Well it's that time of year again here in brizzy to break out the castnets and go chasing banana prawns and tiger prawns too.
went down to tinnie creek last saturday morning in the pissing rain with a forecast for gale winds as well but to our luck the winds didn't happen so it was a wet morning throwing a castnet catching prawns.
the prawns aren't huge yet but that will come in the next couple of months as they grow very fast when they get the clean bay water into them.we ended up with half a 50 ltr esky for our troubles.
at present they are around the 4 inch mark with a few bigger ones thrown in but march they will hit the six inch mark and by may they will be what we call arm breakers ...as in they reach from your wrist to you elbow and it doesn't take long to fill a 50ltr esky with prawns that big.
banana prawns get around in scoals and to catch a couple of kilo's in a throw is nothing unusual , my best throw was 3/4 of a 50ltr esky in one throw..couldn't believe my eyes when I pulled up the net as I thought I had a few prawns in there but also thought I had a heep of those little black and white striped catfish and stuff but NO it was just pure prawns...holy crap...yeeehaaaaa!!!
stay tuned as the best is yet to come.
ru 12 mug
well crew we were back at it again yesterday arvo (sunday) down in tinnie creek with about 20 other boats but in that 20 boats there were only about 5 that knew what they were doing so it made it a little tuffer finding the prawns.
we started off with a small patch up against a rock bar and worked them untill the tide almost got to the end of it's run and was expecting the prawns to scoal up more but they didn't so we decided to look around further down stream a bit.
we moved down about 300mtr to the railway bridge where there is a good hole and was another couple of blokes casting and getting into quite a few so we hit them too.
with an average cast producing about 20 prawns it didn't take long to bag out , up here in QLD the limit is 10 litres per person , we ended up with a 20 litre bucket almost full , only about 2 inches shy of the top.....thats heeps.
at present they are less than half grown and they reach a size of 10 to the kilo or in old terms 4 to the pound and they are caught later in april/may/june at that size and what a feast we have.
stay tuned
ru 12 mug
sounds great. i used to love catching prawns. haven't done it in ages <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
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Sounds interesting...I am from the Northeast USA and grew up fishin the salt water around Cape Cod, but I never did anyhting like you describe, not even sure if we get prawns around here like that. I have never seen them during my inner estuary travels or while clamming. Wish we had them though, I bet they are tasty. Take some pics for us if you could. Do you find them more in muddy bottom areas, sandy rocky?
Don't suppose there's any prawning to be done from the shore? any night-time shallow water prawning. I have a light and waders.
i've always been keen to have a go at prawning, but never knew where to go.
I'm not too sure where you live Steeny but up here they start in the muddy creeks and as they grow they make thier way out into the bay where the bottom is sand and mud and weed but one minute your casting on mud and later your over sand.Banana prawns move fast when they want to and it can be bloody hard keeping up with them , get in a cast or two and race ahead to where you think they are heading and cast again...and hope you went the right way..lol
ru 12 mug
They have lots in Lakes Entrance I believe <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='B)' /> But timing is pretty important. I just forget what the right time was <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
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went down on Friday arvo for another crack at the prawns and got another 10 litres for our troubles and tore about a metre off the lead line so we raced back to the ramp and grabbed Matt's other net out of his 4b and raced back to the spot.
each week the prawns are putting on a little bit more size...ooooo.bring on the big stuff.
it's amazing all the different fish you bring up in your cast net..some pretty and nice and some NOT..bullrouts , happy moments and bearded ghouls and the odd stone fish...watch your feet in the floor of the boat cause you may get a nasty surprise and a trip to hospital.
ru 12 mug
Have you ever tried using a big banana prawn impaled on a squid spike as you would with a silver whiting?
not on a squid spike but on a hook for parrot and snapper and they luv em.
ru 12 mug
i might just have to try that. a prawn on a squid spike. wish me luck haha
seems like it is worth trying. after all, all the squid jigs look like prawns! <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
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cant see why it wont work...real baits out fish fake jigs.
Now there is a topic for discussion....
Blue