Hi to all that love the Muddies
Who has trouble catching crabs?Mud crabs that is!
Who has tried but give up because of A-holes nicking ya gear all the time?
Mud crabbing is easy if you follow a few simple first tips in getting started
TIP one in Mud crabbing , If ya put out a pot and everyone else can see it then stay with it, or it will probably get nicked and sometimes right in front of you!
TIP two, pick ya tides , big tides steal pots sending them bye bye!
TIP three , never set a pot in clear veiw of others, unless you are staying with em, you just never know if the person watching you is an A-hole, share farmer or a stupid person that thinks that a random act of theft is okay (crab fever).
TIP four , trust nooo one , mud crabs are like little gold nuggets and even the most honest people get crab fever, refer to TIP one and TIP three.
TIP five , The is there any body home check!, use a metal pole to check the bottom, nothing worse than throwing a crab pot on top of someone elses or on a tree or on uneven ground. if you dont check the bottom and throw your pot on top of someone elses pot do you think yours will still be there when you get back? refer to TIP four.
I could keep going on , does anyone see where this is going?
Crabbing is all about staying one step ahead of A-holes , catching crabs is the easy bit , just ask the mongrels who are snacking on on crab sanga they got from your pot , the pot they stack up with the other couple of hundred piled up in their back yard shed.
Cheers Shadowmy crabbing tinny is a 440 Mako Truck which i named ' I Got Crabs' anyone visiting the the Hinchinbrooke area and wants to follow me on a tag along tour from your own boat let me know, right now is a good time to see barra in their droves at night doing naughty things.
PS After we have chatted about the first TIPS of crabbing we can talk about the what , where , why's , how's, who's, do's and dont's , everyone that is in the know feel free to jump right in and share your tips, you might just have the answers we are all looking for.
Smashed mate, sounds like you have a lot of A-holes where you crab.
Can't say I have had a pot stolen, I have lost a few to the current on big tides.
I like big tides best time to crab where I go.
I check my pots very often, continually realy, I replace the bait after an hour.
Last week I got 16 keepers in the first hour and was home by smoko.
Gday Hivalley
yeah the place is full of them and i know just about everyone of them.
16 keepers is a top effort mate im sure you had a extra person with you to stay within ya bag limmit.
Smaller tides work best up here because of the Scum and because i have found smaller tides here seem to produce better crab( for some this would be bullcrap)
I got to crab the rivers and creeks in Princess Charlotte Bay , huge run , the crabs up there are amazing , in the small drains in the Normanby River i put a couple of pots, i had to wait for the tide to stop running and quickly chuck in a pot putting the float rope round and round a large branch. Within 10minute the run is back on and the pots floats on top of the water full of crabs. most of the time i would head out into the bay and crab upto 2km from the mangroves to aviod the big run, it was nothing to pick 10 to 20 keepers from one pot , It would take two people to lift a pot . Nothing like old war stories , 200 crabs a day for 4 weeks straight and they only run like that for 3months of the year. If you fall overboard up there it aint the croc's you gotta worry about it's man eating killer crabs.lol
In my area the channel there are more pots the town has people and the factory still pumps out the crabs.Which is good because the place aint stuffed like many would think.
Rarely do i lose a pot but after reading the theft threads on Crab pot i though it i would let those who dont know what they should or should not do.So them A-holes dont take advantage of others.
Fresh bait is very important , crabs like fresh bait more than rotten rancid stuff, on other days they dont care and will eat your left boot covered in toe jam and more so the old crab will chew on anything when they need to grow out of their shell.
years ago i use to be a pro crabber in the channel ,it's not easy to hide 50pots.
the amazing thing is now im not a pro i have more fun with 4 pots than i ever did with 50 Its great to go check ya pots and find them still there and even better when you get crabs. Its a great game to play, the suspence and the drama add to the excitement of crabbing.
Yes i am mad and i do have a rare form of Crab Fever but i use it for good and not evil.
What your preferd bait? GO THE ROO!!!
Cheers Shadow
Ps i cant spell but i can crab!!!
Sounds like top crab country mate, I don't go out to try and catch 100's. When I go for a crab, if I get 4 or 5 then I'm happy, I don't like frozen crabs so usually only get enough for a feed or 2, just me and the the misses.
If I'm having a BBQ and piss-up then I'll put in the effort to feed the mob, don't no anyone who dosn't like a cold beer and a feed of muddies, well not in my circle of friends anyhow.
I do lots of fishing also so I keep all the frames for the pots, I have used roo, chicken frames and as you say as long as it's fresh.
I not long got a bigger boat about the same size as yours, bloody go size for a couple of blokes and ya pots.
Cheers.
Have you tried freezing your crabs in salt water?Originally Posted by hivalley
I don't freeze a lot but this time of year I get a bit of a stock pile ready for the Chrissy gettogethers.
It's the best way to freeze any seafood.
