Cray Ropes
Submitted by wifecallsmegrumpy on Wed, 2023-11-29 13:10
For those that are dropping pots I recommend not leaving a long line of rope on the surface otherwise you will face the misery of losing your pot. The clip on weights are cheap and keep excess rope underwater, or tie a dogbone to shorten the rope.
Lots of pots just outside of hillarys today basically on the route out to the good potting spots behind the reef. Many with long ropes, but one less today as we accidently chomped one up coming through.
Sea goat
Posts: 950
Date Joined: 26/03/17
i was out on sunday, and some
i was out on sunday, and some of the rope lengths hanging off the potts was ridiculous. pretty dangerous, and as u say, a great way to loose a pot!
Faulkner Family
Posts: 17941
Date Joined: 11/03/08
I thaught the rules on the
I thaught the rules on the ropes were changed to avoid that problem. My understanding was they needed to be tied up to have minimal rope on the surface.
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
sea-kem
Posts: 14912
Date Joined: 30/11/09
I think it depends on the
I think it depends on the depth
Love the West!
Wayne77
Posts: 59
Date Joined: 10/12/15
and keep them out of the
and keep them out of the leads plenty of reef out there , pain in the a%$se for any one coming through
wifecallsmegrumpy
Posts: 140
Date Joined: 09/01/12
Rules.. Doesn't seem to be
Rules.. Doesn't seem to be anyone checking the rules. Common to see 20ltr chemical containers used as floats, pool noodles and just about anything that floats. That's not seriious I guess but it's not hard to keep the rope short by adding a weight. I can't imagine coming through there in the dark during cray season, for sure you would be untangling ropes from the prop in the dark.
still trying
Posts: 1037
Date Joined: 27/06/17
Early in the season lots of
Early in the season lots of people potting shallow before moving out deep its not too bad where I am dont get me wrong pots everywhere I actually hate people that are using weighted ropes as they have shit loads of rope under the surface and my ropes are made too suit the depth so the fact that they decide to drop within 5m of me means we get tangled frin wind changes.
rather be fishing
sea-kem
Posts: 14912
Date Joined: 30/11/09
I can't work out why they
I can't work out why they either don't weight them or just shorten them like I do. You can still have a reasonable amount of "free" rope so the pots don't bounce. Lazy Carnts
Love the West!
Sea goat
Posts: 950
Date Joined: 26/03/17
have hd the same thing happen
have hd the same thing happen t me, wind changes and yougo to pull a pt and 5m down there is a ugetangle.
i find it quite useful early on to loop up the rope and cable tie in place, then when move out deep, just snip off the cable tie and off you go. I typically pot in the same spots each year, so easy for me to predict what length i need.
hezzy
Posts: 1521
Date Joined: 27/11/09
amazing how people can stick
amazing how people can stick within a freeway lane at 110-120kmh , with other cars within a metre or so , but cant navigate around 25 metres of floating rope on thousands of km square open ocean ,, ?and there quite happy and proud to chop them off ,
as a society we are descending into the lord of the flies behavior
first world problem to grizzle about i spose
good thing there is a skippers ticket ,, lol
hezzy
OFW 11
evil flourishes when good men do nothing
pelagicyachts
Posts: 1307
Date Joined: 23/02/11
if you have ever been driving
if you have ever been driving into the sun on the water (esp in a bit of chop) you would know a float is not that easy to see - let alone the rope, even at 18/20 knots it can be too late to avoid a long rope by the time you see the float (esp in a larger boat) - so i dont think anyone is happy or proud to chop them off, rather, sometimes that is the unavoidable outcome
sea-kem
Posts: 14912
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Agree Clint there are days
Agree Clint there are days we go to pull and with the blaring Easterly and chop you can literally be right on top of them and can't see them.
Love the West!
Swompa
Posts: 3847
Date Joined: 14/10/12
Totally agree with you!What i
Totally agree with you!
What i find amazing is that some people dont understand that 9 times out of 10, the float will be down wind of the pot, so if you keep the pot on your windward side, you can pretty much hug it.
I have only ever run over one once (two seperate floats tangled around eachother), lifted up motor, it unhooked and i drove way. No cutting involved.
hezzy
Posts: 1521
Date Joined: 27/11/09
correct swompa, sun in your
correct swompa,
sun in your eyes or whatever , u drive to the conditions ansd keep a look out ,,
if u see the float you give it a wide berth or run up along the way its laying in the wind ,, been pulling pots for over 4 decades with gear in the water for up to 6 months of the year .. rarely have i run over rope or floats,
OFW 11
evil flourishes when good men do nothing
Wayne77
Posts: 59
Date Joined: 10/12/15
some times with 1-2 mtrs of
some times with 1-2 mtrs of white caps cant see the bloody things mate i have rope cutters and 12 tonne of boat so not overly dangerous for me but can be dangerous for other vessels and its only a small strip of navigatable water they are asking to keep clear. Not really a huge ask
Brock O
Posts: 3192
Date Joined: 11/01/08
I remember losing a
I remember losing a transducer just of Rottnest one year...just took off building speed and bingo there is was...into reverse but couldn't slow down fast enough. fkd that trip good and proper.
But I do love seeing the pros dropping there pots in close with a hundred other rec pots around...floats going left right and center with zero fks.
carnarvonite
Posts: 8650
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Bombing
Had dropped a single pot on an isolated lump off Two Rocks nd no other pots close by, came out next morning and a mate [crayfisherman] had dropped 3 pots all close to mine.
Drove up between his ropes, pulled my pot and then grabbed all three of his ropes and tied them together right at water level so that they would have to pull all 3 together. Saw him up the pub the next night and told him that if he bombs me again all that will be there is 3 ropes cut off at water level
Brock O
Posts: 3192
Date Joined: 11/01/08
Arrr love it..., I'm sure
Arrr love it..., I'm sure some will argue but to me the Pro's don't give a flying fk about rec's full stop.
Earlier in the year I dropped a small string of Occy pots in the sound, they were gone within a week. Only need one guess who would have took care of them.
carnarvonite
Posts: 8650
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Pros
Pros get the blame for lots of things but in reality its not worth the cost if they get caught, example Two blokes were in a dinghy off Burns beach and they signalled a cray boat to pull up by flashing their badges, sitting on the deck was 3 amateur pots. The fisheries blokes pointed out to the pro that he had been photographed minutes before pulling the pots by other offices with big camera and binoculars sitting on top of the Burns beach water tanks, they had their suspicions that the boat was doing it and kept it under watch. Result $100 grand fine and 3 pots , then selling for $33grand each off their licence.
Another one involving my nephew working out of Two Rocks, they left the marina at 3 in the morning and Tboned an excray boat with no nav lights on as the crossed the 2nd bank, the excray sank and the crayboat had to come in in reverse to stop it from sinking. The sunken excray had 4 rec pots on the deck that didn't belong on their licences, tyhey had been pulling any pot they found and were usually back in the marina before anyone could catch them. Don't know what penalties they got but people started to find their gear where they dropped it and with crays in them
Alpha
Posts: 194
Date Joined: 13/02/17
Pulling pots
I professional cray fished for 15 years and worked over a few different vessels under a few different skipper's and I can honestly say we did not pull anybody else's cray pots either amateurs or pros for that matter. We just didn't, it wasn't worth it, didn't have the time, we had any were between 100 to 150 to pull of our own. It was just frowned upon by crew on board and reflected on the the whole boat if caught. Not to say it didn't happen but by gosh if you were caught, named and shamed it was a small industry.