Random yabbies in melbourne?

[Howard Moon]

when we were kids we used to do stuff..

wed go out on our bikes, roam around... just generally do, ...stuff!

one of the things we would do was go yabbying

not with a net, but we would get a piece of string with a chunk of meat on the end, sneak onto peoples farms, to their dam... and pull away at the string until the big blue claw came to view.. then BANG..yoink it out by its antennae..

it wasn't always on farms, there were a few local lakes or ponds where it also happened..

anyway, fast forward 20 years - I am sick of my kids just looking at screens..

I want to take them yabbying this weekend.

does anyone know anywhere around Melbourne where this still may be able to happen? preferably not on somebodies property...

anyone know of any local community lake or pond type things that are known to be populated???

cheers

 

[Pweter]

when we were kids we used to do stuff..

wed go out on our bikes, roam around... just generally do, ...stuff!

one of the things we would do was go yabbying

not with a net, but we would get a piece of string with a chunk of meat on the end, sneak onto peoples farms, to their dam... and pull away at the string until the big blue claw came to view.. then BANG..yoink it out by its antennae..

it wasn't always on farms, there were a few local lakes or ponds where it also happened..

anyway, fast forward 20 years - I am sick of my kids just looking at screens..

I want to take them yabbying this weekend.

does anyone know anywhere around Melbourne where this still may be able to happen? preferably not on somebodies property...

anyone know of any local community lake or pond type things that are known to be populated???

cheers

Are there any old quarries around? Where I grew up there were quite a few old quarries, small scale ones, which would house yabbies. They'd bury themselves down deep when the quarries would almost dry out, then be out in big numbers after the rains had put plenty of water into them.

I remember one that was about 8 inches deep when we went there. We had small hand nets and the yabbies were everywhere. Put the net gently behind them, then stomp in front of them, they ping backwards into the net.

Also a tip for cooking them - put them to sleep in an ice slurry, then before you cook grab the middle tail flap, gently twist it until you hear a click, do the same the in the other direction, then gently pull it off. The s**t string will come with it so you won't have to worry about it when eating.

Fresh white bread, plenty of butter, yabby tails, salt, pepper. Heaven.

 

[TheBrightSide]

Great idea.
Never caught yabbies, but I have fond memories of collecting tadpoles (not to eat)

 

[Runk]

Howard Moon - Out North Wet try either Woodlands Park or Queens Park in Essendon/Moonee Ponds. We used to go there and yabby.

 

[Howard Moon]

Hmmm I thought queen's Park was rocks!

Have to revisit my memory to think if there's any muddy banks anywhere

 

[eth-dog]

I never went yabbying but I know there are some yabbies in Gardiner's Creek, Glen Iris.

 

[DERO]

We used to get them in a park on Glenelg Street in Mentone. As far as I know they are still there, although you'd probably need a bloody fishing license these days.

 

[Doss]

I grew up backing onto Merri Creek and I can confidently say I never once saw yabbies in it or knew of them being there.

 

[Zephyr Spirally]

My dad used to take me yabbying quite a bit in the late 70s and early 80s. We’d go to various spots around Bulla and Sunbury. I can’t tell you exactly where now (I think we were trespassing on farms) but I reckon any water catchment in that area will be a winner. Same goes for the Kilmore area.
Gotta say though, back then the yabbies were not that interesting compared with the dead sheep found near the dams, in various states of decomposition, from freshly dead to bleached white skulls! Fascinating stuff for any kid under 10.

 

[Howard Moon]

Are there any old quarries around? Where I grew up there were quite a few old quarries, small scale ones, which would house yabbies. They'd bury themselves down deep when the quarries would almost dry out, then be out in big numbers after the rains had put plenty of water into them.

I remember one that was about 8 inches deep when we went there. We had small hand nets and the yabbies were everywhere. Put the net gently behind them, then stomp in front of them, they ping backwards into the net.

Also a tip for cooking them - put them to sleep in an ice slurry, then before you cook grab the middle tail flap, gently twist it until you hear a click, do the same the in the other direction, then gently pull it off. The s**t string will come with it so you won't have to worry about it when eating.

