crayfish bait
Submitted by meglodon on Sun, 2011-11-27 21:39
Hi all
I'm seeking advice on what type of bait is considered the best for catching crayfish, I hope I'm not opening up padoras box here but for the last week I have not even had a sniff at the various types of bait I've tried in wooden pots. I have used fresh mullet herring spleen mulies and as I say nothing has come near my pots as far as I can tell. All the various types of baits have been fresh I've even put bits of rag soaked in fish oil in with the baits. My pots are in good country where I have had good catches in past years (in 10-15m) of water behind 5 fathom bank.
Any advise thoughts much appreciated
Lamby
Posts: 3145
Date Joined: 04/08/09
I know a fellow poster here
I know a fellow poster here has been doing well diving those areas so they are there but you might need to move them around, bait wise have you given tuna heads a crack?
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
tuna heads
No haven't tried them yet willing to give anything a try
FISHNTIME
Posts: 169
Date Joined: 11/03/11
When i was working on
When i was working on crayboats herring and abit of Ox hide in each pot was the go :)
Lamby
Posts: 3145
Date Joined: 04/08/09
If you could still yes ox
If you could still yes ox hide or bovine products then yes
carnarvonite
Posts: 8673
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Hide
If you put hide in a pot you are leaving yourself open to a fine of $5 grand a POT, its banned along with any animal product and has been for a number of years.
Check your pots and make sure they are solid with no movement that can cause them to squeak and make crays steer clear of them.
With whites starting to appear, set them on sand about 3-5 metres on the seaward side of any major sort of reef structure
Bluedog
Posts: 251
Date Joined: 28/07/11
Get yourself a box of blue
Get yourself a box of blue mackeral. The whites still havent bolted yet so hang in there.
Oracle
Posts: 355
Date Joined: 22/11/10
Snare
Seems to be the only bait that works for me. Last year pre my stolen pot, it caught zero.
hooty
Posts: 198
Date Joined: 25/05/10
Mate all those baits will
Mate all those baits will work. I dive a lot and often find the crays dont seem to travel a lot untill the whites are really on the move. Its not uncommon to see a small patch loaded with hundreds of crays with pots all around it and none in the pots. Unless you are right on top of them , no luck. 5m away is to far. Ive had discussions with blokes pissed of when they see me come up with a bag full and there pots are empty, I generally give them the same spool and show them where to drop or move their pots when diving and they see the results the next day. Ive dived the five quite a bit and find untill the whites move theres not a lot of action on it. Whilst it looks good on the sounder, when you get down there the structure is good but the marine life is far and few( I imagine there are some good spots though), try the 30m mark. The 30m mark holds resident crays and they are there all year round.Or as Bluedog said , give the whites a week or so to bolt and I reakon your luck will change.
Cheers
Oceanside Tackle
Posts: 2803
Date Joined: 23/07/09
craybait -
Move the pots around until you get results then perhaps look at your normal spot later when things are firing.
Blue mackerel & Tuna heads are great bait for checking your pot daily but for 2-4 day pot-pulls then Orange Ruffy heads are great as they last a while and the bones have a high oil content.
Oceanside Team - Specializing in Jigging for demersal, Super Deep Fishing and Cockburn Sound Pink Snapper.
Don't forget to ~ Like us on Facebook ~
Phone #(08) 9337 5682 - Shop 4/364 South Street O'Connor - OPEN 7 Days
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
My thanks to all for your comments
Thank you all for your kind thoughts on how to improve my catch rate (anything is better than zip) I'll put up a post when I make a catch
Paully
Posts: 3246
Date Joined: 15/08/09
I have found
the orange roughies very - very reliable in my brief stints witht the pots