Catching Crayfish

Ken68

Hi Farscape..seen you about....didn't pursue this c rayfish business. Local rivers too deep and muddy. Then you need a licence and check up on native type. Am a year older on downsizer.:-)

tim_n

Wuss = )

I didn't because things got complicated but the thread has rekindled my interest... I shall be living near a public fishing lake shortly so I can't see why I can't make this a lot easier on myself. Very muddy there, but I don't think that's going to be a problem really - just tank 'em for a week and see what happens.

Ken68

Don't keep them too long, Tim, you can get fond of c rayfish, you know, give them names, then you gotta eat 'em. :-)
How did you get on Slade?

gamston

i've been thinking about this for a long time,
listen to kieth arthur on talksport sat and sun morning, and he talks about crayfish every so often.
don't think there are any signal crayfish in my local river
i live in north notts near river idle (right river for me "idle") and chesterfield canal

Ken68

Free meat if you can get organized. On this daily walk, I pass ponds and lakes and a still river. If there any , it's a question of collecting and then re-baiting a trap and carting the creatures back to the car (one mile). Presumably they need to be alive until de-mudded for a few days, so some sort of container, perhaps a large insulated flask. Then knock 'em on the head. Er...do they have heads?

demonicangel

If they are the same as yabbies in Australia then a great way to catch them is to get a chicken carcass, put it in an onion bag (needs to be one of the string net ones) and leave it in the water overnight.

Keep checking every few hours and take out what ones you have caught and put in a large bucket of water with a lid on. You will catch more overnight.

Dog biscuits are another good way but the chicken carcass is much better.

When I went camping with my exdp in South Australia, we caught loads in a weekend, more then anyone else using what I said above!

ozvaldinho

If you want to get your kids involved in some organised crayfish catching, then there is a good fun day out to be had in the River Lark Preservation Society's Crayfish Day. I believe it's going to be held on June 3 at Barton Mills, not far from Mildenhall in Suffolk.
The River Lark is a stunningly beautiful stretch of water, unfortunately it was one of the first places to be invaded by these little American B******s. We didn't go last year, but it sure looked fun.

http://www.newmarkettoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1753&ArticleID=1686433

As for rinsing them, I just put them in the bath with the kids,who are usually equally muddy, although I do leave out the bubble bath.
I like my own recipe for 'Crayfish Sushi', which also works with baby lobsters.

1. Catch crayfish.
2. Smash open with rock.
3. Add black pepper and squeeze of fresh lemon.
4. Eat.
5. Spit out bits of shell.

Details of this year's competition can be found here:
http://www.lark-angling.co.uk/

BTW Demonicangel, these are much bigger and tastier than aussie yabbies.

southernscouser

It's actually against the law to remove crayfish without a license.

That said I wouldn't tell anyone if they did it without one!

A good method for catching them is to build a trap made of wire mesh. Then get a tine of cat/dog food and puncture loads of holes in it. Whack the tin in the mesh and lower into the water. Make sure you properly secure the trap to the bank though.

Seakay

If the crayfish can get into the trap, what stops them from getting out again? (As you can probably tell, I am interested in the prospect of free food, but have no practical experience of trapping!)

southernscouser

Seakay wrote: »

If the crayfish can get into the trap, what stops them from getting out again? (As you can probably tell, I am interested in the prospect of free food, but have no practical experience of trapping!)

If you built one with a funnell sort of thing that drops off it might make it more difficult for them! :think:

I'm not too sure to be honest. It could be they just stick around ot try to get to the food! :think: