Hi all, even though the tides were not right - high at about 9.30ish (for me – usual thing, only got Wed and Thurs off between 9am & 2pm), I had a hankering to do some crabbing at Rapid Creek yesterday.

Asked my neighbor if he wanted to come along, so off we head and park near the rotunda (ie., Brinkin side). Thought I’d like to explore a bit upstream from there, so with pots (only 3 thank goodness), buckets, bait, drinks etc., we start pushing through the mangroves. There was a few paths to start with, but after 10 minutes of pushing through it was obvious that without gumboots on (and even then doubtful) that with the recent high tide that we were just going to get covered in mud to the knees and even then might not reach the bank and be able to drop the pots in because of the mangrove roots….. Decided to bugout and head back the way we had come. Took the easy way and dropped the pots in near the rotunda – probably close to 9.30 by this stage.

Three quarters of an hour later we pulled the pots. First pot nada, second pot nada; oh no, not another one of those days!, but on the third pot there were 5 crabs with one nice legal female – the other four were too small. Hmm, this is looking promising. Shook them out, and using my hand dandy crab grabbers that I got off Shane Doevy on Monday (my crab handling skills are not the greatest, and I’m sick of getting nipped!) put the little ones back, grabbed the larger one, inexpertly tied her up, and after a few repairs to the bait pouch, chucked the pot back out.



Unfortunately, despite keeping the pots in for another few hours, we only got another 4 crabs, none keepers, so I deemed it not worthy of keeping the larger female (went nearly 17 cm) – rather, I was too lazy to dirty the pot and cleanup after myself for only 1 crab, and back into the creek she went.

Was a very pleasant morning though, sitting under the shade on yet another lovely dry season day, yakking with my neighbor, checking the pots every so often checking out the wildlife nearby etc. Obviously crabbing from a tinny would be far easier (except I don’t have one yet), but to me there is something about pushing through the mangroves, the mud, scrabbling up and down the rocks on the banks and the anticipation just before the pot is lifted as to whether you’ve got a decent (or any crabs) that is a heck of a lot of fun – maybe a reminder of being a kid again poking around in a mangrove lined creek (in a place/country where there were no crocs) with a tiny net and jar ‘fishing’ and catching tiny prawns and fish, taking them home and proudly showing them to mum & dad, covered in mud from top to bottom!

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Good work mate, I should get off my butt and have a look there one day

good effort. should have good karma next time you go there.

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Weren't tempted to cast a line? Saw a nice fish cruise past that Rotunda on Monday as I stopped by while cycling for a drink break.

Those 'Crab Nabbers' look awesome would be handy on a few of the extremely angry buggers.

Agree with you there, ordered one today. Don't want a repeat of an episode where my brother had a claw latch onto his finger. ... He must have been in agony ... and I was trying not to laugh.

Yes the wildlife is worth looking at and the crab nabbers are excellent.

About 6 yrs ago we use to drag the 10 foot down to red bridge in Millner on a shopping trolley we cut up and head on down to croc slide (behind the uni) use to clean up on crabs. Some nice rockbars around too. Got a few jacks n the occasional barra. Great fun for young fellas. Pitty kids nowadays would rather play Xbox. Don't know what there missing out on
Such a nice place so close to everyone's home