# NSW: The saga of the giant muddie



## kiwipea (Jun 17, 2008)

Instructions from swmbo was fish n crabs for Easter please, ok, so best to get out there Wednesday or Thursday before the Easter holiday masses hit the Central Coast. And I was told fishing was a no,no on Good Friday :? 
Keeping a close watch on weather forecast didn't look good SW winds 20 to 30knts and rain  
Should I contact Ronnie the crab master of the Central Coast ? no maybe not, a bit of doubt if will get out at all.
Thursday Morning looking alright so quick chuck every thing in or on the car and head off to Brisbane Waters, but best pick a spot that is sheltered from the SW winds which were predicted to get up to 25+ knts.

Well Ronnies spot X was out of the question, exposed to the wind so headed across the bay to more sheltered waters 
was fishing blind as knew nothing about the area, sounder showing a depth of 1.8m and just off the weed so dropped anchor and set up my 2 crab lines with strips of mullet. Flicked out 2 rods with mullet cubes and of course caught and released a lot of nursery bream. Did manage one keeper, a 33cm bream so fish for good Friday ;-) 
Also managed to land 2 small tailor, so one went on as a live bait on a balloon line and see if any of of the Mulloway that are sometimes around could be interested. Something burst the balloon but the livebait came back intact :?

But anyway the crab: Checking the crab lines every 5 minutes or so when hello, what the heck, this is pretty weighty, too heavy for a crab :? must be a bloody octopus. As the bait gets closer to the yak, bloody hell it is a mud crab and a monster to boot. How on earth am I going be able to net and get this thing in the yak. Get him up to just below surface, he was hanging on and not letting his feed of mullet go, scooped the net under and there he was netted, but then when tried to lift net completely out of water the aluminum net frame bent under the weight so had to grab rim and it was a two handed drag into the yak with this bloody monster's claws a bit close to my pinkies. Sort of folded netting part over and laid it down crab and all, forward of my feet out of harms way. It was then i realized the old heart was pumping a million mph and I just sat there for a few minutes to come back to reality. Another yakker said in a recent post on his crabbing " who would have thought a crab would get the heart racing". Believe me it really does.
Anyway next task is to get crab into my large blue "nappy" bucket. Well somehow I did without much drama, threw a wet sack on top of crab clipped the lid on. Mission accomplished.

But it doesn't end there. Had promised the next muddie i caught to swmbo's cousin who was going to cook it up in some Singapore chilli crab dish. So stopped off at their house on way home, gave them the bucket complete with crab and wet sack covering it. The plan was to keep it alive in bucket for a get together lunch Easter Sunday. 
Got a phone call Saturday morning, the crab's escaped :shock: :shock: 
About 5.00am they woke to this knocking on the door, who the heck is it at this time of day. Got out of bed and it was the laundry door that was a knocking and on opening it the crab was there, reared up, claws out then charged off across the hall into the lounge. Somehow it had manage to climb out the bucket and was making his escape. 
They threw a couple of towels over the crab and was able to return to the bucket, lid firmly clipped on and a concrete block on top of lid. He will be cooked up today she said, I am not going be able to sleep with the thought that a live mud crab might be loose about house.








Statistics: Main shell was 17cm X 23cm & claw to claw outstretched 85cm and weighed in at 3.3 kg

kp


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## mrwalker (Feb 23, 2009)

You caretainly did your duty regards fish and crabs, thats a big muddy, cheers, Dave.


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## kritter67 (May 17, 2009)

Nice crawly mate , how i miss them mmmmmmm chilli muddie 8) . My step dad had a prawner [trawler] back in the day , he used to bring home muddies in season, one day he brought home a very large one that tried the same tactic to escape and lodged itself behind the chest freezer . The only way it could be coaxed out was with the broom handle, which it crushed to half its thickness :shock: . Would do some serious damage to a stray digit for sure  .
Hope it tastes great you lucky *#%@!

K---------


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

You have no idea how hungry for crab I am after reading that....and I'm not into seafood. Well done, that's a monster.


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## malhal (Jul 8, 2008)

Well done Evan that's a nice muddie.
We have to catch up for a fish soon.
Cheers Mal


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## GregW (Jan 26, 2009)

You must really enjoy crab! I would not have something with claws that size on a Kayak with me. I can just imagine how painful it would be if one of those claws got a hold of me while trying to place the beast in a container, especially considering most fish caught end up between my legs initially. Job well done! I hope he eats as good as he looks!


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## yaktopia (Nov 30, 2008)

That's the crab that ate Sydney.


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## jokinna (Mar 2, 2010)

you werent kidding evan. that crab HUGE! :shock:

chilli crab...mmmmm


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## ronston (Oct 21, 2008)

Now thats what i call a Muddie, Well done Evan. Its been quiet a few years since i got one that big, it would have put up a great fight & how you got it in that net of yours has got me. :shock: Cheers Ronnie.


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## kiwipea (Jun 17, 2008)

Thanks guys for all your replies, comments and whatever, all really appreciated.
Epilogue to the saga: well he did not end up as Singapore chilli crab but instead cooked conventionally in boiling salty water then served up with a Filipino sauce mix. The consensus of the dining ladies was the crab was really sweet and something special for Easter seafood fare.

kp


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## butterfingers (Aug 21, 2009)

cooked in boiling water? do you have gas jets under your bath


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## ohagas (Dec 4, 2006)

Fantastic tale Evan. Great story for the pub. Congratulations on catching him (twice).


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## fishinnut (Oct 4, 2009)

Thats a cracker crab, haven't seen one like that for a few years


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## garmac (Oct 5, 2008)

Great muddie Evan!!

Makes all the efforts worth while

Cheers
Gareth


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