Crayfish trapping

[Tw86]

Hi all I'm new here so any advise would be greatly appreciated.

I live in Market Harborough and fish quite often at the grand union canal that runs through here. I've always fancied trapping and cooking a few signal crayfish but don't know if that's a good idea given the water quality of the canal. Has anyone got any advise or experience in this? Many thanks in advance! Jon

[GUMPY]

Technically you need a licence to catch them.

If you happen to have some live ones I believe you should keep them in clean water for a few days before cooking them.

[Tw86]

Hi Gumpy thanks for the reply. My licence is applied for but I was having second thoughts on whether they would be any good from the canal or not but yes will give the clean water purge a go thanks

[mrsmelly]

You are not supposed to catch them, not even the signal type invaders. Unfortunately they sometimes entangle themselves in the crayfish nets ( sold on eBay ) that you may have used to catch other species. Very tasty out of the river Cherwell I am told. Apparently a TV on a boat works without a licence also, or so I am told!

[Tw86]

Well exactly, I can't help it if they climb into the net I'm using to wash my cat food, not allowed to throw them back!

[matty40s]

I was banned from using my lobster creel looking thing when Kathy moved on board, so long as you you purge them with fresh water for an couple of days, they are excellent.

The water in the Leicester summit is good enough for the Wharf at Welford to have locally caught zander on the menu!!

[johnmck]

When you read the reports of raw sewage discharges into our rivers, the quality of canal water goes up several notches.

[Tw86]

25 minutes ago, matty40s said:

I was banned from using my lobster creel looking thing when Kathy moved on board, so long as you you purge them with fresh water for an couple of days, they are excellent.

The water in the Leicester summit is good enough for the Wharf at Welford to have locally caught zander on the menu!!

Did they really have zander on the menu!? Never heard of that but that's great!

[peterboat]

20 minutes ago, johnmck said:

When you read the reports of raw sewage discharges into our rivers, the quality of canal water goes up several notches.

Canals end up with it as well 

[LadyG]

I believe zander and American crayfish are both alien species, so should be removed from UK waters.

 

[Hudds Lad]

When i looked into it several years ago the EA were happy with it as long as you got a licence from them, used only approved traps with EA tags, and you had to specify which stretch of water you’d be using (could only be a few metres). Licence was dependant on which bit of water you chose.

As far as i remember CRT did not allow it at all, so i stopped my enquiry after that.

This may all have changed in recent times, but i doubt it.

Of course if you accidentally catch signal crayfish its also illegal to return them to the water.

[Stilllearning]

Long ago someone told me how he caught crayfish. Get an old bicycle wheel (minus tyre), tie a string to the axle, and some old chicken bones to the spokes near the axle, drop into the water, leave on the bottom a while, then smartly pull the trap up and hopefully there will be signal crayfish eating the bait.

 

[MtB]

11 hours ago, LadyG said:

I believe zander and American crayfish are both alien species, so should be removed from UK waters.

 

 

I think that ship has sailed, long ago! 

 

But yes when I was a kid the only way to see a zander was pictures in a book. Still puzzling how they got over here into our rivers and canals.

 

 

[Hudds Lad]

15 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

I think that ship has sailed, long ago! 

 

But yes when I was a kid the only way to see a zander was pictures in a book. Still puzzling how they got over here into our rivers and canals.

 

 

 

"The zander (Stizostedion lucioperca) was first introduced to the U.K. in 1878 when 24 zander averaging 0.9 kg in weight were netted from Bothkamper Lake in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, and transferred successfully to enclosed waters at Woburn Park, Bedfordshire (Cawkwell and McAngus, 1976). Further importations occurred in 1910 (Germany to Woburn) and 1960 (Sweden to Mepal Pit, Cambridgeshire) and a number of successful stockings from Woburn to enclosed waters in southeast England also took place between the end of the second world war and 1962. Introductions to the Grand Union Canal and the River Ouzel were carried out in circa 1950 but the fish apparently perished. Thus the species remained very limited in its distribution within the U.K. for the greater part of a century and the preliminary evidence seemed to indicate that it was only in certain favourable years that the species was able to breed successfully (Maitland, 1969). However, the introduction of zander to Norfolk's Great Ouse Relief Channel in 1963 changed the situation dramatically and the species subsequently bred very successfully in the wild and rapidly spread through the adjoining rivers of East Anglia. Currently the colonization of the extensively interconnected rivers of this region of England is still only partial but the species is steadily extending its range and has been illegally introduced to other parts of the U.K. by anglers."

 

Source: HERE

[MtB]

5 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

Source: HERE

 

How curious. Why would 'they' want to go to so much effort to introduce zander to waters here, and over such a long period? 

