Three !?!?!?
A week ago I baited a single trap with a fresh trout and left it for 4 hours in a remote part of the Basingstoke canal . . . and caught 17, all of a good size too!
This isn't a "one up manship" quote - but to re-iterate to anyone thinking that this practice is just for "personal pleasure", that the Heaven's Kitchen and the FWord TV programs statement is true. This is an infestation ! And the Crayfish are effectively alien
vermin !
I saw an earlier posting from a member stating that people "don't know enough about the ecology" of these creatures to ensure we aren't doing more damage than good. Whilst I completely understand the reasoning behind this, I would say that, having spent some time on the net researching - the ecology changes as to where the crays are. Their preference is for places with a rocky / submerged log style substrate for them to hide under - if they are not in this environment, they burrrow ! Which is fine for one or two per mile of waterway - but with at least 17 in a single small area of a canal . . . the banks will soon be honeycombed and only thing holding the banks up will be tree roots soon!
Signals grow at an alarming rate - eat fish eggs - burrow into the banks - carry the crayfish "plague" (Aphanomyces astaci) - out compete the smaller native crayfish - and are (obviously) reproducing at great speed. If the only thing that will slow this invasion down is trapping - then so be it !
(BUT DO GET A LICENSE ! THEY ARE FREE AND WILL ENSURE YOU ARE NOT IN AN AREA WHERE YOU COULD HURT ENDANGERED SPECIES!)
This problem is getting so bad that Universities are working on chemicals which will kill them or at least stop them breeding (which I for one will never believe that they ONLY effect one type of waterlife!).
Slurper