Mud Crabs

Mud crabs do exist all along the coast. Reports of captures have appeared in local papers as far Denmark on the South Coast. However they are a more reliable target North from Carnarvon.

Normal range was Shark Bay north . Since the extra strength Leeuwin Current of 1999/2000 , they have appeared in the far southwest . No closed season . 10 bag limit . No females with roe . Locals normally return all females . Haven't seen any reports of catch reliability south of Shark Bay but WA Fisheries has a crab specialist who would know .

Hi Mark

I have fished and crabbed along the coast in WA. Lots of blue swimmers but no mud crabs south of Shark Bay. Also no mangroves south of Shark Bay. I have always linked mud crabs and mangroves together so this could be the issue. There are some mangroves in Shark Bay but I have never seen a mud crab there. Lots of blue swimmers though, only you can't catch them in the regular drop pots. No sooner do you drop your pots with a bit of bait and a tiger shark will take off with the lot.

David

gidday

a mate with acess to a newspaper archive did a search of fishing columns for me and there were reports of mud crabs in Wilson Inlet at Denmark in 2002, a couple of years after a particularly strong Leeuwin current. But no mention since. The odd one has also been caught at Augusta and even in the Swan River. Fishing people talk of them being established in the Moore River, just north of Perth, maybe even the result of a deliberate introduction (one for the conspiracy theorists).

But i guess anybody who is catching them regularly might not be telling too many people about it.

Cheers

Rocco

There have even been a couple found in the Peel Estuary at Mandurah but the suspicion is that they were "seeded".

Hi,
Have caught geen mud crabs (different size limit to brown's) in Greenough and Chapman rivers, but few and far between.
Cheers

Mark

You can catch crabs anywhere in WA.

Lyclear works well.

Bob