There's not much better than a feed of fresh mud crab on a Saturday afternoon, except eating crabs you've caught yourself!

While mud crabs aren't exactly hard to catch if you live in the Northern Half of Australia, you will find a lot more of them by following a few simple rules. Before not, you'll be catching so many you'll be making 'upgrades', throwing back the little ones and swapping them for bigger ones!

Found anywhere north of about Port Macquarie on the NSW coast, Mud crabs are identified by their black/brown colour and huge claws. Great eating, they can be found as big as a carton of XXXX beer, although good luck getting one of those into he bucket! Anyway - the tips you've been waiting for!

1: Fish when the tide is running. Hard. Crabs aren't just ugly. They're lazy too, and choose to feed when the tide is running at its hardest. Head out and set your traps when the tide is just starting to run, and the Crabs will be out in force by the time you're done. They feed when the water is running, to let food come to them!

2: Follow the water, find the crabs. As mentioned above, Crabs are lazy, so they tend to migrate to the outside of river bends. This is where the tide pushes all the food when it runs hard, so set your pots in the deepest sections, on the outside of a river bend, when the tide is running.

3: Chicken Drumsticks aren't just what you buy on the way home from a poor days fishing. One of the best baits for catching crabs is cheap chicken drumsticks. Head down to Coles and buy a 24 pack of plain, unseasoned drumsticks. Cable tie the end to the middle of your pot, and chuck it in one of the spots mentioned above. Wait an hour or two (or drop 23 more pots down the river) and come back to check it. Crabs LOVE chicken drumsticks, so chances are you'll find a couple in your pot!

#News #Fishing #North