Painter crayfish

[Big_O]

Got these two out with some locals on Elcho Island. We walked out on a reef on low tide at midnight with a 1/4 moon using a torch and fishing spear. Every other splash I heard had the old ring twitching.

[bondy99]

Do you have a picture to show

[dfox]

Bondy, this post is 7-8 years old, the pic would have been long gone with the sever update in 05 ... i'll put a pic of a painted cray up ;) ... foxy

[bondy99]

Very nice dfox,

How did you end up cooking this one? Anything special or just boil up in seawater with a bit of extra salt?

Did you have to dive deep or shallow? I'm keen to find a feed but not on my own and I'm also weary of noahs. I've had too many close encounters in my youth years.

Peter

[nickstock]

Bondy, this post is 7-8 years old, the pic would have been long gone with the sever update in 05 ... i'll put a pic of a painted cray up ;) ... foxy

That is not a painted cray Foxy..............thats a horse!!!!!!!;D What a ripper mate

Cheers,

Nick

[kokomo]

Yeah absolute ripper...

I know it was taken 8years ago etc..


but for all those looking to go spearing now you cant use a torch to spearfish in NSW or QLD ... I think...

[dfox]

Very nice dfox,

How did you end up cooking this one? Anything special or just boil up in seawater with a bit of extra salt?

Did you have to dive deep or shallow? I'm keen to find a feed but not on my own and I'm also weary of noahs. I've had too many close encounters in my youth years.

Peter

Peter , when it comes to cooking crays and especially big ones i never boil them. If you boil them like a mud crab they end up like rubber with no flavour.
I usually bake them, just split them in half leave the shell on and cook them flesh side up, add a bit of butter, ginger, lemon juice and grated cheese.
I believe you can steam them or make them into a mornay .
I usually dive in about 3-5 meters of water to get them, isolated bommies are the best places to find them ... foxy

[dfox]

They do grow big ... foxy

[Luke G]

How'd you ge getting the big one out of its hole?

[lippa]

can you put an urban myth to bed for me foxy?
i have heard of blokes catching painted crays on a line bottom bashing ect.
now, its always been someone's mate, and never the bloke telling the story who has actually caught one by line. i think it may actually be feasible though, shallow water, and an awesome foul hook.
have you heard or seen a cray caught by line?

cheers

lippa

[boney-leg]

I've seen it done. Hook was under the head where it joins the body. He was pulling the line up to check his bait. Not sure why the cray didn't try to swim and if I hadn't seen it I wouldn't believe it either :P

[dfox]

can you put an urban myth to bed for me foxy?
i have heard of blokes catching painted crays on a line bottom bashing ect.
now, its always been someone's mate, and never the bloke telling the story who has actually caught one by line. i think it may actually be feasible though, shallow water, and an awesome foul hook.
have you heard or seen a cray caught by line?

cheers

lippa

Its happened to me twice, both times around shallow tempest. Ive seen rock fisherman off both double island and waddy point catch one on line as well.
I know that our tropical crays arent caught in baited pots, so whether it was just luck that they tangled in the line or took an interest in the bait, im not really sure.
One of the ones i caught was tangled in the line and the other was jagged by the hook ... foxy

[dfox]

How'd you ge getting the big one out of its hole?

As you might know they look a lot bigger under water, sure is a good fight ...

[catfishkid]

A mate of mine has caught two on a fishing line inside moreton bay.I am sworn to secrecy about the location.I saw one so cant argue.

Cheers Craig

[disorderly]

Some monsters there Dave...Do they lose flavor and get tough when they are that big and old..?

I jagged one on a line years ago off the rocks beside the Clump Point boat ramp...also got a Coral Trout there as well...

Scott

[ovakil]

I've been told if you visit the same place regulary,throw in some car tyres as they like to hide in them.
cheers

[boney-leg]

I've been told if you visit the same place regulary,throw in some car tyres as they like to hide in them.
cheers

I've never been able to work them out. Up this way they don't seem to hang around. You can go to one spot and there will be none and the next day 10. A mate use to swim the pipeline from Maggie Is to Townsville regularly during winter with great success. Problem is lots of people do it so maybe that's why they're not there the next day ;)

[Richard]

I'd be trying to pick something better than car tyres. They leach oils, heavy metals and all sorts of toxins which probably aren't that good for the environment.

[goona]

Heres one I got late last year in 3 meters of water over in WA above Broome. Quite a struggle to remove from the rocks.

[graham best]

can anyone tell me if you can catch painted cray in pots and what bate is best

[Scott nthQld]

Graham, no you can't get them in pots apparently their anntenae are too long and don't allow them entry or something. Though i have heard of people putting fish frames in stockings or wrapping peices of fish in copious amounts of fishing line and sinking them in a hole to come back the following day to find a crak or 2 tangled up in it. Dunno how legal that is though

[GBC]

You certainly can catch them in crab pots - at a rocky place where lots of tailor fishermen go - no more hints.

Funny Foxy mentioned shallow Tempest - I got one on a livey at night at Hendos (before it was a park). Must have been the night for stupid catches, cause a couple of livies later I caught a manta ray as well.

[Scott nthQld]

hmmm, I;ve never hear of them being caught in a pot of any description and everytime I've asked those in the know I was told the above answer, ie the antennae/horns whatever are too long and inflexible so they can't get in.

I guess there's a first time for everything though. What sort of crab pot were you using? i might have to put one out for myself in a known haunt

[GBC]

Been doing it since we were kids - heaps of different pots, any will do.

