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The Kennet Cray Trapper

Martin Stevens

Martin Stevens

Senior Member
Heard some rather disturbing news on Friday whilst fishing the Wasing stretch at Aldermaston. I was told by one of the other anglers down there, that the trapper that's done so much good in getting rid of a lot of the crays from the Wasing waters, has had most of his traps stolen. As a result he won't be trapping down there again.

This is incredibly sad if true, especially after all the praise he got on a recent thread. Has anybody else heard anything or spoken to the guy?
 
That's a shame Martin. Spoken with him many, many times. He has done a brilliant job in reducing the numbers of crays in the Wasing stretches.
 
The money they charge and with the amount of bayliffs they supposedly have(I never saw 1) they could do it them selves
 
That sounds like Andrew. I saw him last season on another stretch inspecting his vandalised traps. We couldnt work out whether it was anglers that had smashed them all up.
Very strange..........he was talking about giving it up.......sounds like this could be the case.

Shame, decent bloke doing a decent job.
 
Steve Sorrell said:
That sounds like Andrew. I saw him last season on another stretch inspecting his vandalised traps. We couldnt work out whether it was anglers that had smashed them all up.
Very strange..........he was talking about giving it up.......sounds like this could be the case.

Shame, decent bloke doing a decent job.
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Agree totally, a nice guy. It would be in the interests of the estate to pay for new traps for him. He did a great job and it's one of the few positive things I could say about that hideously expensive syndicate. I cannot imagine fishing there with a major cray problem as well as a major blank problem! They will be finding it very difficult to sell tickets if the crayfish population explodes
 
Christ mate you really have a problem with the Wasing don't you?

I know it's not perfect and there are cheaper waters elsewhere but many of us that fish it do so for other reasons. I've never found the stretches harder than those of RDAA. The numbers are capped so it's much easier to get a decent swim at weekends. Despite the above incident and the rather inconspicuous bailiffs, security is alot better than at many other clubs waters.

The amount of crays in the river never made catching fish any harder, in fact they were a reliable indicator of when fish were in the swim. However the lack of them increases the amount of methods available to anglers. Hopefully their lack will also help to improve the success of the fishes spawnings and is a possible factor in the weed returning.

Anyway, as it appears no one else has heard anything I think I'll give John a call and see what he says.
 
No need to take it personally Martin, I am entitled to my opinion. I do not criticise other people who want to fish the Wasing for whatever reason, I just happen to think it's a poor value ticket and am entitled to say so. I don't dispute it has good security and peace and quiet, I just wish it had a few more fish!
 
Hi men,

Got to say if you needed a bailiff a quick call would see one arrive. I personally threw people off 3 times last season , as it needed doing there and then. We left due to the no dog rule, and may return one day. Saying that we have found a cracking bit of water where we can take the little fellow with us. The difference is when paying £250 you generally get a person who don't drop litter / fishes well , where as my cheap bit of heaven has some of the poorest standards of angling iv seen .

Hatter
 
Mark Anderson said:
Hi men,

Got to say if you needed a bailiff a quick call would see one arrive. I personally threw people off 3 times last season , as it needed doing there and then. We left due to the no dog rule, and may return one day. Saying that we have found a cracking bit of water where we can take the little fellow with us. The difference is when paying £250 you generally get a person who don't drop litter / fishes well , where as my cheap bit of heaven has some of the poorest standards of angling iv seen .

Hatter
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I agree Mark, I do not dispute many people will not share my disappointment with the stretch. Probably I am still smarting at paying £260 for one five pound barbel! However, my opinion is what I think and I am not asking anyone else to agree, it's up to them.
 
Hi men,

To be honest mate I'm not disagreeing with you !. For £260 taking the little jack with us did not seem to much to ask, considering people paying nothing walk their dogs off lead all along the bit we used to fish !!. We used to sleep overnight and felt safe , empty sometimes, busy others , much like any club , but in my two seasons I was happy wandering around making swims in quieter areas.

Hatter
 
Hi all,
Towards the end of the season on Upper Benyons cray traps where often found smashed in the margins.
It was put down to kids or river travellers.

Rich
 
Alex Gowney said:
No need to take it personally Martin, I am entitled to my opinion. I do not criticise other people who want to fish the Wasing for whatever reason, I just happen to think it's a poor value ticket and am entitled to say so. I don't dispute it has good security and peace and quiet, I just wish it had a few more fish!
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I'm not taking it personally mate. It's no skin off my nose whether you rate the place or not. I have just noticed a few pops about it from you and wondered what the issue was. I did post a question in response to one of your posts on the river reports section but never got a reply.

As you know I gave you some advice last season by pm. Any stretch can be a problem when you're learning it. I was lucky in that when I joined a few existing members did the same and helped me out.

Some of the wasing waters can be hard in daylight hours unless you fish to features with the correct baits. A return of one small barbel is pretty bad. I don't know you so I can't comment on whether it was bad luck, bad angling or failure to get to grips with new water. I don't know anyone else that has suffered such a bad season on their waters, even on the Aldermaston, which I know from experience can be pretty tough.

What I will say is that John the head bailiff is always available for a bit of advice and Martin James is happy to share his wealth of experience of the stretches if you need it.

I could have caught more or bigger fish elsewhere perhaps, but it's great being able to concentrate on the fishing and not having to worry about whether the car of the person I am with has been vandalised, broken into or even stolen, all things I have experience of on more public rivers.

Sorry if it seems like I'm having a go, that's not my intention. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. However, this thread was started to discuss a theft which has effected the livelihood of somebody who has done alot to benefit the river I love (admittedly for financial gain), not a comment on the running of the estate.
 
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It's OK mate, I don't consider you to be having a go at all, I appreciate your opinion and your right to express it. Yes, I have been negative in my posts about the Wasing but that is my experience and what I think. There is no "issue" as such. This is a forum for discussion, after all. I'm sorry I didn't reply to your post on the river thread, I must have missed it.
Why did I struggle so much? Not sure really, I did OK on the W. Avon, used tactics that work everywhere else and fished day and night but just never got to grips to with it. I found the total lack of fish activity a bit weird too. Maybe I should have given it another season but at that price I couldn't justify it

But back to the cray trapper, I think he did a great job and the lack of cray activity was one aspect of the stretch I did enjoy!
 
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I was talking to a (not sure if the) Crayfish man last night at Calcot. I have seen him a few times on RDAA and on Padworth. As luck would have it there was a ner do well at his nets, we checked him out and 'encouraged' him to leave the stretch. Always seems to be someone Odd around at Calcot!
 
I wonder if it could be ignorant anglers busting the traps, thinking they might be EE fish traps or something daft? Actually thinking they are doing some good!!
 
Ian Crook said:
I wonder if it could be ignorant anglers busting the traps, thinking they might be EE fish traps or something daft? Actually thinking they are doing some good!!
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They would sure have to be ignorant if they were unaware of the curse of the signal! Either that or it was the first time they had fished in the Thames or it's tributaries
 
Pete, bailiffing Calcot at night is something we dread, lots of bizzare happenings.

One night, midnight, middle of summer, not a soul for miles, we then stumbled upon what I can only describe as a micro village of people doing all sorts of things.
With the lighting and all it looked like something from a section of 'the garden of earthly delights' By Hieronymus Bosch.
 
Will,

Are there anglers brave enough to fish Calcot at night?????
 
If by angler you mean someone that likes putting things up their jacksy, then, yea, loads.

seriously though, it's not as bad anymore, the car park has a secure compound and were moving the offenders to lower benyons to help us keep those that stay on past curfew in check.
 
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