Whites run
I know its early but with the content on here turning to utter bullshit and complete crap maybe some fishing talk might lighten the mood? I have had my pot in since before the snapper season ended Was getting good bags of crays when my pot was left alone, hitting a spot i like from the past but this year someone was nearby they weren't only pulling my pot but actually stealing my bait can't believe it, but hey shit happens moved my pots still having trouble with them being tampered with but what do you do, by the way fishing same spots last 5yrs and only lost 1 pot before now but at the moment nor stealing my pot just the crays. But anyway all of a sudden crays have dropped off for me making me wonder, my experience with whites is that they always hit on a full moon you may get splurges on a big swell but the main run is around the full moon. Which to me says is it mid November or mid December? Any thoughts. I have also been catching plenty of double shells lately.
rather be fishing
Swompa
Posts: 3882
Date Joined: 14/10/12
Oh yes we know what happened
Oh yes we know what happened next!
Billcollector
Posts: 2080
Date Joined: 16/05/09
No just a legend uncle.
No just a legend uncle.
carnarvonite
Posts: 8667
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Ribbing
Bet he got a real ribbing from his family considering they are crayfishermen and so was he at one stage. Major stuff up somewhere.
TorquenFish
Posts: 321
Date Joined: 30/12/12
If it's getting swamped by
If it's getting swamped by swell you'd say the mooring line may have been too short.
davewillo
Posts: 2402
Date Joined: 08/09/16
Lecca lives down the road
Lecca lives down the road from me and I see him at the MAAC and the bottleshop (theme there?). Always says hi and seems like a good bloke.
PGFC member and lure tragic
TorquenFish
Posts: 321
Date Joined: 30/12/12
Cray wise, first pull
Cray wise, first pull yesterday of 6 pots after a 5 day soak in ~12m out from OR... 1 red and all baits barely touched. Reckon still a week off or so.
uncle
Posts: 9474
Date Joined: 10/02/07
Ate my first home grown seasons fig today
Is that a sign
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
sea-kem
Posts: 14973
Date Joined: 30/11/09
If you ever have too many
If you ever have too many Unc I can help with those ;)
Blue Castello, figs and Riesling mmmmmm
Love the West!
Sea goat
Posts: 965
Date Joined: 26/03/17
please stop....bad enough
please stop....bad enough that i cant catch any crays, now i have to dream about cheese and figs! :) love blue castello! got me thinking how it would go as a cray dressing....
sunshine
Posts: 2600
Date Joined: 03/03/09
In a word……Yum
Mouth watering
davewillo
Posts: 2402
Date Joined: 08/09/16
How's this then Andy.
How's this then Andy. Roasted burrata cheese (enough for it to be warm and oozy), figs, white anchovies and crusty bread all drizzled with EVOO, and then a lovely riesling!
PGFC member and lure tragic
sea-kem
Posts: 14973
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Damnnn you da man. We are
Damnnn you da man. We are lucky enough to have the cheese lab just down the road from us. They supply all the restaurants with burrata and Stracciatella.
Had some white anchovies and toast at Strange company in Fremantle. That place is awesome.
Love the West!
davewillo
Posts: 2402
Date Joined: 08/09/16
Lucky you Andy! People think
Lucky you Andy! People think white anchovies are like those horrible (to me) salted ones but the flavour is so much better.
PGFC member and lure tragic
uncle
Posts: 9474
Date Joined: 10/02/07
No it's not a sign
Compliance officer said he'd only seen 3 reds today, asked him if charter boats could still take 2 snaps for each fisho, just shrugged his shoulders
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
Sea goat
Posts: 965
Date Joined: 26/03/17
Only 2 reds today for me.
