Crayfish?
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I don't think anyone will mind provided your after the signal reds, they're regarded as a pest anyway. Might be worth checking to see who owns or is responsible for the stretch you intend to trap. You'll probably find they look favourably on any trapping but better to seek permission in the first place. Traps certainly work, on a local lake we can remove hundreds in a week without making a dent on the resident population, there's so many the traps are just placed on a fire - a lot of wasted food granted, but there isn't enough of a demand for them and they have to be got rid of.
There have been a number of threads on this, I tried to get going last year with just a couple of traps, but never got going in the end. Have a search for some of the old threads, but...
...you need to get a license from the Environment Agency (ring them for a free information pack) although the license is free. That allows you to use a specified number of traps in a specified location for a specified period of time. The license really seems to be geared towards commercial trapping or control. You are supposed to submit reports of how many crayfish you trap, but for me I anticipated it would have been a matter of 10-20 at a time, for personal consumption.
You also need permission from whoever controls the water itself. In my case I was told that someone was already trapping, so I couldn't, despite the fact that I only wanted to use one or two traps.
You also need controlled storage if you are going to keep the crayfish (e.g. keeping them alive for eating the next day) although in areas where they are regarded as an infestation (which Bath may well come under) you can store them without special storage facilities. This is to try and stop them spreading into non-infested waters. These areas are defined by postcode.
You may well find that a local angling club would welcome trapping, but mine was for the local town controlled waters.
That's about as much help as I can offer for now.
Geoff
...you need to get a license from the Environment Agency (ring them for a free information pack) although the license is free. That allows you to use a specified number of traps in a specified location for a specified period of time. The license really seems to be geared towards commercial trapping or control. You are supposed to submit reports of how many crayfish you trap, but for me I anticipated it would have been a matter of 10-20 at a time, for personal consumption.
You also need permission from whoever controls the water itself. In my case I was told that someone was already trapping, so I couldn't, despite the fact that I only wanted to use one or two traps.
You also need controlled storage if you are going to keep the crayfish (e.g. keeping them alive for eating the next day) although in areas where they are regarded as an infestation (which Bath may well come under) you can store them without special storage facilities. This is to try and stop them spreading into non-infested waters. These areas are defined by postcode.
You may well find that a local angling club would welcome trapping, but mine was for the local town controlled waters.
That's about as much help as I can offer for now.
Geoff
I'd say traps are the best way, baited with some smelly rotting fish to attract them. Another good way if your river is very shallow is to paddle with a small net and lift up the rocks for them (in summer of course!!).
I keep meaning to cook them over an open fire as seen in RM Wild Food but usually they just get the boiling treatment.
I keep meaning to cook them over an open fire as seen in RM Wild Food but usually they just get the boiling treatment.
i go to mildenhall on the river lark, i can catch up to 50 or more crayfish in under 3 hours, my method is simple, i use a small telescopic fishing rod, a ledger and a large sea fishing hook, my bait is venison or beef cubes, but i make sure ive left it outside in a container,
for 3 or 4 days, so that when u get it out to put on your hook, it smells so rank it makes you gag, but this bait to the crayfish, is like a sunday dinner to us, i wizz the bait out and wait for the end of the rod to move, it never fails and when u reel the bait in theres often 3 or 4 crayfish hanging on fighting over the bait, i call it ''cray bashing'' and its fun, u never wait long as they sworm the bait in minutes, ive used pots but u never get as many as when u go ''cray bashing'' try it ,its great fun and gives u buckets full in a short time ,if there small chuck em back as next cast will be a big one..
as for poaching...who cares , im sick of all the cant do this cant do that, ithink yourl be let off if u were stopped, not as if your binge drinking is it, and it doesnt hurt anyone does it, oh but remember if u use a trap use a small one as otter cubs can swim in and drown, happy bashing
for 3 or 4 days, so that when u get it out to put on your hook, it smells so rank it makes you gag, but this bait to the crayfish, is like a sunday dinner to us, i wizz the bait out and wait for the end of the rod to move, it never fails and when u reel the bait in theres often 3 or 4 crayfish hanging on fighting over the bait, i call it ''cray bashing'' and its fun, u never wait long as they sworm the bait in minutes, ive used pots but u never get as many as when u go ''cray bashing'' try it ,its great fun and gives u buckets full in a short time ,if there small chuck em back as next cast will be a big one..
as for poaching...who cares , im sick of all the cant do this cant do that, ithink yourl be let off if u were stopped, not as if your binge drinking is it, and it doesnt hurt anyone does it, oh but remember if u use a trap use a small one as otter cubs can swim in and drown, happy bashing
What do they taste like? I'm not likely to get permission to either a) cray bash or b) set traps - my local rivers being the Itchen and the Test...
They taste not a million miles away from prawns etc, but they have there own taste and are D E L I C I O U S!
If you go "normal" fishing on the Itchen or Test then the likelihood is you will catch a crayfish at some point, especially if using a smelly bait like cheese. The ones I catch in this way go in my bucket for tea. So its not as if Im sat on the bank next to a cray pot so you tend not to get bothered by bailiffs etc. Obviously you need to make sure you have a rod license and permit to fish on the river.
If you go "normal" fishing on the Itchen or Test then the likelihood is you will catch a crayfish at some point, especially if using a smelly bait like cheese. The ones I catch in this way go in my bucket for tea. So its not as if Im sat on the bank next to a cray pot so you tend not to get bothered by bailiffs etc. Obviously you need to make sure you have a rod license and permit to fish on the river.
And don't get caught throwing the samll ones back in, as I believe you can face prosecution for that. Far better to jusy stamp on them and throw their remains in a bush, but you cannot put them back in the river alive or dead!
That's right. Check out the Environment Agency Crayfish pack I mentioned in an earlier posting in this thread. You can indeed be fined for putting them back in the river /lake that you caught them from, as introduction of an alien species (even though you just caught them from that water). Remember that the license to trap crays is free, and you could be fined if you don't have it.
I'm tempted to do what BushcraftBob suggests, go fishing with a rod and line under my rod license, and either drop a pot or dropnet next to my pitch or deliberately fish for crays (having of course obtained the EA license first).
Geoff
You can buy traps in the UK but this website gives some good information on them
>> http://www.trapperarne.com/index.html
You could try here for the traps.
??? http://www.collinsnets.co.uk/
>> http://www.trapperarne.com/index.html
You could try here for the traps.
??? http://www.collinsnets.co.uk/
I plunged a net into the canal and dragged it along. Pulled out three. I didnt eat them because I decided to detox them first, due to our canal looking not unlike an open sewer. unfortunatly they died within a few days of being kept in a bucket of water, despite me changing it twice a day and giving them food. does anybody know if an airpump is required like a regular fishtank?
Not sure about the signals but the native crays only live in clean water and go straight in the pot. Not sure if I would eat from a canal, just in case. As kids we used to catch them by tying bacon rinds to string and dangling it in the river for a few minutes, pull it up and hey presto!
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