Hooked up
Whether you’re trolling for a big barra on the Daly, flicking a plastic into the lilies on a Kakadu billabong,g, or chasing macs on the blue water, we’ve got you covered
There seem to be far more orange “rambo” crabs being caught around Darwin this year. Two types of mud crab are caught in the NT; the green crab scylla serrata and the orange crab scylla olivacea. Of the two, the green crab is more desirable, being bigger, less aggressive and, arguably, tastier.
The orange crab is popular for aquaculture in Asia because it is considered hardier. The orange rambo crab got its nickname in the Top End from its aggressive nature — being enthusiastic in trying to attack its captor — and it will attack bigger green crabs inside a trap.
The rambo crab is the dominant species in WA’s Kimberley, and is also quite common in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
The rambo crab is considered more common in lower salinity areas (Keenan et al, 1998), with the big green crab preferring higher salinity.
This is where the head scratching begins as you would think that, after four poor wet seasons, the green crab would be doing better off in the Top End.
Both crab species have been heavily studied by scientists because aquaculturists need accurate information to breed and raise the crabs in optimum conditions.
Because of the complexity of mud crab life cycles — for example, they go far out to sea to spawn — I could not find any clue as to why the orange crabs may have thrived. It might be as simple as people chucking back the orange ones because they don’t want them.
Only a few orange crabs were noted around Darwin on the fishingterritory.com forums when the topic was first raised a few years ago.
There have been anecdotal reports of rambo crab numbers slowly increasing around Darwin. In particular, they seem to have really picked up in Shoal Bay.
Leaders Creek Fishing Base has also said there are more orange crabs around this year.
Why is anyone’s guess — it might even be because of warming waters.
And who knows — the boom in threadfin numbers out of Shady Camp might not be because of the gill net bans, as we have all assumed, it might be because of something else, as barramundi numbers in the same area have not grown in the same manner. Something to think about.
In reports, Fishing and Outdoor World’s Jason Deigan said there were plenty of good mackerel in the harbour.
“Lure One fishing guide Chris Hurt got one about 25kg at Lee Point,” he said.
“It was caught on a livie. There were also heaps of queenfish and tuna about, although the tuna schools have been flighty. The tuna have been all around the place off Darwin.
“There are still lots of little barra being reported from the billabongs at Shady Camp and Corroboree Billabong.
“There is still a lot of water at Hardies Lagoon for good fishing.
“The Daly River is producing plenty of fish in the timber if you are happy to work the snags hard. We are selling loads of deep-diving lures to those who are chasing fish in the timber — there seems to be only the odd fish being caught by trolling up the middle.
“I have not heard much from the Adelaide River. There have been a few people planning to go up there, but I have not heard back from them yet.
“There are still bucketloads of mud crabs in Shoal Bay. The orange crabs are about in numbers and are a pest. I reckon they taste poor and they are really aggressive.
“I just eat crabs fresh. I don’t make chilli crab, I just boil them and eat them, and I reckon the orange crabs have a foul aftertaste.
“And sometimes they attack the green crabs in the pots.
“Right now I think Shoal Bay is almost 50/50 on green crabs versus orange ones.
“It would be interesting to know what the pros are pulling out in terms of the ratio of orange to green.
“Elsewhere, I have not heard much from Kakadu or on the harbour barra scene.
“Chris Hurt is concentrating on mackerel rather than barra around the harbour now.”
Anaconda’s Jason Rogers said it had been windy, but not too bad.
“We hit the flats in the harbour last weekend. We were sight casting and we saw plenty of fish,” he said.
“We saw a couple of bigger barra, but they were warier than the smaller ones. You have to get lucky with the bigger fish.
“I find that if you come up to them they are more aware of you and you won’t often catch them. It is better if they happen to swim up to you. The water was really clear where we were, which was good.
“The smaller fish were hitting small soft plastics. I tried prawns and all sorts of lures, and Melita was fishing weedless Z-Mans and they were slamming them.
“They would follow lures until they see you in the boat and then swim off.
“People wanting to hit the flats should look for a flat area with a bit of structure, such as a snake drain running through it.
“I fished over the top of the tide, the opposite of what you normally do for harbour barra, but on a neap tide.
“You have to have the water clarity — a little bit cloudy can be OK because the fish are less flighty. It can be really clear in places if you find the right spot.
“There were plenty of fish. We landed eight or nine and probably dropped the same.
“We also saw trevally, bream, jacks and small sharks. We didn’t get any crabs, which was a bummer.
“Elsewhere, all the billabongs are fishing
well. There are a lot of little barra about — the floodwaters stayed up so long the little barra got up to a good size this year.”
Tackle World ‘s Steve Compain said it had been a productive week for the shop’s charter boats.
“Our three-day extended trip got a lot of red emperor. They fished the other side of Bathurst Island and Flat Top in some of the deeper water,” he said.
“This season has been unreal fish-wise. It has been exceptional, even the pros say they are cleaning up. The jewie fishermen in particular are cleaning up.
“Last year was all right, but this big wet season has made such a difference.
“I’ve done a couple of trips up the Adelaide River recently fishing the back eddies, working the sounder hard in my son Shane’s boat.
“We have been finding barra eight foot down in 15-foot of water and casting big rubbers at them, landing 70s or 80s. This was up around Goat Island.
“The Adelaide River fish were so fat they were out of proportion. There were heaps of mullet moving up the river, which is what they must have been feeding on.
“We had one day we got 15 or so barra, the biggest 87. We got a lot of little barra too. “There are plenty of mud crabs around. “There have been good catches of barra at Shady Camp on the big tides, with mainly small fish in the freshwater. Lots of people are fishing the billabongs and doing all right.”
The Tackle Box’s Hugh Raeburn said there was a bit of a window in the wind last weekend.
“It calmed on Saturday and we went chasing jewfish,” he said.
“We found a heap of jewies and the boat next to us got a heap of fish as well, and so did another boat nearby.
“It was around the Six-Mile grounds, and we were fishing the contour lines on natural reef. It was weird; we caught a heap of jewies and had to move to look for snapper, but all we could find were more jewies.
“The jewies were really thick, but we didn’t see them on the sounder, we didn’t see the fish at all. It was something different for me as I don’t usually chase jewies.
“The biggest was 116cm. They were all around that mark.
“Those who went wider to South Gutter found good snapper and reef fish, and heaps of people went to the drilling rig last weekend for mackies.
“There have also been good reef fish and tuna out at Dundee.
“Some crews are getting mackies at Lee Point floating dead baits out the back, usually sauries on ganged hooks.
“Inside the harbour has been all right for barra. Elizabeth River has been doing well. One crew got eight barra in an hour.
“I haven’t heard much from the billabongs — it seems to be all small fish in the freshwater spots now.
“Crabs are going all right. We keep selling a lot of crab bait, and some fellows have caught big numbers — one of our customers got 14 in a trip. I have had a customer saying he keeps catching the orange crabs. He calls them ‘WA crabs’ because that’s where they usually catch them.”
On the fishingterritory.com forums, the FFF Seadogs brag mat competition’s Round Five ends on June 30 and a mackerel and barra round kicks off for July. Mackerel will have a -10cm handicap for Round 6.
“I have had a customer saying he keeps catching the orange crabs. He calls them ‘WA crabs’ because that’s where they usually catch them”