[swelleyman]

Managed a couple of hours fishing this last wkend and even got to collect some peelers from a favourite spot (18 in about 20 mins.) BUT that was poor for where it was as someone had been there a couple of days before and wrecked the local ecosystem by NOT REPLACING THE ROCKS AS THEY WERE! It is so ignorant and short-termist to do this as the rocks are the crabs' refuge as well as making collection far easier and more certain NEXT TIME!!!!

Many species of plants and animals live under rocks and a completly different set of living things live on top. By reversing rocks BOTH sets of creatures are killed needlessly by light and tidal movement! There's little doubt that the system will recover and the Flora and Fauna will re-establish themselves. However the perfect cubby holes will take longer to re-establish. Commercial Peeler collectors will have car tyres etc. to nuture their bread-and-butter and would be VERY CROSS (to put it mildly!!!!) if these were tampered with. SO ... i'm equally annoyed that some mindless person has not really learnt as much as perhaps they should (obvious they know SOMETHING about collecting peelers) before killing the goose that lays etc. etc.

A spot with rocks carefully replaced by anglers as they go around will recover quickly as new 'tenants' will move in on the next tide to shed their shells, and indulge in a little hanky-panky-reproduction at the same time, particularly now so it seems when a majority of crabs in that particular area are 'at it'!! No one gives Anglers the right to kill things willy-nilly not even the living things that feed and nuture the crabs we collect and, through them, the fish we chase!

And .... while i'm bitching, why can't occasional diggers fill in holes they make to make digging possible there again in two tides time, rather than reducing the spot to a Somme like shell hole situation!

I'm getting to be a grumpy-old-man, SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[swiss]

have seen it many times where people have dug massive + deep trenches and not bothered to fill them in again ( i doubt these people were pleasure anglers) it took weeks for the sand to get back to normal - fill it back in and after about 2 days its ok.

 

[Yozzer]

Totally agree with you about replacing rocks e.t.c,but i`ve not seen any signs of damage caused by not back-filling after digging.The beaches where i dig,get hammered,and i`ve never seen anyone back fill,yet the terrain and the worms are fine,even on the following tide.

 

[rubberfrog]

Swellyman

would it be possible at some point in the future for you to show me the art of collecting peelers, every one i seem to find is not peeling, i would like to collect them and use them the same day, i usually come over to anglesey once or twice a month.

if you could help me i would eternally gratefull.

P.s. I assure i always leave the area in the same condition i found it in.

 

[Tozer]

I collect from the same areas as swelley man, there are a number of people collecting in that area and just a few destroy it. If you turn rocks upside down with bladderwrack it gets trapped under the rock, then begins to rot. Turning black and creating an area where there is no oxygen and somewhere there is chance of a crab entering!!!
Also i was wondering about these tyre traps.
There is a man (i have no idea who he is) but he is down most low tides collecting crabs. I assume commercially (because of the effort he puts in and the number he takes) he has put down several of his own traps aloongside existing ones.
I don't touch these. But further along there are some which no one seems to collect from in this way. I've seen different people using them, no one intensively. Is it ok for me to collect peelers from these? or am I doing something wrong by using them? When i need a quick fix i will use them but other than that I just look under rocks etc.
I was just curious, I've heard rumours of people in Wales arming their traps with broken glass.

 

[swelleyman]

Not so sure about the seaweed trapping as I don't think crabs feed on rotting weed, judging by the way they hammer my bait anyway! Essentially I find most of my crabs under weed, its just that that particular place has rocks which are , or at least were (!!!!!) manouverable without turning them over!!! You just had to lift carefully (particularly if you have a suspect back like mine!) and look underneath. The mating crabs are easy to spot and can be lifted out with ease before lowering the rock. Then it's just a mater of shaking the female into the carrier bag!

Be careful about investigating someone else's tyres! It's not so much the possibility of broken glass (new to me) but the possibility of a thick ear! If you do get into an arguement rest assured, as you lie bleeding on the beach, that you're in the right as as far as I understand. No one 'owns' the foreshore although I suppose they could claim that they 'own' the tyres like they would a boat. (I used to keep crabs in a sack tied to the mooring rope of my dinghy along with masses of mussels which fed them and gave me extra bait in a hurry). However if they are general bait collectors beware the Trident they carry!!

You learn where to look generally. Great long fronds of Knotted Wrack are just a pain to move unless they drape a flat faced boulder which has ledges, they're like curtains in places like that!. Softies enjoy these places (ChrisP gave an excellent reason in an other thread last week) so give them a try. You often also get masses of small crabs (about the size of a 10p piece) which Bass hoover up judging by stomach contents i've seen, similarly Rock Cod - although I can honestly say that i've never caught one on a hardback!) Otherwise I follow mini-ravines between rocks and carefully move the Serrated Wrack up onto the top of the rocks to reveal the 'scramblers' beneath. I just work quietly and pick up the larger hardbacks and flick them into the sea to reveal what I'm looking for beneath. Work methodically so you don't work over weed you've just moved. Start by the sea and work along the tide line. I also find that a sandy base is best as I stay clean. However in many places you have to work on mud as that's where the crabs are! Luckily in my part of the Swellies I don't have to hunt them in such places as there are enough other places. The big bonuses are that you get to know your shore and it's inhabitants intimately and also where not to fish at high water judging by the lost tackle you find! One word of warning, beware barnacles they can cut your fingertips to ribbons if you're lifting rocks.

Rubberfrog, I'll be glad to help, I'll send you a message next time i'm due in the Straits so if we can meet up we can beachcomb/crab together! I usually operate from Church Island up towards the Brittania Bridge and just beyond (Llanfair Church)

 

[Tozer]

cheers for that, i understand that people get pssesive, it just bugs me when people seem to raid the whole shorline!!! I'll take a thick ear, but i think sometimes it can get too serious,
I only take a few at a time, it's jsut there are too many people collecting, if i arrive late there gone!!!!!

 

[ChrisP]

I had half an hour tonight and got about 50 from my local beach. No lifting rocks to look underneath. No cuts off barnacles. I will hapily show anyone where and how so get in touch if you want my phone number to arrange a meet.

(Reason I took so many I am out after smoothounds tomorrow)

 

[Tozer]

just do as i do and invest in some building gloves!!!! I can find plenty but i find that the nummber of commercial people collecting strip the beds before 'normal' people get a chance. Forcing us to buy from the tackle shops!!!!!

 

[rma]

Tozer you'll find most of the traps belong to match anglers the reason thier always there is to stop them being done by someone else. Plenty of crab are needed because not all of them will be just right, the harder ones will be stored in the fridge an brought on at a later date.At least you carn't accuse these pro's of leaving the rocks overturned thats down to pleasure anglers

 

[Tozer]

very true rma, IU guess, but it does make me cringe to see that many crabs being taken, although it doesn't make that much effect overall.