Even more infuriating is having your pots nicked after carefully placing them in reef holes marked with the gps, dove down to check the floats weren't prop chopped but they were long gone. The thefts around Rotto etc seem to peak around school holidays.
My thoughts for next time was to attach a nice placard half way up advising them of karma, forms of cancer, their children etc etc you catch my drift. Or a booby trapped rope with carefully placed hooks just don't injure yourself.
If you put a bunch of hooks in the line and mark it with obvious warnings, what's the bet the law will be on their side if they get hurt :s
Even if you put heaps of signs. If it's not your pot and there's a warning, I dare say they deserve it....
That paint idea is great though, hehehe.
Pity you aren't allowed remote pop up floats.
I wonder if the guys who pull other peoples pots are the ones who take undersized fish or more than their bag limit?
They were trialled years back by pros working deep water but fisheries jumped on it because they had no way of checking the number of pots for each licence. Even if they went on each boat all the skipper had to do was not push the button for the extra pots if they were running over their limit.
At Two Rocks and expect it to happen all along the coast is those who complain that their pot has been pulled and all the crays have been taken and that it is impossible for them to come up with an empty pot.
Dived to clear a snagged pot once and when I was down I'd spotted a large reef of plate coral absolutely loaded with crays. I pushed the pot right in under so they could get to it and told the mate which direction to drag the pot out from the reef before pulling it. Not a single cray the next day so I went down again and reset the pot in the same way and again bugger all, oodles of good crays but just not feeding or going in the pot. Gave up after that.
Tie a balloon full of paint about 10 feet above the pot. If its a pro the back of the wheelhouse is going to look real pretty and the same goes for an amateur who is in a hurry to pull it over the gunwhale and sprays paint on the inside of his boat. They will think again next time they pinch someones pot.
Years back I had 3 new pro size pots pinched on the very first day, ended up losing seven for the whole season yet other seasons haven't lost one out of Two Rocks
not good at all. heard of one pot that was being watched by someone that it was pulled up over 50 times over the period of 1 day. makes you wonder what people think they are doing. scumbags. realistically i was waiting for someone to put something like this up
...why would you even bother potting in the metro area? We did it about six years ago, pulling them at the earliest legal time (0430) before work, and still didn't get any crays because d*ckheads would come later, pull them again, and then throw them out in the sand (if they didn't steal them).
I reckon the only viable way of doing it is to fish deeper (20m+) and obviously having the electric/hydraulic lifting gear on board while using full size pots...would rule out 95% of the thieves. Or get your dive ticket.
our pots quite away out in Leeman, due to the the townies going out and pulling your pots closer inshore. We'd bait up the cage, then hang a nice dhuie or baldie head in, next day come to pull the pots, not even a scale was left in. We figured after watching at the town ramp, that certain townies were going out in the afternoon, robbing our bait, then putting our bait in their pots. As you know a nice dhuie head will take at least 2 days to be eaten. Now up till last Xmas we buy off the boats. Don't know if we can buy off the cray boats anymore.
The best way to buy crays straight off a boat is to find an owner operator. Most boats are owned by large companies with the skippers bound to sell everything to one of the lobster companies but the owner op isn't tied to anyone and can sell to who ever when ever
it used to happen to us a fair bit. now we just dont pot anymore.
i also have a few suspicions about divers diving near pots, and now as a sign of respect, i very rarely dive anywhere near pots anymore, just to erase any suspicion. besides, there has been heaps of times i have swam past an empty pot, and seen ledges full of crays right next to it. it is quicker for me to loop my limit, than to swim around and check pots.
"i very rarely dive anywhere near pots anymore, just to erase any suspicion"
I you dived around the rockingham area you would know it's impossible to dive away from pots as they are on every bit of reef worth diving around here if we did we would be diving on the sand. I think someone suggested a few years ago banning divers from the cray areas to stem the thievery when a lot of crays were being stolen...It didn't go down well among the diving fraternity
my brother went to rotto sat to check his pots absolutely nothing. Well actually there were 3 divers all in bout 5-10m around his pots hmmmm. NOT FUNNY. however still love the diver up at Jurien i think it was that got his arm stuck in the pot when the commercial winched the pot up. Deckies thought it was a shark until they saw him and he just managed to get his arm out in time and swim back down. Bet he was shitting his pants!
pretty hard to stop , people from pulling your pots other that getting down there at sparrows yourself ,
i copy the pros, habit and mark my gear id in both ends of the top frame like below first with amarker pen , then the grinder reasonably deep , ........they might pull em but they think twice about stealing them usually ....., my pot loss has gone down to almost nothing over the years other than natural causes swell etc ....cant imagine how you would explain it back at the ramp/beach , having pots with someone elses gear id on em in your possesion
lost one of mine from Ocean reef yesterday, did the same as hezzy said burnt my id on to the side with a soldering iron, but still had one taken, drove around for a whle looking but gone!! could of been the swell. I'll have another look next time out.
