Was the bay breamming with crabs ?

[Keflapod]

Looking at the weather pre(guess)diction on the 'net, I saw that both days were not so good.

A bit of wind, a bit of rain, a bit of thunderous storms.

So what will it be ?

My missus just wanted to know which day I was gonna fish so we can do the other day as family / chore day.

I love my missus - the expression she has heard was

"Happy husband, happy life" - so what if it doesn't rhyme - who said everything has to rhyme to sound believeable ?

So I chose Saturday to get away from the possible hordes of people that make my life a misery on the water.

I got up at 4:00am - the anemometers said 14-17kn WSW.

So I stayed on the net for an hour or so to see if the wind will abate.

I could still go fishing as my boat is capable but I hate being out there battling pre-dawn conditions - the point is to enjoy it, not battle it.

At 5:00am the wind dropped to 8kn so I made a move.

Down at the boatramp at 5:10am (love the proximity) I realised that there was NO-ONE there.

Part of me says "Woo-Hoo" no crowds to hassle me, but part of me said "You IDIOT, everyone KNOWS the weather's gonna be SHITE except you !"

Damn those voices in my head !

Being the rebel I am, I pushed the boat off the trailer with rebellious vigour.

I dragged the boat back onto the sandy beach next to the ramp, when I realised that some generous soul had thrown out a heap of large prawns onto the sand.

I picked up a couple of handfulls in the darkness and put them in the boat in case they work.

Well out to the first spot to burley up some bream in 5m of water in a spot that's in the middle of the bay.

In previous weeks some mates got some fish there so I thought I'd give it a crack.

After about 5 barely legal bream in an hour (all released) I decided the mother lode was not here.

Off to the oil wharf to see if there are any fish there.

The current was nicely pushing the burley to the wharf, but not a fishy soul stirred - not even a dog stirred.

I was scatching my head a bit as by now I should have had a few decent fish - but my fish box was akin to old mother hubboard's cupboard.

It was high time I deployed the crab trap apparatus - just like deadliest catch, only not so deadly - more like unlikeliest catch.

Off to Towra and 5 big red floats graced the area, in 1.5m of water along the weed / sand edge.

I had delusions of grandeur that I might actually catch one to eat with the missus....more on that later....and oh what a story - full of wonder, ie "I wonder why I bother" kind-of wonder...

So off to the old trusty bream grounds to snare me some fish.

After 8 stingrays in a row, I'm scratching my head again.

I must have nits with all this head-scratching...

Every spot I moved to was chockers full of rays.

Time for a change of plan - time to whip out the secret weapon.

It's so secret, not even I know about it....

If I did know it, I would have to kill MYSELF !

Well OK I do but I don't fish these areas much because the bream are big and I don't like taking the big fish because they are old tasteless fish, full of toxins and are the best breeders anyway.

But I was desperate...

Jeez I just called myself desperate.

Usually it's my mates that call me that and not when we are out fishing....

The water is less than a metre deep and has patches of thick weed.

I remembered that I had those peeled prawns so I whipped them out.

Then I got a bit of a shock.

No they weren't electric prawns, nor were they soft plastics in the shape of prawns - they were COOKED !

More head scratching....I think I was creating a bald spot from all this scratching.....

Being the eternal optimist, I thought I would give them a go...

I also had some pillies so I chucked them in.

Not 5 minutes later, the baitrunner goes off.....

The fish is peeling line as it raced through the weeds at right angles, line hissing as it cut through the water.

The fish ran around the boat and cosntantly tried to bury itseld the undergrowth.

As the line angled straight down, I could see the bronzed flanks of a big bream, still trying to bury itself in the weeds...

With one foul swoop the fish was netted and laid flat on the deck.

A typical fish from this area - at 42cm and a deep bronze colour it was magnificent to behold.

The hook was way down and the fish would not survive release.

Part of me was ecstatic but a part of me was sad.

Too many voices in my head at that time.....

So I said to the voices:

"Oy !, next fish I'm gonna strike early and try to mouth-hook it. If it's big and can survive release, then it goes back...."

All the voices agreed so the next 7 bites resulted in 2 more fish caught - 33cm and 35cm but I pulled the hooks on some horses...

That's OK because the fish I DID get were within my size limit... The others would have been too big anyway...

I ran out of prawns and pillies so I had to return to stingray city to redeploy the worms and nippers.

At 11:00am I decided to go check the crab traps - I was sick of cutting off sting rays anyway.

As I approached towra, I noticed a small tinny with 2 young blokes right on one of my traps.

I asked the guys if they had tangled up the trap in their prop.

I thought I heard one guy say yes and the other say no but they had the rope in their hands.

They said they were just looking and that there was a heap of stingrays around it.

They also said that it was in ankle deep water...

Now they seemed like nice 'beginner' type fishos so while I was very annoyed at them pulling my trap, I felt like they were genuine so I didn't let fly with expletives.

Then I noticed my bow was touching the sand so I had to reverse out of there quick smart.

I didn't realise that so much water had fallen with still 2 hours left until low tide.

I had to go back to the fishing and pull the traps later in the day.

Well the fishing wasn't great in the meantime but I managed a few thumper whiting and another nice bream (see comparison photo) and at 3:00pm I went over to see what had happened to the crab traps.

Some were upside down, one was virtually on the beach, one was in thick weed and another was 50m out of line with the others.

No crabs.

The traps have been soaking for 10 hours for nothing.

I told my mate about what happened with the crabs and he told me a few things which opened my gullible eyes.

It's obvious that things have been tampered with on a grand scale - well at least I got my traps back....but....

Next time, I'll be fishing with one eye on my rods and the other in my binoculars.

So if I end up with eyes like Marty Feldman, you'll know why....

Tony

[Jew Stalker]

There are some shifty types out there... I have a habit of trusting no-one that I do not know personally. If you don't look out for your best interests chances are someone will try to take advantage of you.

[Onajewagain]

Nice bream!!

I have the same trouble with trap lifters at Patonga. Once caught a pro lifting my trap, said he thought it was one of his. I quickly pointed out mine have white boys and red rope and my name and phone number, his have black boys and are unmarked. Needless to say took off fast!

[Pongrass18ft]

What a mission tony , those stingrays Then to see your crab nets being touched .

Theres one thing though you always find the fish you are chasing , Great looking breams.

Definately keep the binoculars handy , people pinching from others is low

Chris.

[tide'n'knots]

great report tony and some nice bream there. bad luck about the crab traps. some people would pinch the eye out of your head if they thought you weren't looking.

pete.

[pdelux]

Low lives!!

I know its hard work carrying around those damn crab traps and rope, setting them up.

I know the bitter dissapointment of pulling them up empty.

But this is just sad.

Next time you should take down their Registration etc and report them. Most likely nothing will come of it, but you never know.

[ddaniel]

mate good bream, its all across the board, people stealing crabs from others you have to fish near your run if you want crab, usually we take out a pair of nips with wire and tie them closed abit more tedious but worth it? all you have to worry about are people stealing your pots.