Only 2 reds today for me. Still very quiet, that was after a 4 day gap.
little johnny
Posts: 5359
Date Joined: 04/12/11
Bugger
So much for global warming
Swompa
Posts: 3882
Date Joined: 14/10/12
Folks got 1 kakka in
Folks got 1 kakka in Shoalwater from 2 pots.
carnarvonite
Posts: 8667
Date Joined: 24/07/07
1st Pull
First pull yesterday arvo, bait untouched and only an occy to show for our effort. Got 5 herring on the way in around the end of the breakwater trolling green straws for a bit of bait
Tawihiri
Posts: 18
Date Joined: 07/12/14
Gday blokes,I was wondering
Gday blokes,
I was wondering if you could elaborate on the flowering christmas trees and seaweed? what are their actual names? That stuff has always interested me as I do belive in putting the peices together. But I dont mind going a bit further seeing why that coincides with a whites run. An example would be that there is a chemical in the in the seaweed that is released into the water and triggers the shredding of the shell etc(just an example of how I think) I know thats probbaly not true.
I have varying success with the crays .Sometimes Im slowly filling the freezer with 2-3 of them and other times Im just donating another footrest to Poseiden.
I had starting keeping a log on captures with moon weather water temps bait water depth and location to try and get some sort of a pattern or cracking the code so to speak but Due to work and injury I never really had any decent info to go off. Set in the most likely area and check when I could and hope for the best.
And when asking around the info seems vague or the opposite of what I thought to be true.
Moon phase has always confused me as my thought would be on a period of a new moon because of all the critters that would want to eat them if they were walking around( Darker the better) but the talk on here seems to favour a full moon?
Pine pots v Jarra? Pine on the sand and Jarra on the reefs? I have ruled out plastic and those floding steel ones as I belive they put the crays off crawling into them.
I read on here that there was an " expert " that said they were going to be running early but why havent they yet? Water temps not as warm as he thought they would be?
Water Temps never really seemed to have mattered.
Bait - ive had varying success with Tuna ,Hoki,Nannygy,blue mackeral and stuff from what we have caught on previuos trips (Snapper Dhui etc) no one seems to get any better results of any great consequence
As part of the discussion what would be your perfect combo for a decent haul and why? If you were only allowed to fish for them for 2 weeks:
Moon Phase
Bait
Type of pot
Water depth
Water Temp
Barometric Pressure(If you think that counts)
tcarroll
Posts: 265
Date Joined: 17/12/13
No Expert
Certainly no expert, however these were my general observations and how I approached crays over the years for fairly consistent success out of Mandurah.
First year I got pots, I was so eager and jumped the gun way too early getting my pots in the water, pulling far to regularly for no results.... Not doing crays this year as now up north, however over the last 3 or 4 seasons, I would just follow a facebook page and note when people were starting to get full pots out from Rockingham/Garden Island area..... I would only then get the pots ready to take out as if you are a day or 2 late, it was never a drama, you'd still get a good couple of weeks of decent hauls.
We were putting our pots out on the back of the 5 fathom in roughly 19-20m of water, probably a mile north of the James Service marker on a north/south alignment.... Each year, we never had a specific spot but just returned to this general area and always did well.
These were the things that I noticed greatly affected our catch rate.....
1. If there was not much swell running, pine & jarrah pots both performed well.... If there had been swell, our heavier jarrah pots with weights definitley outperformed our lighter pots, however were a pain in the ass to pull and get over the side of the boat (even with a winch)
2. Most important thing that seemed to impact catch however, was making sure the pots were ON THE SAND but as close to the back of the reef as possible..... This was the hardest part. I was very diligent in making sure I would get this right and it was tricky if there was any swell or chop as it was hard to read the sounder in our Ali boat if it was bouncing around too much. Dad wasn't so diligent comparatively and it showed if he had set the pots or if I had set the pots. The difference in catch rate was BIG!
On the bait front, anecdotally my observation was that we typically did best with tuna heads, however if we couldn't get them, Hoki heads still seemed to perform well.
Never took any notice of anything else..... Basically if others were catching them, they were there, if others werent, we didn't bother.
Pete F
Posts: 310
Date Joined: 07/01/18
Haven't seen the sea weed
Haven't seen the sea weed pods come in in mass as yet, there is a difference between a trickle and when they pile up on the beach.
