Check This CRAYzy Info

Cray season has really set in nicely with some great catches all up and down the coast with some big crays being pulled out of Kiama, Bulli, Austinmer, Shellharbour and Bass Point. If you want to start getting some for yourself but you’re not too sure where to start, fear not as it is easier than you think and it does not require you to be able to dive deep to get them. Sometimes all you need to do is wet your arm haha (see video below), however it’s not exactly common practice. Quite often though there are nests of Crays right at your feet once you jump off headland rocks and also in water no deeper than your height and sometimes even less. They love reef and rocky areas but here’s a few things to look out for:
– Cunjevoi (more commonly known as cungee) covered reef: you’ll often see their feelers sticking out of holes among the cungee, as well as the crevices and caves around the cungee coverd rock.
– Weed & kelp beds with overhanging rocks and small rocks & boulders.
– At the back of caves taking shelter.

To find them you’ll need to do some scanning of your local area first, they take refuge in cracks and crevices smaller than you think possible. When you start out you’ll swim straight over plenty of them simply because you think it’s too small of a spot, but seriously check everywhere! And once you find a spot with Crayfish, REMEMBER IT; there’s only a limited amount of cracks and crevices on a single reef and lobsters will return to holes they know and ‘think’ are safe 😉 With this in mind….lobster populations are not high and can easily be depleted in one area. So if you only go to 1 spot time after time, of course they won’t be there for long. This is why it is essential to find multiple dive locations for lobsters and keep finding more and more so you have minimum affect possible on any given area. Maximum 2 of each species per diver of Eastern Rock Lobsters and Slipper Lobsters.