Victorian Fisheries Authority chief executive officer Travis Dowling said there were many popular spots in northern and north-east Victoria where crayfish could be caught.
Crayfish are primarily caught by boat-based fishers using labelled hoop nets, but can also be caught more simply with a piece of meat on string.
"If you’re new to freshwater cray fishing, it’s a great activity to try with the kids, you can do it in some beautiful settings and you don’t need a heap of gear to get started,” Mr Dowling said.
“It could be a family camping trip at Lake Eildon or one of our iconic rivers like the Goulburn, Kiewa or Ovens.
“Many generations of fishers have grown up catching crays from a tinny each winter and we want to see that tradition continuing for future generations.”
Mr Dowling said the VFA’s new conservation hatchery at Snobs Creek was being used to grow craylings to boost wild populations.
VFA fisheries officers will be patrolling hotspots this winter, with a particular focus on the handling and measuring of spiny crays to ensure they’re within the legal size range of between 10cm and 12cm.
Tatura-based VFA officer Daniel Gleeson said the measurements needed to be taken of the main body shell, known as the carapace length, defined as being measured from the rear of the eye socket to the near end of the shell before the tail.
“Knowing how to measure your cray helps us keep the fishery in good shape, so we’ll be out helping fishers ensure they’re doing it the right way and we’ll have plenty of our free Murray spiny crayfish measures to make that even easier,” Mr Gleeson said.
“Another thing we’ll be helping educate fishers on is the correct way to handle a cray to allow it to be measured.
“We often see anglers not placing the measure in the rear of the eye socket, not measuring to the rear of the carapace or placing the measure alongside the cray, which makes it hard to get an accurate measurement.
“The legal range or slot limit, is important because it protects those large breeding crayfish that will produce the next generation of craylings as well as the younger crays that haven’t had a chance to grow up a bit.”
The bag limit is two crayfish per day with a statewide possession limit of four per person at any one time.
For more information, visit: https://vfa.vic.gov.au/fishingguide