In general full moon less crays willing to walk far, so multiple day pulls and get the pots right into the reef holes. New moon you can pull every day and pots need not be so well placed but it never hurts to get them best as you can.
The other secret would be to understand where they are at times of the year. There is more than just the white run, also good times for reds in close, and jumbo's out deeper etc. I was not allowed to fish for lobster for many years because I had a commercial fish licence, so no expert. I have fished for about 15 years at Lancelin and took note of when and where I got good catches. I only put my pots in a few time per year now and mostly get great catches so quickly meet the possession limit and need to pull them out again.
Watch what the pro's are doing and you will learn a lot, when they are close or when they are set up on lumps etc.
Cheers
Swompa
Posts: 3882
Date Joined: 14/10/12
Heaps on the Kwinana horse
Heaps on the Kwinana horse beach.
little johnny
Posts: 5359
Date Joined: 04/12/11
Anyone do any good
Today?
sea-kem
Posts: 14973
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Should be all happening
Should be all happening imminently.
Love the West!
Messiah
Posts: 99
Date Joined: 19/05/13
Been saying that to myself
Been saying that to myself for 2 weeks!!
Maybe a week or 2 to go before mayhem breaks out though and the queues are 30 deep!
Mid Dec for pandemonium for mine... cold year, lots of rain and the water temps ain't there.
Brando
Posts: 83
Date Joined: 30/03/16
First pull of the
First pull of the season.
Dropped them in on Sunday.
Zero from six pots off Hillarys. Didnt see much action out there.
Brando
Brando
Walfootrot
Posts: 1385
Date Joined: 23/07/12
Still 2 weeks away, next
Still 2 weeks away, next full moon will be a big run.
Plus the fact that I am stuck at work for the next 2 weeks.....
More drum lines, kill the bloody sharks!
Reefsta
Posts: 311
Date Joined: 03/08/19
December OK
I'm only a beginner at this, with 3 seasons under my belt, but in the last 2 years my best days in shallower areas were in December. In 2020 it was on 11 December in 12m out from Carnac Island and last year it was on December 20th in 15m at FFB. Best pot had 14 size crays that day. This season I pulled my pots after a quick drop a couple of weeks ago that yeilded 2 good reds but no whites and now reckon, as Walfootrot says, the full moon on the 8th is my start date. If it is like last year that should give a couple of weeks in the shallows out to 15m. PLenty of time to lay in the Xmas feed.
little johnny
Posts: 5359
Date Joined: 04/12/11
Looking like 10 th till 15th
For run . So much for global warming. No swell nothing
Curndog
Posts: 449
Date Joined: 21/11/16
Does anyone know how long
Does anyone know how long full packed bait baskets of orange roughie will last in pots (assuming there are no crays) I haven't potted in last couple years and never used roughie. Don't have much time to go these days and by all reports not much action atm. Just wondering when I need to make a mercy dash to rebait. Pots been in for 5 days tommorow
cheers
sea-kem
Posts: 14973
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Lol roughy is the ultimate
Lol roughy is the ultimate Cray bait imo nice and oily, but don't last too long. Probably 7 days mate and get ready for the stank
Love the West!
Curndog
Posts: 449
Date Joined: 21/11/16
Oh great, so there smell
Oh great, so there smell matches there look haha
thanks mate
Brando
Posts: 83
Date Joined: 30/03/16
Curndog, we have been using
Curndog, we have been using Orange roughie for the last couple of years. They break down but we leave the bones in the bait basket and just pack new ones on top. Good bait but stinks to high heaven.
Had a box in my wifes car the other day for about 20 mins and she got inot it and rang me and said what stinks!