Personelly think that people who pull other peoples pots should not only be fined but have all there gear they have in possession confiscated (boat included) that may make them think twice.
Pulling someones else's pots (or theiving on a dive) is the lowest of dog acts ever I reckon. You put in all that effort only to have some low life scum come and steal your rewards! I think anyone caught should be banned for life for fishing for any species. The problem is, it's so hard to proove when someone has done it We tried for a couple of seasons a few years back but without much luck. I'll have to get back into diving if I want crays now because I wouldn't bother with pots.
tournament
Posts: 376
Date Joined: 10/11/09
well isnt there some jerk
well isnt there some jerk offs around
Lamby
Posts: 3145
Date Joined: 04/08/09
Yep time & time again! Even
Yep time & time again!
Even more infuriating is having your pots nicked after carefully placing them in reef holes marked with the gps, dove down to check the floats weren't prop chopped but they were long gone. The thefts around Rotto etc seem to peak around school holidays.
My thoughts for next time was to attach a nice placard half way up advising them of karma, forms of cancer, their children etc etc you catch my drift. Or a booby trapped rope with carefully placed hooks just don't injure yourself.
hlokk
Posts: 4293
Date Joined: 04/04/08
If you put a bunch of hooks
If you put a bunch of hooks in the line and mark it with obvious warnings, what's the bet the law will be on their side if they get hurt :s
Even if you put heaps of signs. If it's not your pot and there's a warning, I dare say they deserve it....
That paint idea is great though, hehehe.
Pity you aren't allowed remote pop up floats.
I wonder if the guys who pull other peoples pots are the ones who take undersized fish or more than their bag limit?
carnarvonite
Posts: 8707
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Pop up Pots
They were trialled years back by pros working deep water but fisheries jumped on it because they had no way of checking the number of pots for each licence. Even if they went on each boat all the skipper had to do was not push the button for the extra pots if they were running over their limit.
At Two Rocks and expect it to happen all along the coast is those who complain that their pot has been pulled and all the crays have been taken and that it is impossible for them to come up with an empty pot.
Dived to clear a snagged pot once and when I was down I'd spotted a large reef of plate coral absolutely loaded with crays. I pushed the pot right in under so they could get to it and told the mate which direction to drag the pot out from the reef before pulling it. Not a single cray the next day so I went down again and reset the pot in the same way and again bugger all, oodles of good crays but just not feeding or going in the pot. Gave up after that.
dumper
Posts: 1027
Date Joined: 03/04/08
same thing happened to me
same thing happened to me
PJ64
Posts: 14
Date Joined: 09/10/10
There will be Karma if I catch the pricks
carnarvonite
Posts: 8707
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Paint Balloons
Tie a balloon full of paint about 10 feet above the pot. If its a pro the back of the wheelhouse is going to look real pretty and the same goes for an amateur who is in a hurry to pull it over the gunwhale and sprays paint on the inside of his boat. They will think again next time they pinch someones pot.
Years back I had 3 new pro size pots pinched on the very first day, ended up losing seven for the whole season yet other seasons haven't lost one out of Two Rocks
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18331
Date Joined: 11/03/08
not good at all. heard of
not good at all. heard of one pot that was being watched by someone that it was pulled up over 50 times over the period of 1 day. makes you wonder what people think they are doing. scumbags. realistically i was waiting for someone to put something like this up
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
hekser
Posts: 572
Date Joined: 31/03/10
treble hooks in the ropes...
going to hurt but will definately teach a lesson...
Auslobster
Posts: 1901
Date Joined: 03/05/08
Honestly....
...why would you even bother potting in the metro area? We did it about six years ago, pulling them at the earliest legal time (0430) before work, and still didn't get any crays because d*ckheads would come later, pull them again, and then throw them out in the sand (if they didn't steal them).
I reckon the only viable way of doing it is to fish deeper (20m+) and obviously having the electric/hydraulic lifting gear on board while using full size pots...would rule out 95% of the thieves. Or get your dive ticket.
Shorty
Posts: 1549
Date Joined: 10/05/08
Just remember the fisherys
Just remember the fisherys check the pots all the time for legal escape gaps etc so be careful with the booby traps,,
GrahamM
Posts: 648
Date Joined: 19/01/09
there are always some
there are always some dickheads and criminals no matter what you do. REMEMBER THAT PULLING SOMEONE ELSES POT IS STEALING
roberta
Posts: 2773
Date Joined: 08/07/08
We had to move
our pots quite away out in Leeman, due to the the townies going out and pulling your pots closer inshore. We'd bait up the cage, then hang a nice dhuie or baldie head in, next day come to pull the pots, not even a scale was left in. We figured after watching at the town ramp, that certain townies were going out in the afternoon, robbing our bait, then putting our bait in their pots. As you know a nice dhuie head will take at least 2 days to be eaten. Now up till last Xmas we buy off the boats. Don't know if we can buy off the cray boats anymore.
