Solution to Cray pot Thieves

 Further to my previous posting a few weeks back the site has been inundated with people experiencing the same issues with crays being removed from their pots. Over the last few weeks we have been successful with crays but have pots broken due to mechanical winches lifting them and repositioned anything upto 100m away. As we all know the fisheries are limited with resources but have shown a strong presence on the water, in particulate between Rockingham and Dawesville.

 

THE SOLUTION

I have been told by a few angry potters that they have now started this due to poaching from pots.

Clearly mark a crayfish and inject "opening medicine into the flesh of the crayfish (does not harm him).  

The idea being is this crays will be stolen and added to what we suspect a stock pile. Hopefully this message circulates to the correct people. They will not be able to identify these crays and their entire stock pile will be unless or WELCOME to the squerts! ENJOY XMAS DAY ON THE DUNNY!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 Wallabok


Posts: 251

Date Joined: 28/07/11

 So before the whites were

Mon, 2014-12-08 07:23

 So before the whites were running people were pulling your pots and stealing your crays and lately when they have been running hot they've left you alone? Must be your injections doing the trick huh?

 
Fisheries were out there on woodduck Saturday checking peoples licences against the pots they were pulling, never seen that before.
RobertMc's picture

Posts: 326

Date Joined: 19/01/09

 Lol but what if that cray

Mon, 2014-12-08 07:27

 Lol but what if that cray gets out of your pot, and jumps into some other unsuspecting cray fishermans pot then all there crays are fucked, not a bad idea but personally I would rather catch the pricks red handed, sit off your pots a but and watch them be pulled take some snaps and follow them back to the ramp and cave their faces in.... Let's face it they will definately think twice about doing it again....

Auslobster's picture

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Date Joined: 03/05/08

Tremendous idea!

Mon, 2014-12-08 09:20

because the penalties for an assault charge wouldn't be nearly as harsh as those for pulling someone else's pots...best case scenario: They lose their boat and you go to prison where your new name becomes RobertaMc!

RobertMc's picture

Posts: 326

Date Joined: 19/01/09

 Only become Roberta if your

Mon, 2014-12-08 13:23

 Only become Roberta if your a bitch aus lobster which I am not, and you have to get caught first....

carnarvonite's picture

Posts: 8622

Date Joined: 24/07/07

Crap

Mon, 2014-12-08 07:50

Where do some people get this crap from? They must hear something and take it for gospel.

You drop a pot over the side with crays still in it and pull it again in half an hour and it will be empty. The fisheries stick a roofing tile over the neck to prevent crays escaping when setting a trap for poachers.

You inject something in to its flesh to give someone the shits and if its toxic to you its toxic to the cray and going to kill it.

scubafish's picture

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Date Joined: 15/08/12

Mico chip

Mon, 2014-12-08 08:15

The only way I can see to solve this problem is to microchip crays (as bait)place them in pots that have id number known to fisheries only and wait on shore for the crays to turn up in boats back at the ramp and wait with scanners.
Do this a few times and catch them, confiscate their boats and it will soon stop happening.
But Gov too costly manpower excuses etc etc.

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 Doesnt work unless they see

Tue, 2014-12-09 08:18

 Doesnt work unless they see them pulling it.

As the crays can escape and enter another pot.

A better idea for fisheries is justa small camera on a motion control.

Starts filming upwards when the pot moves and sends out a picture when it hits the surface just like the iphone app which flicks out pics when stolen to icloud

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 Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...

 

 

The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.

Everyone's just winging it.

 

beau's picture

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Haha I've seen what you've

Mon, 2014-12-08 09:06

Haha I've seen what you've done there Couta, I like it!

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Posts: 103

Date Joined: 10/01/07

I have had my pots in a very popular spot for the past 3 years

Mon, 2014-12-08 09:15

 and can say as far as I am aware they have never been pulled. They mostly always have crays in them and are always where I left them.

May be its safty in numbers.

I have lost 3 pots in the past but they were straight after storms and big swells.

Now I have posted this they will likely be gone tomorrow !  

NORUN NOFUN's picture

Posts: 1018

Date Joined: 15/08/11

Mindarie

Mon, 2014-12-08 09:28

I have had the pots in at Mindarie for 2 weeks now, and have never seen the season better.

Have stuck to the same drop off and done very well.

Went out on Sunday at 1pm, pulled the first pot, 12 keepers, kept the biggest 8 and let the others go.

Didn't even check the 2nd pot.

Walfootrot's picture

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Date Joined: 23/07/12

 You may find your pots are

Mon, 2014-12-08 10:18

 You may find your pots are moving. What pots are you using and what weights?

If you can pull them easily then you need more. We use 3/4 pro pots, steel base plus a large fish plates

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More drum lines, kill the bloody sharks!

WALLABOK's picture

Posts: 52

Date Joined: 05/01/14

Response.

Mon, 2014-12-08 14:03

 Gents, like I said I heard this on the ramp on Saturday at PK, I to thought this was very funny. All comments above are valid! Just thought I would float the conversation as I was amused at the level chaps wanna go. One cannot blame them especially if you work all day and put extra time in to collect them. 

