Odd Q - anyone tried catching crayfish in UK?
 

I've got some mates in the US who've spoken about putting traps out for fresh water crayfish, going for a long hike, hauling out the traps and spend the evening boiling them in over a fire in their hundreds and eating them with melted butter, better than lobster apparently and slightly cheaper!

This sounds (to me!) like quite a fun way of getting a meal - apart from buying a trap.

I've read that the american crayfish (Signal) is now pretty rampant across southern England and is decimating the native population so catching them is legal - has anyone tried?

Not here, but the same sort of traps are used in Finland. We sampled some (canadian cray fish, introduced there I believe some years back) on a visit to a friend's summer house back in 2002. He'd used mini-lobster traps (well that's what they looked like) to catch them.

They were absolutely gorgeous, though getting into the buggers is an art form! Their shells are considerably stronger than those on king prawns!

Many English rivers including the Great Ouse and the Kennet are full of signal crayfish.

They are considered pests as they upset the predatory chain.

Setting fixed line traps for any freshwater creature is a grey area though so I suggest getting in contact with the Environemnt Agency who can advise you on the legality of it.

I think the key is getting traps with a mesh size that allow the (smaller) native crayfish and catch only mature Signals.

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk...rayfish_tn.jpg

Any other tips? Scoobynet group buy on Crayfish pots? ;)

I know a bloke near me who makes a fair few quid at the w/e trapping crayfish and ships them all over the place.

Ian,

Have a shufti here:

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk...61227/?lang=_e

Sorry if the link wraps round.

Cheers,
Steve

cheers Steve - I spotted that early today - not very conclusive!
Couldn't find info about Thames region supplying a licence.

You can catch crabs in Helsinki quite easy...

WWSD- bit of a way to travel, u can catch at most locals if u have the right contacts. ;)

Hey!, less of this, best pets I ever had..

Ronnie and Reggie, RIP :(

:D

I have seen people catching american signal crayfish in this country, You have to apply to the environment agency for a licence. All signal crayfish you catch must be killed straight away as part of your licence agreement.
The people I have seen trapping them used homemade mesh traps and for bait they used dead rabbits or cat food.

Two hours, ten pots - 158 lbs of crayfish
 

about 7/8th's of the way through a long and oddly interesting page.
http://www.terrybullard.com/fishing_history.html

Admittedly high levels of expertise/obssesion/access to US lake but even so there are very low levels of trapping here and apparently enough of a problem to decimate fish stocks in certain rivers.

Just got me thinking - live freshwater crayfish - reckon you could shift them easily at a Borough Market-type farmers market for £15-20 a kilo. I'm a bit of a seafood cooking obsessive and I'd be in there like a shot.

Given low levels of trapping there's got to be a way of making a grand over a weekend.

Anyone up for setting up a side business? :)

If I came across one of them, the last thing I would be thinking of doing to it is eating it.

not sure quite what to say to that matey ;)

Didn't Huge Ferney Dunkingstool do Crayfish in 'Return to River Cottage'?

Cracking series that!

From a fishing mailing list ( only a few days old ) CSAS is Berkshire based, the trapping was done on the Kennet.

Some of you who fish the CSAS stretch at Hambridge may be interested in this. As you may know crayfish trapping took place from the North bank of this stretch last summer. In less than 6 months 12/4/03 - 30/9/03 a total of 14781 signals were caught - thats nearly ¾tonne of the bloddy things!!!Largest crayfish caught measured 8inches and weighed nearly 5ounces.

Numbers caught by month were as follows...

Apr 491
May 1855
Jun 3605
Jul 2726
Aug 3434
Sep 2670

Hey Steve - those are decent numbers - excuse my ignorance but what is the CSAS?
ian

Civil Service Angling Society.