 

 

[Stilllearning]

4 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

 

"The zander (Stizostedion lucioperca) was first introduced to the U.K. in 1878 when 24 zander averaging 0.9 kg in weight were netted from Bothkamper Lake in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, and transferred successfully to enclosed waters at Woburn Park, Bedfordshire (Cawkwell and McAngus, 1976). Further importations occurred in 1910 (Germany to Woburn) and 1960 (Sweden to Mepal Pit, Cambridgeshire) and a number of successful stockings from Woburn to enclosed waters in southeast England also took place between the end of the second world war and 1962. Introductions to the Grand Union Canal and the River Ouzel were carried out in circa 1950 but the fish apparently perished. Thus the species remained very limited in its distribution within the U.K. for the greater part of a century and the preliminary evidence seemed to indicate that it was only in certain favourable years that the species was able to breed successfully (Maitland, 1969). However, the introduction of zander to Norfolk's Great Ouse Relief Channel in 1963 changed the situation dramatically and the species subsequently bred very successfully in the wild and rapidly spread through the adjoining rivers of East Anglia. Currently the colonization of the extensively interconnected rivers of this region of England is still only partial but the species is steadily extending its range and has been illegally introduced to other parts of the U.K. by anglers."

 

Source: HERE

They're a pest species but do make for good fishing and good eating. If you catch one, kill it and eat it, like the french do, filletted and fried with a sauce of your choice, accompanied by frites, and salad.

[Slim]

I once spent several evenings catching crayfish on the Thames. A bit of bacon tied to a string weighed down with a nut and bolt.  Catching them was no problem,  landing them, impossible. The question of eating them, killing them or returning them to the water never arose. 

[Onewheeler]

I don't know how many are in the Thames now, but a few years ago there were often people above osney lock dangling bits of chicken carcass on a string in the water. Nearly always came up with some hanging on to the bones. I've not seen any for a while. I did catch some in an eel net a few years ago but they weren't great eating. I also nearly ran down a lad in a dinghy once who was catching them on a commercial scale, he had a couple of dustbins full of them.

[NarrowboatTor]

I went through the application process back in April and had a good exchange and chat with persons about getting licenced to trap crayfish as I love cooking them up with a bit of butter and tangy cheese sauce.

EA told me point blank that no licence would be given for any stretch of CRT canal as it was carte blanch banned by the CRT using any form of netting (props+nets not a good mix supposedly).

However should you catch one of the signal crayfish by line fishing then it was not to be returned to the water and must be disposed of in a safe and compliant manner as it is illegal to put it back.

Pic is of a few I caught on bacon rind fresh from the Oxford canal and don't they just grab hold, made a very tasty snack.

 

EA will give out a licence to trap for waterways near canals as long as you give them proper location details and it's not CRT owned.

 

 

[Bee]

4 hours ago, NarrowboatTor said:

I went through the application process back in April and had a good exchange and chat with persons about getting licenced to trap crayfish as I love cooking them up with a bit of butter and tangy cheese sauce.

EA told me point blank that no licence would be given for any stretch of CRT canal as it was carte blanch banned by the CRT using any form of netting (props+nets not a good mix supposedly).

However should you catch one of the signal crayfish by line fishing then it was not to be returned to the water and must be disposed of in a safe and compliant manner as it is illegal to put it back.

Pic is of a few I caught on bacon rind fresh from the Oxford canal and don't they just grab hold, made a very tasty snack.

 

EA will give out a licence to trap for waterways near canals as long as you give them proper location details and it's not CRT owned.

 

 

That's one step nearer to being vegan for me. Yuck.

[NarrowboatTor]

14 minutes ago, Bee said:

That's one step nearer to being vegan for me. Yuck.

I perfectly understand your reason for veganism although having grown up on a farm with fresh produce both killed and hung ready for eating it's not for me.

I'll still cook using lard, butter and natural fats.

Meat of any kind is still a staple and free protein in the in the way of an invasive species that is rife throughout the UK waterways to me is a no brainer.

They made a very delish buttered starter with a nice glass of white 😋

[Tw86]

Thanks all for the replies. So aside from the legality and purely from a health pov, as long as they are purged prior to cooking they are good to go from the canal?

[IanD]

8 minutes ago, Tw86 said:

Thanks all for the replies. So aside from the legality and purely from a health pov, as long as they are purged prior to cooking they are good to go from the canal?

Yes, they're delicious... 🙂 

[NarrowboatTor]

1 hour ago, Tw86 said:

Thanks all for the replies. So aside from the legality and purely from a health pov, as long as they are purged prior to cooking they are good to go from the canal?

They really are good to eat, purging is not really needed unless you're worried about where they were caught from.

I found them really easy to clean after cooking and if unsure check out some short you tube vids that show how to do it, it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

Quick, tasty and free protein, what's not to like? 😀 

[Quatre_Bougies]

On 09/09/2024 at 19:21, Tw86 said:

Thanks all for the replies. So aside from the legality and purely from a health pov, as long as they are purged prior to cooking they are good to go from the canal?

I saw a video where they put loads of salt water in with them and it purged them straight away, they did this a few times.