 

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 Wallabok

WALLABOK's picture

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Date Joined: 05/01/14

Pot sizes

Mon, 2014-12-08 14:05

 I got the same pots with extra weight to. Thanks mate

 

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 Wallabok

Posts: 146

Date Joined: 14/11/10

POT THIEVES

Mon, 2014-12-08 15:13

Gents,

I have been fishing in a VERY popular area NOR and can categorically state that my (full sized, f**king heavy, pro) pots have been (regularly) pulled. I drop each pot and set a waypoint and have 'lost' one pot and have found the other one a good 500m west of my mark, on four or five occasions - empty and with the gate open.
It definitely goes on, and all the people who have tried to suggest your pots are not heavy enough, etc are burying their heads in the sand.
I believe it will keep happening (and even get worse) until the prospect of getting caught and suffering substantial loss outweighs the ease of doing it with little, if any, chance of being caught.
I agree with Scubafish (above)- Fisheries have to start thinking outside the square and come up with some successful prosecutions, to act as a deterrent for the dogs out there.

timboon's picture

Posts: 2924

Date Joined: 14/11/10

Splice a few nice sharp

Mon, 2014-12-08 16:16

Splice a few nice sharp stainless hooks in your ropes, add a couple of sinkers on a snood for the electric winch people.

You will get a warm fuzzy feeling your really going to get those bastards but........... you probably wont.

I agree with Carnarvon its a pisser when these theories pop there head up.

I love the "stock pile" thought also... I'm thinking Supertrawler or is that just cray cray pardon the pun....

You could set maybe 20-30 individual limestone blocks all with the same float but secretly microchip a couple of the floats that have your pots on em??

Worst case scenario is the thieves get to build a cheap house... But still get something for their efforts, win win

Posts: 32

Date Joined: 25/10/12

 Put a small water balloon

Mon, 2014-12-08 22:17

 Put a small water balloon filled with dye 10 or so meters down on your rope tied of so when they pull your pots unknowingly the dye will explode all over the side of their boat staining it, leading you to be able to catch the culprits easy if you see there vessel

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Date Joined: 25/10/12

.

Mon, 2014-12-08 22:18

.

timboon's picture

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Date Joined: 14/11/10

Ha snapper hunter is onto

Mon, 2014-12-08 22:33

Ha snapper hunter is onto it!!

BUT....

They might be suspicious so I think you need to train a squid, keep him tethered... Feed him etc but when required he's to jizz all over the naughty pot pullers...

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Date Joined: 08/08/11

My question (and its a

Tue, 2014-12-09 05:05

My question (and its a serious one) relates to preventing rope being cut by props, rather than theives.

 

has anyone tried hanging a large snapper lead from the rope about 5 - 10 metres under the float to make the rope go straight done rather than float on the surface?  I have lost one pot this year but I can't rule out the likelihood the rope was cut as there was quite a few metres on the surface.

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Fish! HARD!

Chasin' Tail's picture

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Date Joined: 14/03/13

 Works for me Randall, I tape

Tue, 2014-12-09 08:52

 Works for me Randall, I tape and cable tie a sinker halfway between pot and floats, keeps the excess rope under the surface and allows me to change depths without adding or removing rope. I thought about tying a sinker off the rope with mono but if Fisheries were to pull it with a winch and cop a snapper sinker to the head I would prob be in the poo.

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Date Joined: 18/01/12

 For pros it is a requirement

Tue, 2014-12-09 14:48

 For pros it is a requirement to sink the ropes and most use a weight clipped on halfway, so fisheries should be aware. This is for whales.

____________________________________________________________________________

 Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...

 

 

The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.

Everyone's just winging it.

 

Posts: 6454

Date Joined: 08/08/11

 I have been running an idea

Tue, 2014-12-09 16:32

 I have been running an idea thru my head today.  similar to a yacht marker.  put an alloy tube thru the float.  weight the bottom end with a medium sized sinker so it floats the right way, and even put a flag on top.  on the bottom hang a s/s pulley.  thread the cray rope through the pulley and attach a decent size snapper lead to the end.  Just need to make sure your rope isn't more the twice the water depth.  The snapper lead will keep the excess rope underneath the float and allow enough movement to allow for swell.

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Fish! HARD!

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Date Joined: 08/08/11

 

Tue, 2014-12-09 16:33

 

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Fish! HARD!

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 Best to tie up the excess

Tue, 2014-12-09 05:40

 Best to tie up the excess rope into a knot just under the floats

uncle's picture

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Date Joined: 10/02/07

the weight works a treat

Tue, 2014-12-09 15:25

BJ has got them on our pots

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all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs

Belly Fish's picture

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Date Joined: 09/03/12

Posted this previously...

Tue, 2014-12-09 16:59

Put two knots in your main rope around 2 metres down and about 150mm apart. Wrap some sheet lead around it (say 0.5kg) and them wrap with electrical tape. This ensures any loose rope is dragged under water away from propellors and in my opinion is the number one reason people complain that their pots have been stolen. I have seen it happen so many times where the floats get destroyed by a boat not watching where they are going and running over loose rope, especially early morning when looking into the sun. Also saw a big boat come into Hillarys once with a craypot dragging behind it...he didn't even know.

Posts: 345

Date Joined: 04/01/12

Weights on the rope

Tue, 2014-12-09 17:00

 Its a good idea but i am usually on my own so it might make it too difficult to pick up the floats. When theres a bit of wind its good to have a bit of rope on the surface to grab on to. 

big john's picture

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Two floats

Tue, 2014-12-09 17:06

Just use two floats about 1.5m apart, hook the rope between the floats. Bellyfish's method works a treat.

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 And if you have one, throw a

Tue, 2014-12-09 17:33

 And if you have one, throw a grappling hook over the rope between the floats to hook and retrieve without running over it yourself.

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Fish! HARD!

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Date Joined: 04/01/12

Two floats

Tue, 2014-12-09 17:22

 Ah - yes, that would  work 

little johnny's picture

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blame divers

Tue, 2014-12-09 20:55

 everyone else does,or put pots where they catch.try bait .l.o.l.