Crayfish?

[benzonar]

Is there any official policy on these little critters. I've been fishing the Basingstoke Canal the last few days, and apart from catching loads of tench, I've been banging into these little beauties (some were quite big). The baliff said to kill any that I caught (5 so far), and I just wondered if this was official policy on all waters in the UK.

p.s. ne1 know any decent recipes for them, apparently cajun style is quite nice.

[CarponlineEditor]

I am not sure about this but I think I read somewhere that certain species of Crayfish are protected and it would be illegal to kill them.

Maybe one of the experts could let us know about this???

Andy

[benzonar]

I understand that the White-Clawed Crayfish which is native to the UK is protected, however these are the introduced Signal Crayfish. I also wondered if they would be any good for bait, especially large Perch and Tench.

[John_H]

I think the previous post is is right, the native crayfish is strictly protected but the signal isn't.

As far as cooking signal crayfish goes, sneak a look at either of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's excellent books, "A Cook on the wild side" or "River Cottage Cookbook", but you may find crays from still or sluggish water are a bit muddy tasting.

[jack]

I catch quite a lot of the American signal crayfish from the kennet each year ,the club i belong to employs a company to pot for the little blighters last year they took 22,500 from our stretch.If you want to catch or remove them you or your club have to apply for a license.The English species are protected they do not seem to attain the size of their American cousins .The way i deal with them is to bait quite heavily they wont hang around if there are large fish present.

[DOC]

I think you need permission to remove any crayfish because of the worry that the protected ones will be rounded up along with the "aliens". I had some lovely cajun stir fried crayfish (pronounced crawfish) in Florida. This is easily done, the required spices being mainly paprika, garlic, aniseed and as much chilli as you can snort.

Whilst on this subject, I am about to make my first trip to Jones Pit. Does anyone know the scale of the crayfish population there and whether steps need to be taken to avoid them ? Has anyone tried crayfish as bait for cats ???

DOC

[MikeLyddon053698]

Benzonar, I used crayfish for bait on the Kennet a couple of years ago and caught lots of big chub, barbel, perch and carp on them, mainly freelined on a size two. Unfortunately though, you are no longer allowed to use any type of crayfish for bait anymore.
I did collect about 30 large signal crays one day for eating, after all the preparation (about 2 hours of cleaning, cooking and removing the flesh) I had just enough meat to make 2 sandwiches. Although very nice tasting, I cant recommend all the hassle of trying it.
Mike

[PaulG]

All,

There are in fact 5 species of Crayfish to be found in various parts of the UK, 4 of which are classed as foreign. The White-clawed is the only native species.

The major problem species is the Signal crayfish, imported originally from the USA. It has created massive problems as it a) carries a fungal disease which affects the White-Clawed, b) breeds faster than the native species and is more aggressive, c) diet includes large amounts of fish eggs, and d) is very difficult to remove as it undermines river banks etc with its' burrows.

The native White-Clawed is generally smaller than the Signal, and has claws which are narrower in shape, and rough on top, whereas the Signal has smooth claws. The White-Clawed is usually olive/dark brown in colour, and the Signal is bluish-brown or reddish brown.

It is illegal to use Crayfish as bait, and you can only trap them if you have a licence. So Matt Hayes and John Wilson, in various epsiodes of their TV programs have been potentially breaking the law as both have used traps.

However you are allowed, at the moment, to fish for them with rod and line for personal consumption. And very nice they are too, very easy to cook as well.

Have I missed anything ?

Regards,
Paul