Blue Swimmer Crabs and Garfish in Brisbane Water

[whiskey299]

I have started exploring Brisbane Water recently and I'm pretty impressed with the fishing so far. Catching blue swimmer crabs on handline has been a great learning experience for me. Getting them to the surface is only half the issue, the toughest part is netting the buggers before they let go. 

 

I have been trialling the use of handline vs fishing rod and I've found the fishing rod is much more manageable as you can gently steer the crab upstream and position the net downstream before scooping them up. Using the handline it's much more difficult to do this and even more challenging when the current pushes the crab under the kayak and you just don't have arm length which the rod provides. Using the rod does have draw backs as I've lost a few rigs when the braid has wrapped around the tip and I forget to check and casted the bait away. The rig I've been using a non running sinker rig with a 6/0 hook and a whole yakka wrapped in netting. If you don't wrap yakka in a net it gets smashed by pickers before the crabs get to it. 

 

I was told that garfish could be caught throughout the system. So one day I decided to target them and I must say they are fun to catch. I used plain flour mixed with water for bait and a floating rig, 4lb Sunline FC rock leader and the smallest hook in my tackle box. You don't need much flour approx 2-3 table spoons, I prefer this over bread as you can make this as needed and it's just more practical than bringing a loaf of bread when space is limited on the kayak.

 

The only downside of fishing Brisbane Water for me is the drive. It takes me an hour one way and I cover over 140km for the return trip. Might have to start planning retirement up the Central Coast way! Anyway if you've read this far kudos to you. If any of you readers have any tips on targeting other species I am all ears.

Edited February 19 by whiskey299

[LuckyFil]

Wow that’s quite a haul of blue swimmers!

I get the occasional one down near Hardys Bay and Pretty Beach but nothing like that number!

[XD351]

Great report and Epic haul of crabs and garies mate !

Edited February 19 by XD351

[kantong]

great haul! how do you get those crabs to stay still for the photos? Dough is such a great idea, I must try that!

[whiskey299]

2 hours ago, LuckyFil said:

Wow that’s quite a haul of blue swimmers!

I get the occasional one down near Hardys Bay and Pretty Beach but nothing like that number!

Whole family likes to eat them especially the wife. 

 

2 hours ago, XD351 said:

Great report and Epic haul of crabs and garies mate !

Thanks will be using some gars to batter and we're looking forward to it.

1 hour ago, kantong said:

great haul! how do you get those crabs to stay still for the photos? Dough is such a great idea, I must try that!

I carry a 5kg bag of ice in the esky so they go straight in and get put to sleep. 

[Toadmaster]

Thats a great haul of crabs, and gars! Both great eating - what a top notch feed! Especially impressed with catching them all in a yak. Speaking from my own limited yakking experience, it can be a bit hair raising having a cranky crab scuttling around between your legs and trying to avoid being nipped in sensitive areas!

[blaxland]

I dream of a catch like that what an inspiration , will try and give it a go soon hopefully the J curve will kick in and I get afew

[Yowie]

Nice bag of crabs. Also a nice bag of river gars.

How do you prepare the gars? I fillet them, use a long bladed knife to remove the rib bones, and usually bread crumb and pan fry (only for a short time)

[bessell1955]

That is a great crabbing method. I will have to give it a try.  

[noelm]

11 hours ago, Yowie said:

Nice bag of crabs. Also a nice bag of river gars.

How do you prepare the gars? I fillet them, use a long bladed knife to remove the rib bones, and usually bread crumb and pan fry (only for a short time)

I do similar, Lake Illawarra has tons of big Garfish (River Gars) and it is fiddly to do them, but well worth it, sometimes I just head and gut them, roll in flour and cook ‘till crispy then just “pick” at them.

[Larkin]

Well done Brad - nice haul of crabs and gars. My mate also goes in his kayak for gars, said it’s easy cause it doesn’t scare them. Gets em in one of the bays near maroubra.

[whiskey299]

13 hours ago, Yowie said:

Nice bag of crabs. Also a nice bag of river gars.

How do you prepare the gars? I fillet them, use a long bladed knife to remove the rib bones, and usually bread crumb and pan fry (only for a short time)

Just added some more photos how we ate them last night. It's my first time eating them so I did what seems to be the most common way to eat them, butterfly, remove bones and then panko bread crumbs. It's a fantastic eating fish, flesh is not dry, a subtle sweetness. The family loved it, now the dilemma will be, do I keep more for kingfish bait or feed the family!

 

16 hours ago, Toadmaster said:

Thats a great haul of crabs, and gars! Both great eating - what a top notch feed! Especially impressed with catching them all in a yak. Speaking from my own limited yakking experience, it can be a bit hair raising having a cranky crab scuttling around between your legs and trying to avoid being nipped in sensitive areas!

I used to dumped them into the kayak and them tie them up which can be eventful, I now carry a 5kg bag of ice and they go straight from the net into the esky, but before I do that I do a quick squeeze test while it's in the net. I'm checking if the crab has malted recently. If you've ever had one that has recently, it's tasteless, has no meat and absolutely not worth keeping, doesn't matter how big it is. So any "soft" crabs or even slightly soft get returned. BTW I've had to deal with a big mud crab last year in the yak, and that was definitely scary. I had to give it some of my pliers and scissors to latch onto so I could safely grab it.

 

16 hours ago, blaxland said:

I dream of a catch like that what an inspiration , will try and give it a go soon hopefully the J curve will kick in and I get afew

Good luck!

 

1 hour ago, Larkin said:

Well done Brad - nice haul of crabs and gars. My mate also goes in his kayak for gars, said it’s easy cause it doesn’t scare them. Gets em in one of the bays near maroubra.

Thanks Chris. Now that I've had a taste of gars I'll be targeting them more often.

Edited February 19 by whiskey299

[jenno64]

Awesome post and catch, great to see your crab hunt was successful and the gars when butterflied are a prime feed, nice work on the knife work!

[Toadmaster]

Sounds like you have a well oiled routine to get them safely into the esky. I was using witches hats in Botany Bay so had to disentangle them first - not so easy in a kayak. They are pretty angry fresh out of the water, so I found it best give them a couple of minutes to calm the farm. The muddy would have been 'interesting' to deal with. The kayaks with a raised seat would definitely be an advantage there!