[Scott nthQld]

guessing you just use fish frames for bait?

might give it a shot next time I head out then, see what comes up

[bondy99]

Thanks to all the people who posted their pics and habits of their lobsters, very nice and also revinogerated my yearning for saltwater cray...I use to get some down south but since being in Brisbane, forget it.

Waters are too dirty and too green for me now, clearer water and less noahs is my ideal. Port Stephens Area in NSW use to be good spot many years ago.

Peter

[outboardstogo]

hi all believe it or not we got one the other night on a fishing line my mate jagged it through the leg
it came in like a dead weight and when it seen the light it was fighting like a good fish .
also it was in a spot where you would never think there would be one at the gold coast in the broadwater at our bream spot

[SWANO1]

to answer an earlier post re torch spotting , you can use a light but only above the water ie no underwater flood lights , think thats how it goes foxy ?


remember the fight to get one of these dave ;D ;D before there were none left;D

cheers swano

[dfox]

There's no doubt you know how to cook seafood swano!
Yell out when you need some prawn's knocked off ....

[vertico]

caught one myself on a line at the banks a few years ago... hooked it in the leg while we were slamming some snapper.

[Flash the toad feeder]

I've never caught a cray on a line but I did snag a prawn with a chemically sharpened hook once.
I've been a fan of Diaiichi ever since.

Years ago I was fishing at Rolling Stone and huge mud crabs were coming up but would drop off a few feet out of the water. We didn't have a net so they got away.
I wasn't going into the water after them 'cause the previous 5 hook ups were stone fish.

The best way to cook crays is on a bbq with butter and garlic and served to you on a banana leaf by a cute little island girl on Guadalcanal.
Ahhh, good times.

[NEWBY]

I have to ask the question of the more serious and experienced divers here, how the hell do you find these things.
I live in Gladstone and I am often out and about the Fitzroy Lagoon to Musgrave areas. I have snorkelled until I am blue in the face and cannot find one of these things for the life of me.
1st question, are they found in the lagoons?
I am also led to believe that they are vegetarians, is that true?
I thought thats why they are not caught in pots.

[Badone]

Newby The reason you can't find them is because they have all been grabbed from the common areas. How many divers do you think snorkel the lagoons at Muscrave and Fitzroy? You would have more luck diving some shitty water around the local islands I would think. Go where no one else would go much. I think they eat mostly mollusks, not sure though. You will still find them on the northern side of Lamont if you look hard. Look in 100 holes you might find one or two.

[Chopper Taylor]

I've always thoughtthem to be vegetarians. but i suppose like most animals they will eat anything when hunger strikes.

I know of people who have had them in their tropical aquariums and they systematically take out their fish over a period fo time. expensive tastes I say.

As for finding them when diving. I've heard of them being caught in the summer around Coffs, but my only experience with them was on a Swains trip and we found most of ours in the sheltered lagoons on the inner reefs (not the fringe reefs). they are not hard to pick with thier long feelers hanging out form under ledges. Unlike eastern rock lobsters i also foudn them quiet docile.

I always carried a pop gun speargun to get them, the full effect of a rail gun tends to leaves its mark on a cray.

[NEWBY]

When I was in Vanuatu, I did a tour of one of the villages called Episup...
Part of the tour was an explanation of how they fished and hunted.
They use crude versions of the cray pot to catch crays. When I spoke to the chiefs son after the tour I suggested that the painted cray is a vegetarian and he looked at me like I was a lunatic.
He told me that they used crushed up hermit crabs and the like for bait.
I thought he was pulling the pi$$ but after reading this, now I am not so sure.
Might be worth investigation after all.

[bugman]

Newby,

I know a few people that dive for crays around the Gladstone area. I don't know precise areas but I do know they don't really leave the mainland if that helps.

Brett

[-Chris-]

Crayfish are classed as opportunistic foragers, they are not exclusively vegetarian.

[Pridey]

In WA we use meat etc in our pots for SW Rock Lobster.

I dont imagine the diet would be much different for Painted... even though they are bigger..

[sambos]

There are plenty at lamont newby .We normally get half a dozen in a an hour or so.
The only clue ill give is be there at low tide.Look hard and youll find them there.once you find them youll think how easys this.We always find them in the same area.Then chew on em while we head sykes way for some reds.Good luck.

[bondy99]

Can anyone line me up with a diver so we can get some crays.

I'm not getting any younger and my ability to hold breath is diminishing.

I'm on the SE Qld. Between Brisbane and Gold Coast.

Peter

[NEWBY]

There are plenty at lamont newby .We normally get half a dozen in a an hour or so.
The only clue ill give is be there at low tide.Look hard and youll find them there.once you find them youll think how easys this.We always find them in the same area.Then chew on em while we head sykes way for some reds.Good luck.

Well mate, I am heading out that way next week with the Annual Ausfish M&G so I will hop over the edge, dodge the damn bronzies that hammer that area (even worse out at Sykes) and see if I can find the elusive crays that have so far evaded me for the last 6 years.

[Camhawk88]

There are 3 species of Painted crays in Aust waters and all of them are omnivores. They do eat vegetation but in my time working with them, we fed them up on squid, pipis and mussels. Think of them like prawns, they will eat any old scraps they can find. Most of the southern cray fishers will tell you that the best bait for crays have either fur or feathers so I would say if you are looking to trap them then some roo tail or chooks would be the go. Problem with trapping them is that their feelers dont fold back over their head like the southern crays do so only specialised cray pots will catch them- I do know blokes who have trapped them so it can be done.
If you are into diving for them the white feelers are the give away and i have always found more around coastal headlands and islands than the reef. If you find some shoaly ledgy areas- even straight off a beach there should be one or two about.