Jen came with me and we left at gentleman's hours (after breakfast). The dam was dead smooth again with only a couple of family groups towing tubes etc and a few odd tinnies. There was no wind until about 10.30 and it barely ruffled the surface.
We paddled 8.15klms again for 1.5hrs, and Jen managed a good 50-60% paddling, and no seasickness. We had dropped in 4 traps(each with a par/boiled spud), but I also put a tin of cat food each in two of the traps.
Jen recovered the first (c/f & spud) which had 9 keepers.
The next was my turn (c/f & spud) and it was loaded, including the "possible NY record". The other two held one keeper and a couple of bait size. In all, we kept 27 and threw back 5.
Talking to a fellow RC fan at the boat ramp, it seems he thought the cat food was the most reliable, although he had found that the RC can be picky with their diet (sounds like fishing!!!). For a first trip, the result was better than I had hoped for. The 'overnight trapping' obviously works, as they are basically a nocturnal forager. The big one is probably a male,(they can grow to 600gms), and the females are smaller than the males and carry their eggs under their tail. For the technically minded, their scientific title is "cherax quadricarinatus". Oh, and apparently they are good eating, too!!
JaG
Very nice Jag!!! Redclaw are indeed extremely good eating! We spent many nights camped by a creek in FNQ catching Redclaw for the pan. I'm very happy to know they're around here as well.
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