Dillies not working??

[12Ply]

Hi All,
Had a wierd thing happen on Sat, myself and a mate went out crabbing with 7 dillies. 5 a couple of weeks old and 2 brand new ones.
The two new ones were of a larger ring size with a slightly heavier net and also the little float was on the net itself and not the rope as with the other 5.
The old 5 caught many a crab each both legal and undersize ( 30ish crabs for the day ), while the 2 new ones didn't get a SINGLE crab for over 3 hours of crabbing. We even moved them in between two old dillies which were getting crabs 75% of the time.
The bait in them was untouched for the whole time

Has anyone else had this type of experience with these larger dilles, or were they both just very very unlucky.

Only thing I can think of is that the net might be too tight, or too bright in colour? Or something to do with the little float on the net not the rope??

[Panda]

Sometimes its not science but just plain luck. I dont know what the statistical odds would be re your outcome, but I wouldnt think it would be all that high. You probably wont know if the new pots work untill you have tried them a few times.
Heavier mesh does lower the catch rate with sandies though.

You know before dillies were invented my dad used to catch all the crabs he wanted in Moreton bay with a cord line attached to an old soup bone. That was probably around 60 years ago. They would ease the crab up to the side of the boat and use a landing net. It still works too!

[Big_unit]

Some of the cheaper dillies just dont work, I dont understand it but its the opposite with pots for me. Ive always had good success using darker coloured nets, in preference to lighter colours for any type of crabbing. Hope that helps somehow.

Cheers
James

[DaveSue_Fishos_Two]

Are your dillies 'witches hats' 12 Ply? The type where the crab has to become enmeshed? If so, I have found that the heavier net definitely spooks the crabs. The dillies I have with heavy trawler mesh lay flat on the bottom. The crab simply crawls over to get to the bait, and checking them every 20mins usually produces...........when they are around!

Cheers
Dave