Crabcatcher

When I was a teenager back in the seventies, my father had a boat in Brisbane. We fished a lot in the waters behind South and North Stradbroke where the fish were ample and the crabs were large and plentiful.

We acquired from a friend of ours, a number of crabpots that were more cages. They had a square wire net base that was, I would say, 30cm square, with four triangular sides that were hinged. Each of the apexes of the triangles had string tied to them and these strings were bound together after a s/s ring. The idea was that you put a piece of bait in the middle of the base, dropped over the side of the boat, and when it hit the bottom, the triangular sides opened up and all of them lay flat on the sea bed. You came back a while later, pulled the rope up and the sides closed up and created a prism to trap the unwary crab inside.

I have never seen them since and wonder if anyone else remembers them, or whether or not, anybody knows of a shop now selling them.

____________________________________________________________________________

Wherever you go, there you are


sea-kem's picture

Posts: 15126

Date Joined: 30/11/09

Good idea. But easier to make

Mon, 2011-11-14 21:07

Good idea. But easier to make the standard round net. I think too many moving parts to seize up.

____________________________________________________________________________

Love the West!

Posts: 614

Date Joined: 24/02/11

Traps

Tue, 2011-11-15 05:34

Ring fisheries first I'm sure there banned

Simon C's picture

Posts: 801

Date Joined: 01/05/07

illegal in WA

Tue, 2011-11-15 06:00

illegal in WA

Posts: 1755

Date Joined: 02/01/10

I used em on the Murrumbidgee

Tue, 2011-11-15 13:56

I used em on the Murrumbidgee river many years ago chasing pricklies.  They were top nets.

Brucesta's picture

Posts: 1721

Date Joined: 29/05/09

i can't see how they can be

Tue, 2011-11-15 14:58

i can't see how they can be illegal they are only trapped on retrieval, similar to a drop net now and they lie flat on the bottom but the moving parts and weight would put me off using them, then there is stowing them, i could imagine 10 of the would really clog the decks

____________________________________________________________________________

Las Vegas - Rolling the dice and trying your luck. 1M+ Barra summer target. 100kg Black Marlin winter target

davidbland50's picture

Posts: 392

Date Joined: 24/07/11

Compact and light

Tue, 2011-11-15 19:08

From what I remember, they folded up into a square frame obviously 30cm square as the triangular sides folded down onto one another. The weight was only around 2 or 3 kilos and the hinges were keyring type rings. All made from aluminium alloy.

____________________________________________________________________________

Wherever you go, there you are