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Signal Crayfish


markbivvy
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Crayfish fishing

If you want to find out in what areas you can fish for crayfish please contact us on 08708 506506.

 

Just lifted this off Environment Agency website.Seems daft to need a licence.they grow as big as lobsters in my local river Bollin.I crunch them up for groundbait.

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You may also want to be using this interactive mapping thingy to see if there are any near you:

 

http://www.searchnbn.net

 

Just type "signal crayfish" in the search box and then click the link for interactive map. I have them down the river from me apparently. Oh yes, the forms that the EA give out are ok to fill in, but you need the river owner's permission and I think you might have to define where you are intending to trap as well. I gave up because I got fed up of searching out paperwork.

 

Good luck though.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have had a couple of traps set in a secret location now for a couple of weeks, initially baited with dog food and caught 3 native crayfish which were imediately returned. The traps were then baited with dead roach from the tackel shop and I checked them the other night only to find a half eaten Zander and about 30 signal crayfish in one and a similar ammount in the other.

 

If they carry on at this rate I may even invest in a couple more traps.

 

Haven't had any yet I am waiting until I have enough for a decent feed for 4.

 

And they are a lot bigger than I expected as well, they must weigh a good few ounces each.

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There's not much meat in each one though - so make sure you have plenty!! Very tasty though, but don't over cook them or they go well rubbery - 8 mins or so in boiling water is enough. And leave them in a sink/bucket of clean water for 24 hours so they clean themselves out.

 

EA licence is pretty straight forward, but getting the landowners permission is often the harder bit.

 

Enjoy!!

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make sure you purge them (if from dirty rivers) first for at least 3 days in airrated/flowing water. I use an old fish tank with a water pump, they allso tend to get knocked and rub against each other thus cleaning their shells. If you dont purge them they taste muddy :):P:lol: But after 3 days they taste great (after 5 days they die)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I picked up my traps today after them being in the water for a fortnight, had a jack pike that had been eaten and about 40 crayfish. THey are being purged at the moment in a bucket with a couple of holes 2/3rds of the way up and a dripping hose. 24hrs time and they get the hot salty bath.

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I picked up my traps today after them being in the water for a fortnight, had a jack pike that had been eaten and about 40 crayfish. THey are being purged at the moment in a bucket with a couple of holes 2/3rds of the way up and a dripping hose. 24hrs time and they get the hot salty bath.

 

 

Make sure you bring some with you tomorrow mate, they'll go well with the venison sausages from monkeyspanker.

 

SS

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how do u know if there are crayfish present in the river, and where is the best place to buy a relatively cheap trap?

 

cheers

 

flash

 

The site above gives a map, and you can drill down on it.

 

http://www.searchnbn.net/gridMap/gridMap.j...HMSYS0000377494

 

Traps are pretty easy to make out of chicken wire or you can buy them:

 

http://www.waterhabitats.co.uk/traps.htm

 

You need to check the license situation though, been a while since I looked into that.

 

Jerry

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Obtaining a licence to trap signal crayfish is free of charge and is a formality but you do need the landowners permission. The relevant form (FR2)can be downloaded here,

 

http://www.efishbusiness.co.uk/formsandguides/FR2v051.pdf

 

 

Please be aware it is a legal requirement to check ANY traps at least once every 24 hours. On my local river I can fill a trap very quickly and often drop one in whilst I walk the dog and collect it 15 - 30 minutes later with up to 30 signals in it!

Signals make great eating and my favourite method is to keep them live in fresh clean water (pref' oxygenated and filtered or changed regularly) for a minimum 24 hours then dropped live into salted boiling water for 5 minutes. Be careful doing this as sometimes the flapping tail can flick boiling water over you! When cooled remove the meat from the tails and claws and fry gently in garlic butter for a few minutes.

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