The Cleveland Pro Crabber strikes again!

[ThePinkPanther]

This low life guy is becoming well known locally for his enthusiasm in cutting off the floats on Boaties crab pots or simply swiping the whole lot!

I put out my 8 pots with a mate, went back an hour later to find 3 off them missing! Purely by luck, I saw a piece of rope just below the surface, managed to retrieve it and a nice clean knife cut straight through it!

Nothing like a prop cutting it that is usually frayed and tangled!

The 3 pots were about 50 metres from some of the pro’s pots and I am assuming he slid by with a knife and chopped them off! Can’t prove it of course but a lot of the local Boaties are having the same problems!

Sadly, a few of “our” guys do raid the pro’s pots so nowadays you have to sit with them like a mother hen to prevent theft of the crabs or all the gear!

I’ e got 8 of the foldup type pot and bought 8 smallish padlocks so I can lock each one against the mongrels who want to nick my crabs!

So so far so good!

[Triple]

Do you use lead weights on the rope?

[Noelm]

Padlocks won't stop getting the traps cut off or stolen.

[Marlin_Mike]

Hence why I gave up crabbing a few years ago. Too many people out there want to take what is not theirs.

[tropicrows]

Its not always what you think.
I was out whiting fishing last week in the middle of the bay and we were using two crab pot floats as a reference point. About an hrs after the tide had changed and started running, one of these pots had moved north by a few hundred meters all by itself. I can guess who the owner blamed on his return. Light pots or pots without enough rope often go walkabout by themselves. Having pots cut open or floats cut off is another matter.

Sent from my [device_name] using Ausfish mobile app

[ThePinkPanther]

Do you use lead weights on the rope?

I’ve got the heavy duty pots with the much thicker steel rings. I often put them in pretty deep water up to 10 metres and never actually lost one due currents, tides - touch wood!

[ThePinkPanther]

Hence why I gave up crabbing a few years ago. Too many people out there want to take what is not theirs.

Sadly I’m paranoid now! My carefree crabbin’ days are over! I leave my pots out overnight near Point X at Cleveland on Moreton Bay and I’m reasonably sure they get ratted although I’ve never lost any and always enough Sandies for a good feed!

[ThePinkPanther]

Padlocks won't stop getting the traps cut off or stolen.

True! I’m just trying to put out as many disincentives as I can!

[tug_tellum]

Only problem I can see with this is,if they want to get in to steal your catch,they will slice your net and leave you with a repair job.
I dont know why people just cant leave shit alone that doesnt belong to them.
tug

[TheRealAndy]

I have seen a heap of pots floating away in the recent tides. Also given the number of pots in main channels I am not surprised that some have been chopped off.

In the last 5 years, the increase in the number of pots in Moreton Bay has grown a huge amount. Some days it makes the water almost not safely navigable.

They may be a rogue pro out there, but I reckon most post are lost due to use error and piss poor placement.

[southenblack]

I had this problem down the pine one weeked had pots out at nite i seen to guys flying around on a jet ski could hardly see them an i seen then pull up to one of my pots when i seen it i took of towards them but my boat was no match to the jet ski. I would have love to of got hold of the dick heads.

[jackson4300]

Plenty of pots floating down the channels at the broadwater on Saturday and seen a couple heading out the mouth of the Brisbane river a couple weeks ago.

[Mr__Bean]

We had a pro crabber move into a house down the street a few years ago, he only stayed a couple of seasons but he did tell me that he had given up on using floats.

he had pots paired with a rope between them and would waypoint where he dropped them, then later dragged for the line with a grapple.

not right but that is how he did it in the Pine River, and he said he did very well there.

[masterbaiters]

The old hiv needles pokin out of tha rope gets em everytime...never touch another mans pots...thats sink ya boat shit...crabs are the easiest too catch an setting the pots and checkin em are the only things that make it enjoyable. If i catch the prick that touches my pots this time it wont be worth there time....an they probably wont like the sinking either