Using live yabbies in freshwater

[RogerG 1]

Instead of sticking your hook through the yabbie try tying it on with a rubber band. With yabbies head facing up the line and tail following the profile of the hook, wrap the rubber band around between body (thorax) and tail firmly but not too tight. Cast alongside the bank, The yabbie will then flap around, attracting the attention of any fish instaed of being crippled and soon dying because of the damage caused by sticking the hook through it.CheersRogerG

[Ranger 48]

Tis a trick I used to use for livebaits! I used to chase down little girlies wearing braces, coz those tiny lil rubber bands that hook onto braces are perfect for the job! ;)These days I just put the hook through the back of the carapace without piercing the flesh, and that seems to work just as well.

[YoBBo 0]

That is a great tip there Roger, I woulda never thought of that.

[pellipeeli11 0]

gidday RogerGI have just read your tip for tieing yabbies to hooks , i do quite a bit of freshwater fishing with yabbies and the way we rig on a set line is to use a running sinker on main line above a small swivel or a brass ring, attach a trace about .450mm to .600mm to your prefered hook i use mostly 4/0 kahal,or wide gap hooks (4/0 usually doesnt get to the gullet so makes me feel better about setline fishing),to attach the yabbie just bend the tail under and put the barb into the tail from underneath and bring it out the top of the tail(this all takes place in last two or three segments towards the end of the tail)Keep the hook just to the side of the shit line,this lets yabbies stay alive for days . now get a piece of cork,or pollystyrene if the water is dirty ,enough to hold the yabbie off the bottom, i now put a knife cut in the cork and slide the line into cut about.150mm from the yabbie ,this will stop the yabbiy digging into the dirt or snagging you under something . i only do this if fishing is very very slow although now we have new regulations on set lines this may dissapear from my repartee?reguards peelipeeli11

[RogerG 1]

pellipeeli11 "now we have new regulations on set lines this may dissapear from my repartee?"I don't know where you have been mate, but set lines have been illegal in SA for years!RogerG

[crocka79 0]

>:(set lines >

[pellipeeli11 0]

RogerG and crocka79 :-[ set lineing has always been legal in NSW with limit being 4 set& one hand held until this year,now only one set within line of site, &one hand held, I live in NSW and fish the Darling and Menindee lakes for golden perch and murray cod have done with set lines all my life 50yrs because that how we did it.but now and for about the last 18yrs (since meeting a croweater at pt broughton and haveing him bestow the virtues of rod and lure fishing) I now very rarely put a set line out.mabee one in front of our camp and only then if the fishing is very very slow to try to catch something for the bbq, Don't be angry crocker79 this is purely if the fish are off and we want 'one' for a meal :icon_exclaim: RogerG the way i have explaned here we quite often release the yabbie before heading home ,it does't seem to affect them and they usually have plenty of kick left however if they die they go home are frozen and used as dead bait nezt trip.reread the last sentence of previous post and be assured this is the way i am headed :icon_e_smile:

[crocka79 0]

sorry mate just dont think set lineing is very sporting,im surprised it is still legal. bet ya theres alot of old schoolers still leavn there set lines out for days and days. Anyways i aint gona go on about it

[Guest undertaker]

I reckon I'd just about rather have a feed of yabbies myself.....never mind feedin' the fish

[pellipeeli11 0]

Crocker79 gidday mate sadely yes there are a lot of old schoolers up here,some not so old 25Lb hand lines and sculldrag every fish they can hook ,I get into heaps of arguments about this even from work collegues as well as interstate fishers ,with small chillers on trailers.sadely our local fisheries office is now closed and three fisheries officers relocated to the coastal areas.We are now controled from Dareton near mildura 300klms away sth and Bourke 350klms approx nth > > myself as i've said am reformed or at least i like to think so cheers peelipeeli11 ,consider the hatchet buried

[pellipeeli11 0]

undertakerthanks for your reply if ever your comming to Broken Hill PM me and if we can fit it in we will take you to "secret valley" to see if I can get you a taste,recently we have been catching huge yabbies some going 5/6 to a kilogram :icon_e_biggrin: ;D with the smallest about12/15 to kg, surpriseingly? they have been about all thru winter,starting to slow a bit now though but should come back on in the warmer months. remember the bag limit P/Person is 200. you will need at least two days spare.cheers peelipeeli11

[Guest undertaker]

If ever I'm up that way,you're on. 8)Cheers

[afishyfish 4]

I used to chase down little girlies wearing braces, coz those tiny lil rubber bands that hook onto braces are perfect for the job! .

That's gotta be worth about 10 Karma points ( Less! )Cheers aff

[crocka79 0]

@pellipeeli your alright mate not judging ya just on the set lines ;D all good buddy, at least ure doin the right thing. yabbies 5to 6 a kilo wow

[pellipeeli11 0]

crocka79 if we get to keep the water in our top lakes at menindee into summer the yabbies should come back on. I will let you know.Pm me if want to or email your phone number , I will be in Adelaide In a weeks time if you would like to chat cheers peelipeeli11

[Ranger 48]

I used to chase down little girlies wearing braces, coz those tiny lil rubber bands that hook onto braces are perfect for the job! .

That's gotta be worth about 10 Karma points ( Less! )

So what's another 10 here or there! :icon_e_geek:When it comes to yabbies though, I'd rather not use em as bait at all, coz in my book, with a little lemon and pepper I'd consider yabbies to be better than prawns or crayfish!

[RogerG 1]

I'll go along with that Ranger, pickled yabbies, stir fried yabbies, yabbie pitza, any sort of yabbie? The last good catch of yabbies that I had is but a distant memory. After the 1996 high river on the murray to be exact. It took only half an hour to fill a twenty litre bucket from two dilly nets, using chook pellets for bait and just off the edge of the backwater in about 50cm of water. I reckon that crays are grossly over rated and prefer crabs. However, there is a little bug in the Spencer Gulf that we call the Balmain Bug, which tastes superb!

[crocka79 0]

@pellipeeli no worries champ plenty of fishing options down south ile pm ya. if you got any spare time while your down well wet a line and few beers ;D

[snake 1]

yabbys work well in saltwater also bream love em!just have to get over my lure tossing addiction to give em a go again..

[kayakfisher 0]

Its a good thing the hatchet is buried because if I remember correctly peeli went to great efforts a little while ago to release a big cod. Or maybe it was someone else. How many lure fisho's out there kill everything they catch? so surely someone that uses setlines (legally and by the sounds of it responsibly) and goes to great lengths at times to release some big cod can be a friend of ours.