Signal Crayfish ?

[barbelboi]

[FONT=&quot]Re: the weed growth, or lack of it, it could well be the culprit Simon. It will eat almost anything it finds including plants. It is also a cannibal that makes a meal of its own young – pity it doesn’t eat more of them.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Jerry
[/FONT]

 

[S-Kippy]

I suppose eventually numbers must fall because there wont be enough food left to sustain the population....but there is an awful lot of rivers etc for them to exploit before that happens. Maybe that explains the rapid spread ? What we need is a particularly virulent strain of crayfish flu. Tiddle-arsing about with traps & trials on enclosed ponds is not going to come up with the solution.....if there is one,which I very much doubt.

Otters,Racoons & alligators eat them...as do frogs apparently though I cannot see even a very big frog being so stupid as to pick a fight with a signal. Not unless it is a suicide frog.

 

[waggy]

might sound daft, but you need a licence to kill signal crayfish...dont get caught!!

Not daft at all. All traps of any kind have to be licensed so that they comply with strict laws governing, amongst other things, their ability to catch other creatures too. in this case, otters spring to mind and otterguards are probably needed at the entrances. These should have the same dimensions as for eel fyke nets, I'm sure. The EA tech. boys will tell you.

 

[barbelboi]

The link below is a bit off topic but topical to the Lee. Is it really that bad you guys that fish it.
Jerry

London Regional News | London Tonight - ITV Local

 

[gazguildford]

lots in my local river esp a certain stretch i have as my banker pike location a little chineese man often roll down and pulls out tesco baskets containing cray fish .... i say and see nothing i find they like certain dead baits better than others the absoloutly love half a trout but dont seem to touch sprats

 

[uscarper]

as far as the weeds being gone from streches that had them before , i would say yes the crays are very likely the culprit. i also have a question. the native crays didnt build the little mud towers like signals do did they? signals can live in streams , lakes, ponds of course. but they can also live underground where there isnt any water apparent. there is of course its just underground and you dont see it. have seen this alot here. some cray species are only found in rivers , lakes etc. but signals can live in both and there arent any predators that dig them out of the ground. they just catch the ones in the rivers and such. my great grandmas house had them in the side yard, a low spot that stayed wet but didnt hold standing water and was perhaps 100 yards from any stream. im sure there was a spring just underground there that at somepoint fed into the stream. but the crays lived there instead of right by the waters edge. now sure some did but alot were in this spot.

 

[mark brailsford 2]

Not daft at all. All traps of any kind have to be licensed so that they comply with strict laws governing, amongst other things, their ability to catch other creatures too. in this case, otters spring to mind and otterguards are probably needed at the entrances. These should have the same dimensions as for eel fyke nets, I'm sure. The EA tech. boys will tell you.

I know a little about traps and the law as I used to be a part time gamekeeper!!
I was just suggesting that it might sound a little bit silly to some having to have a permit to kill a pest species.
by the way, anyone out there that would like a go at catching some for tea, the permits are very easy to obtain, and the taste so good!!!

mark

---------- Post added at 07:42 ---------- Previous post was at 07:36 ----------

does anyone know if they are in the leeds liverpool canal yet? It runs past my girlfriends house so would be easy for me to leave my cages in!!

 

[S-Kippy]

Stick a trap in Mark...if they're there you'll catch them. I must say I wouldn't mind eating a few off the Kennet but I'm not so sure about a canal. They'd need "sweetening" up a bit wouldn't they ?

 

[mark brailsford 2]

yeh, think they might need a little purging to get rid of the diesel...lol!!!

mark

 

[S-Kippy]

Ha ha ha....stick one on the barbie and it'll burn for a week !

 

[waggy]

I know a little about traps and the law as I used to be a part time gamekeeper!!
I was just suggesting that it might sound a little bit silly to some having to have a permit to kill a pest species.
by the way, anyone out there that would like a go at catching some for tea, the permits are very easy to obtain, and the taste so good!!!

mark

---------- Post added at 07:42 ---------- Previous post was at 07:36 ----------

does anyone know if they are in the leeds liverpool canal yet? It runs past my girlfriends house so would be easy for me to leave my cages in!!

