June 1, 2024
The start of winter marks one of the most anticipated fishing open seasons on the freshwater fishing calendar – Murray spiny freshwater crayfish season.
On 1 June, recfishers will be searching for the world’s second largest freshwater crayfish across north and north-east Victoria. So, grab your beanies and thermals as this very limited open season only lasts for the 3 months of winter (1 June – 31 August).
Considered a delicacy by many recfishers, they’re mainly found in the Murray and Murrumbidgee River catchments and their tributaries. In Victoria, the Mitta Mitta, Kiewa, Ovens and Goulburn River catchments are the places to go to catch a feed of delicious Murray crays.
Within Victoria, Murray crayfish inhabits freshwater habitats ranging from clear, flowing streams to still, muddy pools, often hiding among submerged vegetation or rocky crevices.
Murray crayfish are a slow growing species and take up to 9 years to reach legal length. They do not grow continuously, instead they grow in stages at each moult. They’re typically more active during the winter months.
Murray crayfish breed once a year typically at the end of autumn when the water temperatures drop. After breeding occurs, the eggs or ova (berries) incubate under the tail of the female crayfish for 4-6 months. Once hatched, the juveniles remain for another 3-4 weeks, moulting twice, before leaving the mother.
With this in mind, it’s important to remember that you can’t take or possess female spiny freshwater crayfish carrying eggs (in berry), or remove their eggs. So, if you do catch a berried female, or a cray carrying young, return it to the water immediately.
As there has been a decline over time in our Murray cray populations, it’s resulted in a number of rules and regulations that we must follow when targeting Murray crays to ensure a sustainable fishery for future generations.
Before heading out to catch some crays, check out the Victorian rules on the Victorian Fisheries Authority’s Murray Spiny Freshwater Crayfish webpage. In particular, fishers should take care with the measurement of crays by making sure you have a gauge or callipers to measure them accurately.
Murray spiny freshwater crayfish open season runs from 1 June to 31 August annually and is only applicable to for waters north of the Great Dividing Range.
If you are planning to catch a cray this open season, the rules include:
- A slot limit – a minimum legal size of 10cm carapace length and maximum of 12cm carapace length. This is measured from the back of the eye socket to the rear of the carapace.
- A bag limit of 2.
- A state-wide possession limit of 4.
- Crayfish must be retained whole or in carcass form.
- Female crayfish that are carrying eggs or young under their tails (in berry) must be returned to the water immediately and unharmed. Eggs must not be removed.
- You can collect Murray crayfish with selected permitted methods which can be viewed via the Victorian Fisheries Authority here.
If you are heading up to the Murray River, remember you will need a NSW Fishing Licence and only the section between Hume Weir and the Tocumwal road bridge is open during the season. Further information about NSW rules go to the NSW Primary Industries freshwater recreational fishing rules page.
As a threatened species, the Victorian Fisheries Authority are working hard to recover our Murray spiny freshwater crayfish populations in Northern Victoria. At the end of last year, they released 150 juvenile crayfish into the Little Murray near Swan Hill and a further 150 into the lower Goulburn River near Shepparton. The Victorian Fisheries Authority will also be growing crays at the new conservation hatchery at Snobs Creek to boost wild populations in our waterways.
