North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

So there I was, just finished work and b-lined it straight to the low level crossing on the Katherine river to check my Cherabin pots. It had just turned 10pm when I arrived, with torch and bucket in hand I made my way down to where I had placed my pots the previous day. Why may you ask was I checking my pots at such a late hour on the river, with the good chance of crocs being present???? Well the answer my friends is I've got trip to the daly coming up and wanted to prepare myself by pre-catching bait so we could hit the ground running or in this case, hit the river motoring. I also got the sh!ts with people pulling my pots during the day while I was at work, taking the catch as their own and leaving the pots up on the bank or worse still, leaving them opened and dropping them back in. Anyway back to the story, so there I am again making my way through the low level crossing parking area, down the path and along the river to where my pots lay awaiting. Scanning the river first with the torch, searching for the tell tail red glow of croc eyes, I then proceeded down with the all clear. The first pot yielded a nice little Cherabin, thank you very much. The next few pots weren't so fruitful but at least they appeared undisturbed. My last pots were 500 meters down river, so still in my camms and combat boots I trudged through the sand and rocks, over and through trees and scrub until I finally arrived, the things we do for a fish. Unlike the first lot log of pots, the first one had nothing, I came up on my last pot and pointed the torch into the pot to confirm it's location. Upon doing so I saw two great big red googly eyes looking back at me from within the pot. With anticipation I pulled the pot, I couldn't see anything just yet but could hear the common flip flapping of a Cherabin caught in a pot, however this one seemed heavier. With the pot grounded I peered into the pot and staring back at us was one of, if not, the biggest Cherabin I've caught in the Katherine river to date. The crustacean was huge, monolithic in stature. I grabbed it by the staunches and placed into my bucket, with my pot set back in the river I made my way home. Only when I arrived home and into some proper light was I able to appreciate the true size of this thing, I looked at it and thought for a moment, I'm going to need a two hook rig there buddy and promptly put him in my fish tank until the weekend.
Sorry Skip, this ones bait....

You just want to hope now a barra grabs it and not some dirty stinking Powertail

Cherabinosaurus Rex!

Shark bait!

Lats wrote:You just want to hope now a barra grabs it and not some dirty stinking Powertail

I'll float him out under a balloon over some snags, dirty stink'n powertails.

Roper

ronje wrote:Roper

That's huge! I travelled 10 mins down the road for mine...

Nothing worse than pulling in your pots while looking at 10 burnt twigs & 4 red cherabin shells still smoking only 6 feet away.

Go for an explore further along shadforth rd there are a few tracks down to the river there.

That will look good with some garlic and chilli when I get a hold of it!!!

Couple more. These are all different cherabin.

Miss Cherabin - 2008

What's the best way to catch a big cherabin? Send down a smaller one as bait.

ronje wrote:Couple more. These are all different cherabin.

Miss Cherabin - 2008

What's the best way to catch a big cherabin? Send down a smaller one as bait.

They are huge!!! I love the quote, these are all different Cherabin...hahahaha

See Skip, live Cherabin work for everything!!!

U got yr parcel yet Rob?

They can grow to a fair size. Pretty rare to get them in opera house pots though as the really big ones simply don't fit. heres a couple beside a 1 litre rum bottle.

Just doing some research on cherabin fellas.... I'm heading to Darwin from the ACT to visit my son who lives up there. Just a couple of basic questions I'm hoping you can steer me in the right direction... appreciate any advice..

What's some good baits for cherabin? (I'll probably try for them first on my way up... at Katherine)

Do cherabin like brackish water or just fresh? (Excuse my ignorance.... don't know if the water in Katherine is still brackish or fresh)..

Is there anywhere around Darwin for cherabin.... or is it just mud crab and snapping handbag territory?

Many thanks

Robbo

Any flesh baits work, some people use chook pellets in a container. Small baits perhaps less likely to attract crocs.

We used to find them at night in the shallows with a torch, their eyes shine red.

They live in brackish and fresh but are mainly caught in the fresh, they go downstream to brackish water when breeding, not sure if they are catchable on bait during the migration.

I lived in Katherine for a while, the river was fun but there are more big crocs now, have to be careful.