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Crays aaaagghhh

Adam Ditchburn said:
a permit for crays you are joking every man and his dog, kids and local take always fishes for them.
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If that's in the Teme or any other river with native populations then ring the EA. On the Teme it would actually be a criminal offence as it is a SSSI and the native cray is one of the species specifically covered by the SSSI.

I found a couple of nets put down for them last year, I emptied the nets (only native crays in them) and passed them to the EA. The restaurants around Ludlow have also all been informed that purchasing native crays is illegal and face considerable fines if found buying them or serving them.

In rivers where the signal has taken over and the plague is established there would usually be no problem getting a license to trap signals. The aim is to prevent the few remaining natives being removed, whilst encouraging as many signals as is possible to be removed. On the Teme the plague is not present in the native population. If enough signals enter the system, or if the remaining stocks are removed this won't last long. Not only will we loose an important species from our rivers, but it will be replaced by a destructive species that causes major damage to the river banks.
 
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Neil Smart said:
Hi Chris:).
Don't start on the eels Chris, I had three the other evening in a short session, and again on the tip, and despite my best efforts I made contact every time:D
I too wasn't aware of of Crays this way (yet), but will ask around and get back...Oh did you know there are Barbel in there now? Some small fish but a 9 plus last season, I do hope this is not the next Adams Mill:)
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Seriously?? Barbel in the Mill Avon?

I've seen some whopping carp and caught tench there but not Barbel. Not that I'm going to fish it but can you PM me where they were caught...

Chris
 
Having just read a good post on another thread, one comment in it was the reduction of crays in the Kennet. As most Thames tributaries are infested with them, this could be significant. I fished the Wasing stretch last year and very seldom was there cray activity. Yet fish the Cherwell, Windrush or Thames and it's crays on the bait within seconds.

The difference? The Kennet has a cray trapper regularly working the water, I saw him almost every time I was there. A lot of "experts" have insisted trapping will only increase the numbers. If they increased any more on the Cherwell the water level would rise! And I have yet to see a cray trapper there.
The Kennet appears to be a good example of how to control these vermin and with a good market for them it's surprising how few people are doing it. Particularly in times when money is tight.
 
Had a chat with a Kennet trapper on RDAA last week, apparently he was part of a newly established commercial trapping venture covering also parts of the Ouse, 15 trappers, selling the crays to Sweden by the ton. Saw loads of new traps all along the river

Already complaining catch rates were falling rapidly, didn't stop my bait getting nibbled mind.

Recommended they extend their operation to the Upper Thames catchment
 
Hi men,

On Wasing he would often ask to be shown where we were experience cray activity, them trap that area out !!. It seems to help, but the test would be if he stops in that stretch, and see if they come back with vengeance . The crayfish trapping / farming industry is a funny one, with some shady characters involved .

Hatter
 
Stewart Kemp said:
Had a chat with a Kennet trapper on RDAA last week, apparently he was part of a newly established commercial trapping venture covering also parts of the Ouse, 15 trappers, selling the crays to Sweden by the ton. Saw loads of new traps all along the river

Already complaining catch rates were falling rapidly, didn't stop my bait getting nibbled mind.

Recommended they extend their operation to the Upper Thames catchment
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Stewart, please tell him his Holy Grail is the Cherwell!!
 
Mark Anderson said:
Hi men,

On Wasing he would often ask to be shown where we were experience cray activity, them trap that area out !!. It seems to help, but the test would be if he stops in that stretch, and see if they come back with vengeance . The crayfish trapping / farming industry is a funny one, with some shady characters involved .

Hatter
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A good point Mark, but if money is being made why would they stop? Maybe to let their "crops" regenerate before harvesting again. I would prefer that scenario to no trappers at all
 
I spoke to the wasing trapper on Friday afternoon. He said that he had got permission now to trap pretty much the entire of the kennet between Newbury and Reading.

He did say that the numbers of crays in the traps on the rdaa waters had already dropped significantly. I told him that trapping on the easily accessible and more public stretches that they run is most likely the problem. Somebody else is probably taking most out at night.

He also said that he would continue to trap for as long as he could afford to do so but that when numbers were too low to make it worthwhile he would stop. He did say that he was an angler and wasn't in the game of milking the river. He said some trappers have that rep but that he felt by pretty much eradicating them he was doing exactly what the clubs wanted and thus had the kind of rep that ensured clubs would continue to use him.
 
Oh well, at least Signal crayfish have given a certain government agency an unquantifiable excuse for plummeting fish stocks on many rivers...:rolleyes::(
 
Anything or anybody but the real culprits - the farmers, the vital mindless consumers of tat they don't need, the Top Gear, "Build a by-pass, I was delayed getting to the river / my place in the country...", Us.
 
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