Sorry, I wasn't having a dig, Mark. It's just that the permit to catch anything has to somehow relate to the method used and that is usually determined by
it's potential to damage other environmental interests: so, for instance, if you were thinking of using dynamite to eradicate ragwort you might find it difficult to get a permit.
I know from personal experience how easy it is to drown both otters and mink in the wrong kind of fish trap. Both die a horrible death, but consider the opposing facts that 1) otters have the highest level of protection and any trap must be guarded to prevent incidental capture. 2) Mink are an alien 'pest' species which should be eradicated - humanely; so the correct kind of humane trap and method of dispatch should be employed. So licensing the operator to do the job in a certain way ensures that only the quarry is caught and dispatched humanely too.

 

[mark brailsford 2]

I know you were not having a dig mate, its just how you word things on this forum thing!
Best way to get rid of mink, .410 or .22, but they are crafty little buggers!!

mark

 

[dannytaylor]

With signal crayfish i have mixed feelings. There is a worry that they eat large numbers of fish spawn and fry and so there is a danger that fish populations will crash once the bigger fish die off. Has this been proven yet? what research has been carried out?

From a purely selfish point of view i get very interested when i discover that a water contains crays. The potential for big fish is massive and some of my best fishing has taken place on waters with large populations of crays. Perch are a classic example, ive caught them with the remains of big crays at the back of there throats you would be surprised what even a modest sized perch will have a go at. I actually watched a group of decent perch actively digging a cray out of its burrow looking for all the world like a group of carp feeding hard on the bottom. In this situation, lures and livebaits take some beating and you wont get pestered off the crays.

Somebody mentioned if pike eat them the answer is YES, and they will get big quickly feeding on this food source. Have a look at this picture of a pike from a water which is riddled with crays, the pike is more reminiscant of a trout water fish, this water contains no trout but the pike are bulging.

The same can be said for eels once they begin to exploit crays as a food source they begin to quickly build up weight. A number of big eels have come from waters in the colne valley where the crays are present. Again baits presented up in the water off the bottom are a great way of detering the little critters, so CD/paternoster rigs take some beating.

There was a thread recently asking for advice of what baits to use when targetting carp in waters with crays. I have had success and next to no problems with crays using maize fished over hemp. Another one to try is mistral baits "roeship isotonic" boilies, air dry them so that they are rock hard.

 

[geggsnick]

has anyone eaten them, can they be caught, put in some clean flowing water for a few days then eaten?
i imagine they'd taste quite nice.

 

[beerweasel]

has anyone eaten them, can they be caught, put in some clean flowing water for a few days then eaten?
i imagine they'd taste quite nice.

Yes they are very tasty, try Googling Ray Mears Crayfish.
Bon appetit :w

 

[Bob Hornegold]

danny,

Baits up in the Water ?

I fish livebaits for Zander in a 20ft deep weirpool on the Lea, I like to have my baits at half depth, so 10ft of the bottom.

And the Crays still get to those baits, you think it's the baits working, but when you wind in the baits, you find a just the Bones of your once Livebait left.

Yes there is a bonus of Big Fish of all species being created by the eating of Crayfish.

But there comes a time when the number of Crayfish in a River system outweights the benifits and The Lea has reached that situation.

It's almost impossible to keep a bait of any type on the bottom for more than fifteen minutes.

Popping up baits is a complete waste of time, hardening baits does little to stop the problem.

The only thing you can do is fish with artificial baits or fish in the depths of winter, when the Crays are not so active.

I don't think there is an answer, as it's beyond solving now.

And for those who think it's only in the south of the country, think again, they are moving North year on year !!

Bob

 

[Paul Morley]

Yep, got em in the Lincolnshire river now, saw the evil gits this week, huge, ponderous, prehistoric .... they favoured one area in particular, didn't affect my fishing but will be keeping a close eye out...

 

[quickcedo]

A couple of years ago I sat and watched a guy fishing a stickfloat on the Cherwell. From his angle he thought he was missing bites. From mine I could see Crays rising in the water and trying to take his trotted bait. I told him and he raised the bait well up in the water. They still rose to it!! I've seen them hanging on a lock wall at water level, the lock was 18ft deep.
An easy way to find out if your water has them in numbers is:-
use an old landing net (preferably a spoon one), tie 3 bits of string to it evenly spaced. Lower it to the bottom with half a tin of sweetcorn in. Leave it for half an hour then lift.
On Seacourt stream (oxford) I did this last year. In half an hour I brought up 50.(ish). Last year we had professional trappers on the Cherwell. On a 1 mile stretch they took over 2 tonnes and they seem to have made no difference!!!!

 

[jollyboy]

:w

 

[waggy]

Now, that's really got my taste buds into gear.