North Australian FISH FINDER forums

Hi Everybody,

Just a quick one what bait does everyone use in there crab pots for bait? I assume you just drop the pots towards the mouth of the river or is there something special that i should be looking for?

Cheers.

I just use chicken skeletons or if you cant get them some fish frames work great. Never again will i try Lamb bones as we did not get one crab in the pots. Changed over to some fish frames and got 7 for the day on one pull. As for tuna oil it would work well i would guess but never done it myself. Have not seen the need to do it as i only want 1-2 crabs to eat fresh. Normally get that plus some with fish or chicken so dont see the point in going to the extra trouble.

Fish frames are the go. I prefer the barra frames, not as much scent as the tuna/mack frames but it seems to hold together longer and works well. Can buy them pretty cheap at Neptunes (I think its called) Winnellie/stuart park. Enough for 10 pots.

maxpower wrote:Fish frames are the go. I prefer the barra frames, not as much scent as the tuna/mack frames but it seems to hold together longer and works well. Can buy them pretty cheap at Neptunes (I think its called) Winnellie/stuart park. Enough for 10 pots.

I only use the fish heads. Easy to tie into the pots as you put the wire or cable tie throughthe eye socket. Takes the crabs a while to chew them out.

Any fish heads are good but I must say that trevally does particularily well for myself. It is firm meat and has plenty of oil and scent in it to get the crabs moving. Mac heads and tuna is also good as was mentioned but a bit softer and easier to chew out of the pot.

I think any fresh fish carcasses or chicken frames all work relatively the same. I think the trick to keep the buggas in the pot long enough so you can catch them . They will come in, steal your bait and then p..s off fairly quickly so those bait clips are s-it and those plastic bait holders are even worst.

In my retangular pots I have made up a 35cm X 25cm pouch out of that shade cloth material. I just cut up a meter piece by 25cm and fold it into 3 even parts. Then use metal clips to make an envelope and secure it to the pot. The crab will eventually rip open a hole to eat the bait but this will buy you more time. I have use old pillies which are good as well.

I spoke to a pro crabber the other day and he reckons shark chunks are the go.

Salt Water Arm Saturday. Used both chicken frames & fish heads. We had a 3 m croc that was working the pots with us. He seemed to prefer the chicken before the fish. We watched him down our chicken frame while we worked up towards him. Got to the baited pot prior to the one he had just worked. As we were pulling he rose head first 3m from the boat. Don't know if he knew we were there, or whether he was p...ed about his next feed being dragged to the surface. Lost two pots. One buck for the day.I'd be wary if doing the same in a tinny.

thanks very much guys, all good advice any idea where to get frames around kathy.

Also how many pots do you normally lose to the handbags?

If there's an Inghams there, you can get 10kg boxes for $15. They do sell frames individually when they've got them. This was the first time I'd lost pots for a while. Depending on where you go. We had a job on the Douglas River years ago (trying for cherabin) where we dropped pots in with nothing more than a chicken wing in each. We only had two remaining in the morning. They were mangled beyond recognition. This was landbased. If you are visiting, assume that there are crocs everywhere. Ask locals in the area if there are resident crocs that they are aware of. Just be bl..dy careful is my best advice.

Thanks smed,

Been around crocs for a while now, but you still find yourself getting alittle complacent at times. So still the best advice is "be bl..dy careful".

Shall do and hope im cooking up crabs in no time. Any good ideas on cooking.

Whispers.

My Mrs is the expert. She sometimes cleans them prior to cooking. Once they've been dropped into very salty boiling water, the 20minute timer doesn't start until the water begins boiling again. I gave one to a mate recently who didn't have a pot big enough to boil him in. He visited a neighbour who told him to nuke in the microwave on high for 2 minutes. He insists it was cooked, lovely etc. I'm a bit of a traditionalist so I haven't tried this method. I like them red which nuking doesn't do apparently.

best way has to be sweet chilli crab made it befor with nothing but sweet chilli sauce and garlic seperate the clawes and legs then clean and cut the body in half very nice and i also boil a few for the freezer in salted water and for 20 mins somtimes longer if its a big greenie but its allright for a special lunch

Bait (big mullet with 4-5 deep slashes and put in a bait bag) When (New moon and full moon ) where (around concentrated mangroves near the mouth of an estuary)
Have had good success with horse meat but mullet seems to work the best

I just use fish heads seem to last ages and gets me a feed of crabs usually

Jesus...not this subject again. Come to my place and fill yer boots with fish frames. Frozen as one solid lump but its nothing my chain saw wont fix.