Yabby's Almost on the Move

 

With prime Yabby catching season just around the corner, the conversation in Pub's, workplace smoko rooms and of course online is changing to one of anticipation as anglers minds switch from Murray Cod to this succulent delight.

Rules have changed in recent years for both sides of the border of the Murray River, and the traditional Yabby traps (Opera Houses) are prohibited. This is to help prevent inadvertent capture of native wildlife.

The Pyramid style lift nets are now the preferred net type, as these give native turtles etc an opportunity to escape unharmed.

Bait - I've tried a variety of bait over years including, chicken carcass, meaty beef or lamb bones, cat food in either sachet form or the small foil cans that can be easily pierced, as well as any old meat in the freezer that has passed its used by date.

At different times one has always outperformed the other, but the next trip it may be the other way around. Its hard to have a definitive answer so I believe its best to have a variety of bait with you on any given trip.

Cooking #1 - Nowadays it reasonably affordable to purchase good Yabby cookers from stores like BCF, Anaconda, and Amazon they can be easily stored away for the next trip and its far easier to cook on location rather than try and bring live Yabbys home.

I use this style of cooker (right) which can be purchased for around the $200 mark from the above mentioned stores.

It has served me well, heats very quickly and is reasonably easy to clean.  Or otherwise, just simply  steal your wife's biggest pot and hope she doesn't notice.

Location - The more remote the better, the clay tainted waters of the Darling River served us well during the floods with good large sized Yabby's. Whilst during the floods I caught far more in the Murray, but they didn't have the size of the big Darling River ones.

If you can sweet talk Station owners on either the Anabranch or Darling, that would be your best shot, but never enter property uninvited.

The below video was one of the rare occasions where flood waters saw us catch a number of Yabby's, but being a boys trip, the more than occasional beverage may have gotten in the road of catching even more.

Cooking #2 - There's nothing (in my opinion) better than an inland seafood cocktail. Prepared with lettuce, avocado a sauce of your liking and of course a handful of Yabby's.

For something a little different you could always try a Yabby and Murray Cod salad prepared as per below, just remember Murray Cod are not in season at the moment so you will have to visit Gol Gol Fisheries to purchase one.