Pink Nippers / Saltwater Yabbies

Found in most estuary systems throughout Australia, pink nippers or saltwater yabbies will vary in size and numbers depending on the environment and whether the area where you are pumping for them has been worked over too much. To find them, all you need to do is look for the holes that they leave on the surface of the sand or mud.

Over the many years that I have pumped for nippers I have found that it is essential to have a pump that is not too short, while also ensuring that the rubber rings, that create suction, are in good working order. Once you have located a series of nipper holes, place the end of the pump over the hole and, while drawing the handle out of the pump, you will need to push down with the other. After removing the pump from the hole and expelling the sand or mud, you will then need to repeat this process over again, in the same hole, until you suck out the nippers. About five to seven pumps are required for each hole, to get the maximum number of nippers out.

Technique 1

Many anglers who own a boat and use soft plastics and hard bodied lures will usually be chasing bream, trevally, kingfish and many other fish species that live in these areas.

Have you ever thought of rigging up a pink nipper? It can be unweighted, have a very small running ball sinker or even a small running sinker onto a swivel and a leader of about 50cm.

Try throwing any of these rigs into the same places where you would throw a lure, slowly working the same area you would with a lure.

Technique 2

If you are going to try and keep nippers alive for a while, you will need to either change the water at regular intervals or invest in a reliable aerator. Make sure that you take out any dead nippers as they will contaminate the water.

On the other hand, when you have finished fishing for the day and you have nippers left, tip them out onto paper towel and then pat them dry with another paper towel. Once this is done, place about 15 into a plastic food container and put them in the freezer as they are. You will amazed how well they freeze and how good a bait they are when they have thawed out.

Technique 3

Have you ever fished the flats while using either a soft plastic, blade or hard bodied lure, wading the flats? I have plenty of times. Why don’t you try using a pink nipper the next time that you go?

Instead of using the ‘running sinker rig’ or the ‘hook and running sinker rig’, try using a medium sized ‘bobby cork rig’ and suspend the nipper under the float. Much like fishing for luderick, however now you are targeting bream, flathead, whiting, flounder, grunter and anything else that feeds over the flats. I find using this technique to be most effective while the tide is falling.

Have you ever been using pink nippers and you get a bite, only to strike and find that when you wind in you either have no nipper of just the body? Whether you are using a long or short shanked hook, I would make sure that it is a bait keeper style. Then I would make sure that the hook point and barb come out where the head is. Sure, it may kill the nipper, but it doesn't usually last long before something eats it. Lastly you need to tie two or three half hitches around the tail to secure it.

Not every estuary or bay will have pink nippers, so you may have to find one that does. This doesn't mean that fish in those estuaries or bays won't eat them. Everything from a toad, stingray and shovel nosed shark, to leatherjacket, mulloway and kingfish will eat a pink nipper. It's just a matter of putting in the hard yards to pump them or maybe you have a local tackle shop that sells them.

Suggested Okuma Combos

Barbarian Spin Rods - BN-S-702NT, X-Light, 7'0", 2-4kg, Nibble Tip for the boat in the estuary or off the shore.

LRF Gen2 Spin Rods - LRF2-S-742L, Light, 7'4", 2-5kg is great for when you are getting those very sensitive bites from whiting, bream, and trevally.

Dynadrag Baitfeeder reels for the estuaries for bream, whiting, trevally, flathead, etc.

Ceymar HD Threadline Reels - CHD-3000HA

Alaris Threadline (Spin) Reels – ALS20 and 30.

Line & Leader Selection

Platypus Pulse X4 Braid for those real snaggy areas.

Platypus Hard Armour FC Fluorocarbon for your leader material.

Platypus Pulse Mono straight through for over the flats.