Brando
Brando
Curndog
Posts: 449
Date Joined: 21/11/16
Does anyone know how long
Does anyone know how long full packed bait baskets of orange roughie will last in pots (assuming there are no crays) I haven't potted in last couple years and never used roughie. Don't have much time to go these days and by all reports not much action atm. Just wondering when I need to make a mercy dash to rebait. Pots been in for 5 days tommorow
cheers
Happy dayz
Posts: 450
Date Joined: 29/04/18
They should be fine mate,
They should be fine mate, even if the bait was gone you will still catch crays as the bones seem to hold heaps of oil still , we tend to leave the bigger bones in the basket when we rebait , caught heaps of crays with just bones in the baskets , mine have been in the drink for 7 days now without us pulling them will have a look this wknd ,but hasn't been any point burning fuel yet, goodluck
Happy dayz
Curndog
Posts: 449
Date Joined: 21/11/16
Thanks for the replies
Thanks for the replies fellas. I will wait until next week to try rebait. Not looking forward to the smell. Better stay off the cans the night before or I might chuck haha
sea-kem
Posts: 14973
Date Joined: 30/11/09
I usually do every time we
I usually do every time we check lol. My mate has a pot with a PVC tube holder we call tubey. It's like the gates of hell when he opens that. I try to keep the boat upwind.
Love the West!
Curndog
Posts: 449
Date Joined: 21/11/16
Bones
Re baited pots today after 7 days. No a shred left just bones. Atleast I didn't have to experience the roughy smell. 9 crays from 4 pots
sea-kem
Posts: 14973
Date Joined: 30/11/09
That's good mate, and glad
That's good mate, and glad you're getting a few.
Love the West!
Curndog
Posts: 449
Date Joined: 21/11/16
Fuck that roughy
Fuck that roughy stiiiinks!!! I'll stick to hoki. 24 from mindarie today fellas
NORUN NOFUN
Posts: 1035
Date Joined: 15/08/11
0 from 6 pots out of Mindarie
0 from 6 pots out of Mindarie this morning and just a lone occy, very dirty water and a bit colder on the water temp this morning, thinking I may well leave for another few days and pull again with a bit of calm weather next week. Lots of weed and just looked like an unfishy day lol
carnarvonite
Posts: 8667
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Zilch
Zilch from the pots today so picked them up and carted them from about 1 1/2 miles off the breakwater to on the beach north of the old cut, tomorrow will find out if the move is successful
Pete F
Posts: 310
Date Joined: 07/01/18
Pros went from 10-20kg
Pros went from 10-20kg yesterday to 200kg this morning on the whites at Lancelin today.
Cheers
Swompa
Posts: 3882
Date Joined: 14/10/12
Folks got 1 from 2 in
Folks got 1 from 2 in shoalwater
Happy dayz
Posts: 450
Date Joined: 29/04/18
First pull for a 7 day soak
First pull for a 7 day soak got 8 behind GI , good size whites too,
Happy dayz
Westy74
Posts: 225
Date Joined: 23/11/13
7 size today OR.
7 size today OR.
still trying
Posts: 1051
Date Joined: 27/06/17
7 crays today from 4 pots 6
7 crays today from 4 pots 6 whites 1 week soak. Fresh crays for dinner
rather be fishing
uncle
Posts: 9474
Date Joined: 10/02/07
Starting
8 this morning with Eric and Gary
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
Westy74
Posts: 225
Date Joined: 23/11/13
9 from 2 this morning ..
9 from 2 this morning ..
Mitch88
Posts: 181
Date Joined: 23/09/14
0 from 4 but gentlemen's
0 from 4 but gentlemen's hours pull and 1 week soak.
uncle
Posts: 9474
Date Joined: 10/02/07
5 today
Occy ate 2 others, and a nice big occy in first pot
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
Westy74
Posts: 225
Date Joined: 23/11/13
12 from 2 today
12 from 2 today
J Mann
Posts: 47
Date Joined: 02/09/15
0 from 4 today
Not much action of Hillarys
Happy dayz
Posts: 450
Date Joined: 29/04/18
12 from 6 today, GI
12 from 6 today, GI
Happy dayz
Sea goat
Posts: 965
Date Joined: 26/03/17
Bugger... Ben out 4 weeks,
Bugger... Ben out 4 weeks, and just as they start I get the rona:/ serves me right for going to a concert! Hopefully will be overflowing with crays when I get back out!
little johnny
Posts: 5359
Date Joined: 04/12/11
Interesting results
From today . Weired
Brock O
Posts: 3224
Date Joined: 11/01/08
Hows the bloody wind....Rrrrr
Hows the bloody wind....Rrrrr
TorquenFish
Posts: 321
Date Joined: 30/12/12
Four size and a kacka from 6
Four size and a kacka from 6 pots out of OR today. All very soft shelled.
