Many inland streams and dams are home to small crustaceans locally called yabbies (Cherax Quadricarinatus), and kids love to catch them. They're edible and rather nice. Indeed a colleague once hosted a Japanese delegation and served them yabbies from his farm dam to their great excitement and approval.
Well yesterday we went to nearby Dumaresq dam, just 15 km or so from home, at Max's request and we took along pieces of string and food to tie on at the end - chicken pieces, ham and that sort of thing. At one stage we had about seven pieces of string dangling in the lake. Alas we didn't even have a nibble as far as we could tell and when we left all the pieces of meat were intact.
Nevertheless, it was a lovely late afternoon excursion amid some more picturesque scenery in the shadow of Mount Duval, which is about 1400m high and completely covered in forest. And, by the way, real summer has arrived. It was 31C yesterday and 33C today!
The final picture shows Cherax Quadricarinatus, but the picture is from the internet - we didn't see one in the flesh, but they were there!
AS
2 comments:
The place to catch crustaceans with simple equipment is Salcombe, Devon, UK. There, armed with a piece of string and a bit of decayed bacon tied on the end you can haul up crabs galore from the sea below the harbour wall. Alas they are not edible but it is fun to keep them in a bucket for a while and later return them to the sea. Some must have been caught dozens of times. Richard.
Same technique, but you got a better result. However, the yabbies are ediible.
Tony
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