Fresh white bread, plenty of butter, yabby tails, salt, pepper. Heaven.

shockingly i'm not an eater!

catch and releaser...

 

[Howard Moon]

Great idea.
Never caught yabbies, but I have fond memories of collecting tadpoles (not to eat)

can you tell me how and where to catch tadpoles? and can you keep them til they turn into frogs?

 

[Howard Moon]

I grew up backing onto Merri Creek and I can confidently say I never once saw yabbies in it or knew of them being there.

im no expert, but I always assumed they were about in a more closed off environment like a dam or lake, rather than a flowing creek

then I went to healsville sanctuary, in the platypus exhibit and they said our freshwater creeks and rivers are teeming with them!, they scavenge on the bottom.

the merri creek was my dads childhood haunt, might ask him.

he reckons they used to ride an old car bonnet down the creek like the solo man - times have changed!

 

[Howard Moon]

My dad used to take me yabbying quite a bit in the late 70s and early 80s. We’d go to various spots around Bulla and Sunbury. I can’t tell you exactly where now (I think we were trespassing on farms) but I reckon any water catchment in that area will be a winner. Same goes for the Kilmore area.
Gotta say though, back then the yabbies were not that interesting compared with the dead sheep found near the dams, in various states of decomposition, from freshly dead to bleached white skulls! Fascinating stuff for any kid under 10.

yeh sunbury/bulla was my yabbie haunt - also loads of swim holes around there in the summer - trees with rope swings - daredevil cliff jumps

ahh childhood!

if only mum knew..

 

[Pweter]

shockingly i'm not an eater!

catch and releaser...

Do you eat crab, crayfish, prawns or lobster? If so, do yourself a favour and eat yabbies. We always purged the muddy water out of them first though. We'd fill the wheelbarrow with water and put them in, replacing the water a couple of times over several hours before cooking.

 

[Doss]

Having said what I did, the Merri has been cleaned up a lot compared to 20-25 years ago, so that may have changed.

There was a rumour that platypuses were seen in it not that long ago; that would have been unthinkable in the early 1990s.

 

[Howard Moon]

Do you eat crab, crayfish, prawns or lobster? If so, do yourself a favour and eat yabbies. We always purged the muddy water out of them first though. We'd fill the wheelbarrow with water and put them in, replacing the water a couple of times over several hours before cooking.

nah, I eat zero seafood

its quite boring on xmas day when those savages are eating prawns and cracking shells and what not...

I have to retreat into the other room

 

[Howard Moon]

Having said what I did, the Merri has been cleaned up a lot compared to 20-25 years ago, so that may have changed.

There was a rumour that platypuses were seen in it not that long ago; that would have been unthinkable in the early 1990s.

my partner and boy were down there 2 weekends ago - Leo said mum look a snake!

she figured it was a blue tounge.. nup, tail end of a tiger snake slithering off about a foot away from him

woops!

the dangers of merri creek

 

[Pweter]

nah, I eat zero seafood

its quite boring on xmas day when those savages are eating prawns and cracking shells and what not...

I have to retreat into the other room

 

[TheBrightSide]

can you tell me how and where to catch tadpoles? and can you keep them til they turn into frogs?

I can’t remember exactly where we caught them, but it was a local river so it must have been the Maribyrnong.
Among the reeds there were tonnes of them, you could put a cup in the water and scoop out a dozen at a time.

Me and the old man made a fish pond in the back yard (he did all the work, I mostly got in the way) and we put them in there. It was cool watching them grow, first the back legs came out, then the front legs, then they were gone. Hopped off into a brave new world. Though I remember one frog stayed aound the pond for a while, maybe a week or two. It was pretty cool.

 

[TheBrightSide]

Having said what I did, the Merri has been cleaned up a lot compared to 20-25 years ago, so that may have changed.

There was a rumour that platypuses were seen in it not that long ago; that would have been unthinkable in the early 1990s.

I saw a platypus in Merri Creek about 10 years ago. I was with someone who also swears it was a platypus.
We were doing some work at CERES, and were told to report it to the eco department there.
They mentioned they were getting a few sightings, so it probably was one, though it possibly could have been a giant water rat.