By LES PEARSON and JANE WILSON

THERE is an air of excitement among locals as yabbies start to run for the first time in several years. “There have been quite a few around lately,” Hook, Line and Sinker manager John Cockshell said. “We’ve heard of some good catches in Salt Creek (near Renmark) and in Katarapko (Creek).” With some reasonable flows coming through early last week, the freshwater crustaceans were out and about. “You generally see more of them about with a high river, where they get good natural flows through, which enables them to breed,” Mr Cockshell said. He said yabbies are able to breed relatively quickly, instinctively taking advantage of any influx of water to multiply. Knowing when they are on the run is a different issue all together, Mr Cockshell encouraging locals and visitors to keep their ears close to the ground. “We generally hear from others when the yabbies are around,” he said. “You find out pretty quickly, word travels fast.” While locals tend to keep their yabbying locations to themselves, Mr Cockshell said adventurous visitors can be richly rewarded for trying in different areas not frequented by those in the know. “They (locals) tell me you can’t catch anything there, and I just ask them if they’ve ever fished there, and they say ‘no’,” Mr Cockshell laughed. Although lucrative locations are kept secret, different techniques for catching the delicious creatures are not. “The main trap used is an Opera House net style, which you just set and come back to check it the next day,” Mr Cockshell said. “When they’re running though, if you use a hoop net, which you check every 20 minutes, you can catch quite a few.” For bait, “carp is very popular, ‘roo bones, or anything that is going at the moment,” Mr Cockshell added. Loxton North’s Darren Oxlade has been out and about netting a few himself. “I had heard from a few blokes that they were getting a few (yabbies), so we thought we’d have a go,” he said. “We caught a couple of big ones where we go camping, so we thought we would try in shallower water and caught some more. “It would have been nice to have a few more but it was good to have a taste because it is different to eating seafood.” He said since the 90s, yabbies have been reasonably scarce, almost making them a premium delicacy today. “We were really spoiled in the Riverland in the past but now we really appreciate them when we catch some,” Mr Oxlade said. As for anglers looking for fish around the place, word has it they are best served heading towards Waikerie. “There have been some good catches of red fin and golden perch below Lock Two,” Mr Cockshell said. “There is not so many up the top end. There were some good reports of fish in Ral Ral Creek but I haven’t heard much from there for a while now.”