crayfish

[Andy T]

i think this subjest may well have been covered before, but, can anyone tell me the do's and dont's of catching crayfish please. ive just found some in a small river/stream only 200 yards from my house, thats loaded with them. i was thinking of making a trap from some old chicken wire roughly the same as the lobster pots ive used in the past. i have checked and they are american signal crayfish

 

[sasquatch]

Just don't catch the natives! You'll need a licence, they cost about £10 and only take about a week to get. You need a grid referance for where you want to trap. Check with the Evironment Agency for an application...

 

[Andy T]

thanks for the help

 

[sasquatch]

I knew it was somewhere, this might help;

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33954&highlight=crayfish

 

[tobes01]

Does anyone know if you need a licence to fish for them (as opposed to trapping them)? Have happily fished before using some cheese in a bit of muslin, and that way there's no risk of hurting a native or any other beastie for that matter.

 

[tim_n]

Tried the license route, wanted all sorts of stuff like permission from landowner etc. I knew the guy who owned the land but he didn't know if he owned the riverbank, so he said 'love to, but don't want to get into trouble if I don't own the bank'

Local fishing lake is sick of easten europeans sneaking in and trapping them without permission, so there's an outright ban on trapping them there

Local resevoir is so full of pollutants that nothing is alive and the parish doesn't have the funds to dredge it.

Still have the trap and the license forms, but never used either...

 

[dean4442]

The license is free to get but yes you do need the permission of the landowner, I've got permission from the local council to trap on some of their property near me.
Colin

 

[charlieh]

just out of interest which stream, as there are some hotspots for natives round there, although you seem confidant on your ID, you will need to contact the EA's Fisheries Team at lichfield for trapping consent, these in this area will be issued for scientific and fisheries managment purposes only, you wont get a consent for human consumption. if you want some more info on contacts etc drop us a pm

Charlie