IT TAKES more than a bit of skill to snag a prawn, SARAH HUDSON says
When being hunted in shallow waters, prawns have a remarkable ability to shoot off in any direction.
Their little legs kicking - akin to a centipede - ensure they swiftly elude their captors.
So when you're dressed in waders in pitch black darkness, knee-deep in icy waters, with a long light in one hand and net in the other, trying to catch one of the blighters, they can at first be tricky to pin down.
"The prawns are attracted to the light, so you've got to use it in an arc, a semi-circle," seasoned fisherman Jack Day says.
Jack, like his father, grandfather and five brothers, has been fishing the waters of Lakes Entrance all his life and now runs the Riviera Bait and Tackle shop in the town's main street, with a commercial licence to catch bait prawn in the lakes system.
So he is well placed to teach a beginner.
"You can catch them around here after dark any time of the year - depending on the moon - but most people do it in the warmer months. Anybody can catch a prawn, there's no skill to it. You've just got to scoop them up."
For a novice, this is easier said than done: by night's end just five prawns have been bagged. However, for those with a little more skill, prawns - which are featured in today's Country Living food pages - belong to a lucrative industry, with Lakes Entrance Victoria's prawn capital.
Dale Sumner is general manager of the Lakes Entrance Fishermen's Co-Operative, the biggest co-op in Australia for the diversity of catch and amount of fish transported.
He estimates that in a good season, about 100 tonnes of Eastern King prawns are caught by commercial operators, with a third of that being sold through the cooperative and the rest being sold independently.
About 50 licensed commercial fishermen operate out of the co-op, with about 40 per cent of the catch - valued at $8.8 million - being tiger flathead, about 12 per cent - or $4.8 million - gummy shark, and the remainder being other species such as bream and blue grenadier.
"Fishermen really are farmers of the water. But unlike a farmer who knows where his crop or cows are, they are hunters as well," says Dale.
Brian Bolding, a commercial prawn fisherman, sells his catch from his Ferrymans Seafood Cafe on Lakes Entrance harbour.
He has been fishing these waters for nearly 30 years, catching about 10 tonnes per year.
And once you've caught prawns, what's the best way to eat them? Well, the consensus is to keep it basic.
Jack Day's family has them pan-fried with a little sweet chilli and barbecue sauce.
And Brian Bolding prefers them sauted in garlic, ginger, lemongrass and with salt and pepper to taste.
The bag limit is 30 litres for whole prawns. A licence is a must and a two-day one can be bought from fishing stores for about $6.
