Got invited by your friends to go prawning (here are some prawning locations you can check out) but don’t know what to do or expect? This article will help you through the entire experience so you can impress your friends with your skills!
1. Choosing Your Bait
Most prawning places provide a prawning rod, a knife to cut bait, and free house bait, usually chopped chicken hearts. However, you may want to upgrade to a better bait such as live earthworms as they can be more effective in attracting prawns!
2. Preparing The Bait
To prepare the chicken heart bait, you’ll need a piece about the size of a red bean. If it’s too big, you can use the knife provided to cut it smaller. Then, pierce the bait onto the hook. Don’t place it too far from the tip or the prawns won’t be attracted; around 0.5cm from the tip should be enough to keep the bait from easily coming off in the water!
Fair warning, the preparation of the earthworm bait will probably be the most uncomfortable part of prawning if you’re squeamish! If you’re easily grossed out, replace this step with trying to persuade your friend to help you.
If you got the earthworm bait, there’s slightly more preparation needed—first, you’ll have to pick out an earthworm from the container (they can sometimes be hiding in a mound of soil). Then, as the earthworm is probably rather long, you’ll have to cut it to about 2cm in length. After that, “thread” the bait onto the hook—it should run along the length of the hook and leave the hook’s metal tip slightly exposed. (If you got your friend to help, this is when you should thank them fervently because they’ll have to help you again every time the bait gets eaten up.)
After placing your bait onto the hook, you’re ready to get in on the action!
3. Into The Water
Before you cast, check that your line isn’t tangled. Also make sure you have a bucket or net bag for you to place your prawn into once you’ve caught it. Once everything’s in place, cast your hook into the water!
After you’ve cast, check that your float is upright and not slanted. Then, sit back and watch out for a bite! If there’s no action after a minute or so, slowly drag your hook to another location at least a foot away. Keep searching for a good spot till you get a bite.
4. The Bite
To check for a bite, watch to see if your float bobs below the surface. Alternatively, you can check manually by moving your rod slightly to the side and seeing if the float sinks. If your float goes under, you could have a bite!
You should be able to tell that there’s a prawn on the other end because you’ll feel some resistance when pulling. If you think you’ve snagged a prawn, it’s time to catch it!
5. The Catch!
Once you’ve snagged a prawn, don’t get over-eager and try to pull it out of the pond immediately—you need to wait around 5 seconds first. While waiting, position your rod so that the rod tip is directly over the prawn (the line should be perpendicular). Then, get the line tight—slowly pull the rod up till there’s some tension. You should see the rod tip bend a little.
After this, the 5 seconds should be up and it’s time to strike! Quickly flick your wrist upwards to hook the prawn. If you followed all the steps, you should have a prawn at the end of your line! Then, continue to raise your rod to get the prawn out of the water. Don’t do it too quickly or your prawn might escape and you’ll have to start all over.
6. Unhooking The Prawn
Congratulations on catching a prawn! To unhook it from your line, simply hold the prawn and pull the hook downwards in the opposite direction that it went into the prawn. If you got a large prawn with pincers, break the pincers off before attempting to unhook it to avoid getting pinched!
Once you’ve successfully unhooked the prawn, place it into your bucket or net bag and catch some more!
What To Do With Your Catch
It’s the end of your session and you’re (hopefully) the proud owner of a bunch of prawns. What can you do with them? Well, some prawning places let you grill your prawns there so you can enjoy them fresh. Alternatively, you can bag them up and bring them home for cooking later on.
What are you waiting for? Go forth and give prawning a try!
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