Clean em, and into a plastic container filled with fresh salt water, prawns (not shelled), fish fillets anything.
Pete
Hi Pete, not tried that mate, do you freeze them green? how do you defrost them?
Cheers
Yep green for sure and cleaned. Just take the container out of the freezer in the morning, ready to go in the arvo.
Always cook em in fresh salt water too, unless u r doing chilli crab...........Mmm chilli crab
Pete.
you can cook and frezze em as well lads, but the trick is after you have cooked em place them mouth down , this gets rid of unwanted water which tends to turn them to crap when you frezze em.
Then a month later take em out and defrost naturaly in the air, dont put cooked frozen crabs into fresh water to defrost.
You would be suprised how yummy they are!
have you ever bought a cooked crab from a seafood shop? chance are it was cooked and frozen, no bull!!
I don't doubt that but other than for presentation on the plate I cannot understand why anyone would not clean a crab b4 cooking it. Having to pick all those guts out to get to the meat...........yuck..........
Pete.
mmm!crab guts
nothing wrong with a bit of crab guts on ya meat, it adds flavour
But when you think about it they are horrible little critters , running around and snacking on rotten stuff all day, to think we actually love to mop chilli all over them and gobble them up.
Did you know that there is such a thing as a good crab and a bad crab? Taste wise that is. A mud crab on the sand taste different from a crab on the mud, Also muddies will taste different depending on what they are eating.
Muddies that feed on small bi-valves are the best to eat of them all and their gut will not make the meat bad but actually increase the tasty taste.
Have you ever eating a crab that tastes like crap? this is because they had been eating crap. This is another reason why fresh bait is very important.
Next time you cook up a feed of prawns and you have a few muddies throw them in the water you just cooked the prawns in, bring the prawn water to the boil and plonk in ya crab , the water will go of the boil , wait for it to boil again and count 20min at a soft boil, drag out ya crab after 20min and plonk him straight into a weak salt ice brine to cool, pull him out after 10min , face him mouth down to drain and then start chewing , this will be the best crab you have ever had in your entire life.
This also a method that a lot of seafood joints use to cook their crabs.
Im not knocking your way but its a bit like getting a steak and throwing it in a dishwasher, once its clean i will eat it and it will be good cause all the blood has been removed
just kidding please dont take me seriously , i dont!!!
Has anyone got a photo of the biggest muddy they have ever seen or caught?
if you have bring it on!!
With you photo also inclued the tallest crabbing story you have, should be good for a laugh.
If you dont have a photo then a tall story will do,feel free to knock of ya mates story and use it for ya self.
PS has to be about a crab
Crab guts make the best seafood source ever:
Crab mustard
Ice Cream
Miracle Whip Mayonnaise
Lemon
Tomato Source
Paprika
Tobacco source
This recipe is the best seafood source I have ever eaten.
PS. instead of crab mustard you can use the muck from prawn heads, but I usually don't have enough as I love to suck the heads before eating the flesh.
you wouldnt happen to be Malay or Filipina would ya Hivalley? My ex used to do that!!!!! Just couldnt bring myself to do it. She also used to crucify the prawn heads on the BBQ then tuck into them as well. reckoned they were better than rice crisps.
Greg
Mate, this time of year I don't take anything seriously except socialisingmmm!crab guts
nothing wrong with a bit of crab guts on ya meat, it adds flavour
But when you think about it they are horrible little critters , running around and snacking on rotten stuff all day, to think we actually love to mop chilli all over them and gobble them up.
Did you know that there is such a thing as a good crab and a bad crab? Taste wise that is. A mud crab on the sand taste different from a crab on the mud, Also muddies will taste different depending on what they are eating.
Muddies that feed on small bi-valves are the best to eat of them all and their gut will not make the meat bad but actually increase the tasty taste.
Have you ever eating a crab that tastes like crap? this is because they had been eating crap. This is another reason why fresh bait is very important.
Next time you cook up a feed of prawns and you have a few muddies throw them in the water you just cooked the prawns in, bring the prawn water to the boil and plonk in ya crab , the water will go of the boil , wait for it to boil again and count 20min at a soft boil, drag out ya crab after 20min and plonk him straight into a weak salt ice brine to cool, pull him out after 10min , face him mouth down to drain and then start chewing , this will be the best crab you have ever had in your entire life.
This also a method that a lot of seafood joints use to cook their crabs.
Im not knocking your way but its a bit like getting a steak and throwing it in a dishwasher, once its clean i will eat it and it will be good cause all the blood has been removed
just kidding please dont take me seriously , i dont!!!
Gonna try the prawn/crab cook off, sounds good.
Good one lads that the spirit
HiValley right on brother im gona give it a go, i usally just lick it from the shell.
i was gonna put up a photo of the biggest Muddy i ever didnt catch but the photo got away , the crab was a big a xxxxgold box , maybe next time
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