays we got were really soft too....

Frank F's picture

Posts: 481

Date Joined: 17/03/09

Nice feed boys.Nice for

Mon, 2009-11-23 21:55

Nice feed boys.

Nice for some, work for others Frown

flangies's picture

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Date Joined: 11/05/08

Good catch guys :) beats my

Mon, 2009-11-23 22:09

Good catch guys :) beats my mi goreng for sure 

Excuse my ignorance, but what does setose mean?

 

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Date Joined: 12/07/09

good crays mate cheers danno

Mon, 2009-11-23 22:25

good crays mate

cheers danno

wopjrb's picture

Posts: 1407

Date Joined: 05/03/09

sperm spot on the cray

Mon, 2009-11-23 22:27

its a black spot under the tail means the crays got sperm and is breeding

Posts: 9358

Date Joined: 21/02/08

Setose just means that the

Tue, 2009-11-24 06:52

Setose just means that the forked endpodites are hairy.

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Paul G's picture

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Date Joined: 12/12/07

Well done Alfred must get

Tue, 2009-11-24 05:37

Well done Alfred must get out there with you one day.

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Active Gyp-Rok solutions ,Residential  and commercial ceilings and walls

alfred's picture

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Date Joined: 12/01/07

Hey Paul, tanks are in for

Tue, 2009-11-24 07:03

Hey Paul, tanks are in for hydro atm, but when they are out, we can head over. Jessie will love diving there.  Lots more fish then where we normally dive.  There are some huge Harlis there and they know it's off season!

Posts: 9358

Date Joined: 21/02/08

Hmm not sure what happened

Tue, 2009-11-24 07:39

Hmm not sure what happened to my post, it appears to have blown up.

Yeah lots more fish than diving out of Perth. We saw stacks of big harlies, a queenie close enough to just about lick, nosy blue grouper, schools of rat YTKs, skippy, pilot fish, buffs and of course wrasse. Also saw some ginormous port jacksons, a few rays and a wobby.

On the shallower dive I looped 5 consecutive red berried females and just gave up, looking for whites instead. 

I forgot my catch bag, damn its hard to loop a cray when you have one in your hand already. I did find an dive torch down though, the batteries were knackered.

Ta again for the dive Alfred!

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Gully's picture

Posts: 963

Date Joined: 04/10/05

Nice work fellas - only wish

Tue, 2009-11-24 08:44

Nice work fellas - only wish I was down that way to go do that myself. Bloody work

Good to see lots of breeders around also

Pete D's picture

Posts: 1681

Date Joined: 07/06/07

Nice crays lads - when is

Tue, 2009-11-24 11:53

Nice crays lads - when is the BBQ?

 

Cheers Pete

alfred's picture

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Date Joined: 12/01/07

Opps! 

Tue, 2009-11-24 13:12

Opps! 

Posts: 9358

Date Joined: 21/02/08

the recent household menu

Tue, 2009-11-24 18:57

Day before yesterday;

Lobster salad with pink-eye potatoes, beans and lemon relish

tonite; Lobster with vegetables and tarragon oil

& tomorrow; Grilled lobster with mustard and burnt butter.

I might get sick of them soon, but I have had 6 months off =)

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