Ginger Tablets Rock
carnarvonite
Posts: 8707
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Owner operator
The best way to buy crays straight off a boat is to find an owner operator. Most boats are owned by large companies with the skippers bound to sell everything to one of the lobster companies but the owner op isn't tied to anyone and can sell to who ever when ever
Wazo
Posts: 84
Date Joined: 12/06/08
Sorry PJ...
I'll rebait next time too!!!!
Just b.s you...
Leave a tag halfway down the rope "fisheries surveillance pot"
They'll shit themselves and bail resetting you pot in a different place resulting in more crays...easy eh????
scotto
Posts: 2474
Date Joined: 21/04/08
ar$eh0l3s
it used to happen to us a fair bit. now we just dont pot anymore.
i also have a few suspicions about divers diving near pots, and now as a sign of respect, i very rarely dive anywhere near pots anymore, just to erase any suspicion. besides, there has been heaps of times i have swam past an empty pot, and seen ledges full of crays right next to it. it is quicker for me to loop my limit, than to swim around and check pots.
fishy fingers
Posts: 1719
Date Joined: 28/04/07
Not always that easy
"i very rarely dive anywhere near pots anymore, just to erase any suspicion"
I you dived around the rockingham area you would know it's impossible to dive away from pots as they are on every bit of reef worth diving around here if we did we would be diving on the sand. I think someone suggested a few years ago banning divers from the cray areas to stem the thievery when a lot of crays were being stolen...It didn't go down well among the diving fraternity
Timmo
Posts: 258
Date Joined: 01/03/10
rotto
my brother went to rotto sat to check his pots absolutely nothing. Well actually there were 3 divers all in bout 5-10m around his pots hmmmm. NOT FUNNY. however still love the diver up at Jurien i think it was that got his arm stuck in the pot when the commercial winched the pot up. Deckies thought it was a shark until they saw him and he just managed to get his arm out in time and swim back down. Bet he was shitting his pants!
Alan James
Posts: 2300
Date Joined: 30/06/09
Anyone know where you can buy crays off the boats
in Perth or surrounding areas?
uncle
Posts: 9659
Date Joined: 10/02/07
chinese
if the chinese don't start buying they will be nice and cheap for chrisie
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
hezzy
Posts: 1534
Date Joined: 27/11/09
pretty hard to stop , people
pretty hard to stop , people from pulling your pots other that getting down there at sparrows yourself ,
i copy the pros, habit and mark my gear id in both ends of the top frame like below first with amarker pen , then the grinder reasonably deep , ........they might pull em but they think twice about stealing them usually ....., my pot loss has gone down to almost nothing over the years other than natural causes swell etc ....cant imagine how you would explain it back at the ramp/beach , having pots with someone elses gear id on em in your possesion
nice idea about the paint ballons
hezzy
OFW 11
evil flourishes when good men do nothing
wacraig
Posts: 46
Date Joined: 29/03/10
not bothering this year
after 'losing' mine last season.
Gricko
Posts: 109
Date Joined: 09/07/10
lost one of mine from Ocean
lost one of mine from Ocean reef yesterday, did the same as hezzy said burnt my id on to the side with a soldering iron, but still had one taken, drove around for a whle looking but gone!! could of been the swell. I'll have another look next time out.
Personelly think that people who pull other peoples pots should not only be fined but have all there gear they have in possession confiscated (boat included) that may make them think twice.
All this working keeps getting in the way of fishing!
Luke R
Posts: 401
Date Joined: 03/01/09
yer i had one of my pots
yer i had one of my pots stolen last seaon out the front of the moles.
Where was your pots located pj64?, think i might stay away from that area
hekser
Posts: 572
Date Joined: 31/03/10
i thiought it was a 10k fine
for pulling other peoples pots? or is that just me being stupid./..
should be... :L
wazzbat
Posts: 977
Date Joined: 19/01/10
Bastards!!!
Pulling someones else's pots (or theiving on a dive) is the lowest of dog acts ever I reckon. You put in all that effort only to have some low life scum come and steal your rewards! I think anyone caught should be banned for life for fishing for any species. The problem is, it's so hard to proove when someone has done it We tried for a couple of seasons a few years back but without much luck. I'll have to get back into diving if I want crays now because I wouldn't bother with pots.
I fish for the future - Cause I can't bloody catch anything!
MattMiller
Posts: 4171
Date Joined: 15/06/09
Not hard
to prove if someone is pulling your pots, just need to get fisheries motivated enough to do some surviellance.
hlokk
Posts: 4293
Date Joined: 04/04/08
Getting fisheries motivated
Getting fisheries motivated sounds hard though, lol.
Adam Gallash
Posts: 15665
Date Joined: 29/11/05
LOL
Sure you guys would know all about it. :(
Site Admin - Just ask if you need assistance
hlokk
Posts: 4293
Date Joined: 04/04/08
Was suggesting they have
Was suggesting they have "bigger fish to fry" than watching two pots, rather than saying they're slack :p (just to clarify)
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
Not everyone has a fisheries
Not everyone has a fisheries officer's private mobile number Adam ;)