NORUN NOFUN
Posts: 1035
Date Joined: 15/08/11
4 from 4 pots out of Mindarie
4 from 4 pots out of Mindarie this morning, everyone I saw or spoke too were saying its pretty quiet
Markie
Posts: 2149
Date Joined: 06/08/10
6 from 2 pots. Gi
6 from 2 pots. Gi
Happy dayz
Posts: 450
Date Joined: 29/04/18
You did better than us today
You did better than us today mate 1 from 6
Happy dayz
Westy74
Posts: 225
Date Joined: 23/11/13
12 today at OR. Still a bit
12 today at OR. Still a bit hit and miss.
uncle
Posts: 9474
Date Joined: 10/02/07
Only
5 for us
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
Sea goat
Posts: 965
Date Joined: 26/03/17
I am imagining a very fat
I am imagining a very fat octopus sitting in my pot right now :/
Ericl
Posts: 463
Date Joined: 02/05/11
8 fat tentacles
8 fat tentacles skinned and ready for 16 December
Don't spend all your money on beer, boats, and fishing. Save some to spend foolishly
Sea goat
Posts: 965
Date Joined: 26/03/17
Hahaha! Ready for that 30cm
Hahaha! Ready for that 30cm dhue :) lol.
gotta admit... reckon an occy fattened up on cray meat would go ok on the bbq! Wouldn't actually be to bad an outcome!!
Ericl
Posts: 463
Date Joined: 02/05/11
Occy greek style, smashed
Occy greek style, smashed against the rocks 100 times and then on the barbie, accompanied by a glass of ouzo, Doesn't get much better than that
Don't spend all your money on beer, boats, and fishing. Save some to spend foolishly
Happy dayz
Posts: 450
Date Joined: 29/04/18
They might be on now , we
They might be on now , we got our 24 from GI this morning
Happy dayz
davewillo
Posts: 2402
Date Joined: 08/09/16
What depth mate?
What depth mate?
PGFC member and lure tragic
Happy dayz
Posts: 450
Date Joined: 29/04/18
10m mate
10m mate
Happy dayz
davewillo
Posts: 2402
Date Joined: 08/09/16
Thanks mate. Asking for a
Thanks mate. Asking for a friend literally - one that gives me crays!
PGFC member and lure tragic
little johnny
Posts: 5359
Date Joined: 04/12/11
Few people loosing pots
Locally. Pulled one this morning feelers only mmmm. At least pot still there. Another 2 people I know have had pots gone walk about.
TorquenFish
Posts: 321
Date Joined: 30/12/12
We got 7 from OR yesterday
We got 7 from OR yesterday but all out of one pot. Also had 4 x only feelers in another empty pot...
Sea goat
Posts: 965
Date Joined: 26/03/17
I've never really had only
I've never really had only feelers left before. Is that still likely an occy/seal? Or more likely another type of aquatic mammal??
TorquenFish
Posts: 321
Date Joined: 30/12/12
Highly doubt it'd be an occy
Highly doubt it'd be an occy (usually just find a shell), seal/sealion maybe but you'd think they'd just take the whole cray out the pot and eat it?
Sea goat
Posts: 965
Date Joined: 26/03/17
Yeah that was my thoughts.
Yeah that was my thoughts. Every time I have had an occy I have just had big empty shells..... almost like the occy is rubbing it in lol! Biggest cray I ever would have caught was just a head which I kid u not was the length of a rung on a ladder...I was livid.
whiskers would make me think someone had tried to grab them and pull them out. Not that I'm paranoid or anything! Lol!
