06-18-2001, 08:23 PM
Living on an Island in Moreton Bay gives one every opportunity to take advantage of the marvellous fishing and crabbing which takes place around the many Islands in the Bay.<br><br>We set off one day in our little "tinny" ready to haul in a few big muddies (mud crabs) which my husband and I both adore, and we knew all the little places where they hid along the banks. The cages were baited and left for the next tide when we retrieved a few beauties. Only the males are allowed to be caught - the females must be returned for breeding purposes. However, you must treat these creatures with great caution. Their nippers are so large they can take a finger off in one snap.<br><br>On this particular day, we must have caught at least 6 "whoppers", ready for the pot. Well, not quite ready for the pot yet - my husband usually kills and cleans them first. I have to look the other way as I'm sure I can hear them squealing and it's very offputting, but not enough for me not to eat them!<br><br>When we had finished collecting the cages and emptying the contents, we stacked them on the front of the boat for safekeeping (so we thought) and decided to have a leisurely fish and a listen to the radio. There were quite a few yachts around, being a weekend, and we had to steady the "tinny" a few times because of the wash of the larger boats, but it was very pleasant. <br><br>In the distance we could see a very large cruiser coming our way, full of laughing, partying people and the closer it got, the more we could see. My more I mean scantily clad females, mostly topless, having a whale of a time. We were so engrossed watching their antics that we completely forgot about the wash that ensued when the cruiser passed us at high speed making our little 14 footer into a bobbing cork, but the worst was the loss of our crab pots which went overboard in a flurry of ropes and cages, with us trying vainly to save them, catching their ropes and holding on for grim death.<br><br>I guess the redeeming feature of this little episode was at least the cages had been emptied of their contents, so we were still able to enjoy our crab mornay, and not feel too sorry at the loss of only one of our cages.<br><br><br><br>Submit your Fishing Adventure Stories to win great prizes at ReMemory.Com