Don't waste your time using a scoop net during the day. They are only useful at night when you are spotlighting fish that are asleep. Use bait traps instead.
The following link is from ebay and has collapsible brown bait traps. This is what I use but look around before you buy them online because BigW and Kmart sell them for a few dollars, not 30 dollars like the Ebay vendor.
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 4xCOLLAPSIBLE BAIT SHRIMP BAIT FISH TRAP YABBIE NET $30 FREESHIPPING at the best online prices at eBay!
www.ebay.com.au
------------------
Collecting Native Fish
Set up the new aquarium at home well before you go collecting. Do not put wild caught fish into aquariums with domestic captive bred fish like guppies, tetras or anything else from a pet shop because most wild caught fish have never been exposed to common domestic aquarium fish diseases and if you put them together, the wild caught fish often get sick and die. So try to have a new clean tank for the wild caught stuff and make sure it has an established filter. This is more for wild native species and not introduced species living in the wild.
Get some bait traps from BigW or Kmart, or check out fishing and camping stores, and put your name and phone number on tags and attach the tags to the traps. The name and number is usually required by law but different states have different regulations so check with your local Department of fish & game. Try to get dark brown or dark green bait traps, they work better in fresh water. Brightly coloured traps are useless in fresh water.
Get a couple of big buckets with lids, I use 20 & 45 litre plastic buckets/ rubbish bins with lids. The 45 litre plastic rubbish bins can be selt belted into the back seats to stop them moving about.
Get a couple of battery powered air pumps from the pet shop, and get some airline and some plastic multi-coloured airstones with lead weights in the bottom part of the airstone.
Get a Power Inverter from an auto shop. These plug into the cigarette lighter in the car and you can plug a normal aquarium air pump into them and use the pump to aerate the buckets of water on the way home.
-----------------------
If you want to try a net, make one out of pvc pipe and mosquitoe netting (available from Spotlight and places that sell material for clothing). The frame for the net is made from pvc pipe and you make a rectangle about 2-3 foot long x 18inches - 2ft wide. Then sew the mosquitoe netting onto the frame.
Nets can be dragged through weed beds and grasses along the bank. You will get glass shrimp and Gambusia and maybe a few other fish from these areas. But you might also get snakes so be wary.
-----------------------
Bait Traps.
Use a hard strong smelling bait. I use trout pellets from local pet shop. They are high in protein and stay together pretty well when wet. Raw prawn from a bait shop works too. Shell the prawn and squash it a bit then put it in the bait section of the trap. Tie the trap to something, put the trap in the water and wait for the fish.
Put 4 or 5 traps in and spread them out so they are at least 20meters apart. Have some in shallow water and others in deeper water (about 2 foot down), and drop one on the bottom (5 or 6ft down). Leave traps for 30-60minutes and do not stand near the traps watching. Just put the traps in and go sit under a tree.
Have a large plastic storage container for when you go to retrieve the traps. Put the storage container in the water and move the trap into the container whilst still in the water. Then tip most of the water out so there is about 4 inches in the bottom. Lift the container and trap out together and put on bank. Open the zipper on the trap and slowly turn the trap so the zipper opening is in the water and the fish can swim out.
The reason I do this is because lots of bait traps have rough course netting that can damage the fish. So if you can let the fish swim out of the trap it is better for them than flapping about on the net in the trap. Then use a soft aquarium net to transfer the fish to a holding bucket that containers an airstone that is bubbling away.
It's usually a good idea to add a tablespoon of rock salt per 20litres of water. It helps calm the fish and reduce the numbers that go belly up.
Put a lid on the bucket and keep it in the shade. If there's no shade, put the bucket in the water and tie it to something so the river water keeps the bucket water cooler.
NB, most states have restrictions on how many traps you can use, and traps normally need a name and contact number on them. There will also be bag limits for how many fish of each species you can take per day. Check with your local fisheries office. General bag limits for non commercial species are around 10 fish per day but take a few and don't get carried away.
-----------------------
If there are heaps of Gambusia in the waterway there is unlikely to be many native species. However, if you catch out most of the Gambusia over the next month or so, then the natives will move back into the area.
If you catch heaps of Gambusia, you can freeze them, then bury in the garden. The roses love them.