TorquenFish
Posts: 321
Date Joined: 30/12/12
I'm suspect on that possible
I'm suspect on that possible scenario too... ahh well, we move on.
little johnny
Posts: 5359
Date Joined: 04/12/11
It happens
Very very slow start to season . Moon almost gone. Hot weather all next week
tcarroll
Posts: 265
Date Joined: 17/12/13
Cray Thiefs
Interested to know how many people are confident that they have had their pots pulled before by cray thiefs?
I ask as in the 5 or 6 years that I did crays out of Mandurah, I honestly don't think our pots were ever pulled by anybody else, even when our pots were empty of both crays and bait..... Having said this, I think we lost 2 pots over these years.
I know it depends on the conditions, but I reckon on 90% of mornings that we pulled pots, by the time we got the pot to the boat and crays out etc, we usually would have drifted 50 odd metres from the pots original location, and in a smaller Ali boat, we were more selective about the days that we pulled so usually not in strong winds.
We marked our pots every time we set them, mainly because the back of the 5 looks like a driving range in cray season, and every time we pulled them, the pots would pretty well be right on the waypoints, sometimes full of crays, sometimes empty. I reckon the only thing that would ever make me suspect foul play is finding my pots a reasonable distance away from the location that I set them as I suspect cray thiefs aren't going to the trouble of re-setting them where they pulled them.
I certainly know that it happens and probably more prevelant in some areas than others, but don't suspect that it is anywhere near as common as you would read about on facebook pages and the like when people pull empty pots.... It seems like the go to reason is "somebody pulled my pots".
Curndog
Posts: 449
Date Joined: 21/11/16
I reckon it happenes but not
I reckon it happenes but not as often as ppl think. No crays or pot a bit of it's marked and everyone's like "my pots have been pulled!"
Sea goat
Posts: 965
Date Joined: 26/03/17
Only Time Ive been
Only Time Ive been suspicious is when they have been way off the mark. Pretty pedantic with marking them, but then again someone could have got tangled and drifted while sorting it out? Given how close people drop their Potts it wouldn't surprise me. Could have got caught around someone's leg while they were real baiting there's etc. Had 2 Potts go missing over last 4 seasons. Whether prop, or whatever who knows. Lots of possible reasons.
uncle
Posts: 9474
Date Joined: 10/02/07
18 keepers today
Skipper lost a pot though
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
little johnny
Posts: 5359
Date Joined: 04/12/11
Nice
.
Sea goat
Posts: 965
Date Joined: 26/03/17
Nice surprise today, took
Nice surprise today, took the Ss covid out for a much needed rebait. Mate who can with me for covid at the same time, 1 week ago, so figured we would be fine. Masked up etc and didn't contact anyone else, was expecting nothing, but ended up with 19 from the 4 potts. Only 1 undersize, 2 went back obviously. Was stoked to have our bag!
funnily enough the last 2 pots, which weren't baited since Tuesday before last had 7 and 8 respectively, nothing but bones in the basket. Crays must have just been looking for somewhere to hang out!
Messiah
Posts: 99
Date Joined: 19/05/13
The giveaway is when they
The giveaway is when they leave the gate open after tipping my crays out.... Had it happen easily 5 or 6 times last year.
Bodgy 79
Posts: 286
Date Joined: 04/08/22
Mate of mine had 2 empty
Mate of mine had 2 empty stubbies left in a pot of Bunbury few years back,no crays though
little johnny
Posts: 5359
Date Joined: 04/12/11
Rude
6 pack the go . Some pirates do right thing . Long story but funny ,another day
TorquenFish
Posts: 321
Date Joined: 30/12/12
I reckon I've had 1 of 6
I reckon I've had 1 of 6 pulled on average once a season. Not the end of the world. Just love with it an move on.
Pots are usually out there for 60 days so I reckon that's not too bad.
uncle
Posts: 9474
Date Joined: 10/02/07
8 today
1 night soak
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
still trying
Posts: 1051
Date Joined: 27/06/17
Bag out today but 1 week
Bag out today but 1 week soak 4 pots 3 license. Pots on the reef much bigger numbers than on sand. See how we go tomorrow put pots back much closer to reef if not on it.
rather be fishing