Collecting mussels for bait

[sebcox]

After opening up a 45cm bream last night I found a belly absolutely chockers with mussel shells.

With pickers being a pest in my spot using dead/strip baits/prawns etc and poddy mullets just getting munched by little tailor im now looking to find out how to overcome that issue and get a bait out there that the big bream obviously love and (hopefully) will be left alone by whiting/little snapper/little bream etc.

Im open to any suggestions on where I can go to collect a few for each session (and where it is/isnt legal to do so). I live just up the road from tom uglys bridge so anywhere along the banks of georges river/port hacking. If it puts me in the potential of fish like I got last night I may even go to the extent of chucking on a wetsuit and snorkel to go grab a few.

Also I know there are quite a few of the little crabs you normally see around oysters and in mud there. They are very quick to hide but when I luck out and get bigger ones (4cm wide) they get hit hard! Im normally lucky to find 1 in half an hour so I dont normally look for them too long since they only last about 2 minutes in the water but does anyone have any tips on how I might be able to make it a little more productive? I cant imagine it being legal to pump them out of their holes in the mud with a yabbie pump?

For those that didnt see the report, the photo below is of all the shells.

[Guest 4myson]

I pulled up once at Tom uglys Piont by boat which is on the North side of the bridge . I had to run up to the bait shop as we had run out of bait , As I jumped out of the boat into the shallows I sunk down into the mud but I could feel shells under my feet . I reached down & pulled up handfuls of mussels & they were everywhere along the muddy shoreline just had to use your feet to feel them out . I don't know what the rules are for collecting them from there or their bag limits . Hope this helps & congrats on that MONSTER bream !

[stevie g]

Has anyone used the mussells you get in the bucket from woolies?

[Yowie]

When you remove the mussel from it's shell, the meat is very soft, similar to an oyster, and easily removed by pickers. Night time might have less pickers about to steal your baits.

The small black crabs you mentioned are fairly tough for the pickers to remove, you need to let the bream have a little bit of time to chew on and swallow the crab.

Some of the older fishos use a strip of skirt steak, or other cheap steak, marinated for a while in such things as a little bit of garlic or soft smelly cheese. Steak is harder for the pickers to remove.

[night_rider]

I can vouch for the Garlic and Parmesan marinade.. used it on some old thigh chicken fillets I had and caught a fair few decent bream out of Narrabeen Lagoon.. Although the smell was off putting