Best Way to catch

[Baccus]

Since it has finally rained here and we have actually had a decent amount I have been wanting to go hunting for fresh water crabs which I know are in the area but seem to be especially good hiders. So I was wondering of anyone who has gone freshwater crab catching what was the best method?

1. Set a trap (opera house or yabby trap) at night leave for an hour or two then check it?

2. Check creeks and drainage systems by touch light ? I'm guessing that crabs would have tell tail reflective eyes like shrimp tend to.

3. Keep hunting around edges of creeks etc in the hope of spying a roaming crab?

4. Scoop net into flooded grass areas or where the water is pooling but not necessarily running hard.

I do know if we get floods in Rockhampton again and it makes its way onto the board walk area of the riverbank in the CBD there will be hundreds of crabs and mostly gudgeons all getting washed up on to the board walk in the lapping waves as the water keeps rising. But I was hoping for a much less dramatic way of finding some fresh water crabs.

 

[jayc]

I'd go with #1.

Seems like the most convenient. 

[Shaggy]

Did you end up going for a crab hunt? 

One method used to survey benthic creatures is to fill a mesh basket with rocks and wood, tie it off with some string like you would a yabby net, and then let it sit on the floor of the water body for a couple days. Come back with a fine net bigger than the basket, and very gently lift the basket up and quickly slide the net under the basket and then lift them both up out of the water together. Then all you have to do is gently shake the rocks and wood above the net and rinse them off and see what lands in the net. Of course you would need a fairly fine net as Amarinus lacustris are so small, and you may need to sift through detritus a bit since the net would be so fine.