Signal Crayfish

[Surrey Sam]

Anglers are now being encouraged to kill Signal Crayfish on sight, what would be the best humane way to despatch one?

BBC NEWS | Scotland | South of Scotland | 'Kill Crayfish on sight' appeal

[notbrazil]

Safest way (honestly) is to put them in a bucket, bring them home, transfer alive to freezer and then in a few days defrost, sprinkle with some garlic, dill and shallow fry in butter. Beautiful.

[Gordon Volante]

As a new member, just want to say hi! Notbrazil - as someone who wouldn't dream of catching signals - - where did they seem most prolific? The Dibb or the Wharfe? And where on the Dibb were you diving? Above the B6265 near Grimwith Reservoire, or below, between Appletreewick and Hartlington? Sorry to be so specific on my first post! Thanks!

[bob.phillips]

Get rid of as many as you can!!!!

They are all over the place. They are an invasive species. They kill many of our native species and they are growing in numbers. Five years ago there were none in my local lakes. Now there are thousands!!!! The fish stocks are considerably reduced and they are a total pain to us anglers.

Oh and by the way, the make great eating!!!

Regards,

Bob P.

[mickwood]

Anyone got any tips on where I'd find signals in Derbyshire? specifically around chesterfield? Are they confined specifically to rivers or do you find them in canals and rivers as well?

Cheers!

Mick

[handyman]

Hello, this is my first post and I have just read all the six pages on the Signal Crayfish menace.

A little point of clarification that may help anybody wishing to catch non-native crayfish. I had a very interesting discussion with an employee at the Fisheries Laboratory who seemed to be up to speed with the legislation on non-native crayfish.

Quite simply, if you wish to trap non-native crayfish you must have a licence for the area you wish to lay your traps and these traps must be of the type approved by DEFRA.

If you catch a crayfish on your line and rod, which will be licensed, as long as it is not a native variety, it must not be returned to the water course by any means. Ergo, take it home for the pot!

Anybody know if these critters are infesting the waters in East Sussex and Kent?

Handyman

[epops]

Originally Posted by handyman

Hello, this is my first post and I have just read all the six pages on the Signal Crayfish menace.

A little point of clarification that may help anybody wishing to catch non-native crayfish. I had a very interesting discussion with an employee at the Fisheries Laboratory who seemed to be up to speed with the legislation on non-native crayfish.

Quite simply, if you wish to trap non-native crayfish you must have a licence for the area you wish to lay your traps and these traps must be of the type approved by DEFRA.

If you catch a crayfish on your line and rod, which will be licensed, as long as it is not a native variety, it must not be returned to the water course by any means. Ergo, take it home for the pot!

Anybody know if these critters are infesting the waters in East Sussex and Kent?

Handyman

that means im a lawbreaker then sitting all night carping and catching the odd crayfish and returning it whoops mind you the lake also has catfish in it which have put pay to most of the crays

[handyman]

Hi Epops, if you feel you are breaking the law, that's between you and your conscience, unless you get caught!

I assume that the crays you are putting back are native white claws.

We could always introduce catfish into the UK waters to counter the crayfish, mind you they will counter everything.

Handyman

[epops]

Dont think the introduction of catfish would be over popular the one in our lake are packing on the weight the roach and rudd population has fallen as well as for thr the crayfish think i'll just keep on putting them back for now

[handyman]

Hello, caught my first lot of nasty Signal Crayfish over the weekend with my fishing rod and a keep net. Visited my brother-in-law who lives near the Thames in Maidenhead and was amazed that within an hour had boxed over two dozen of the snappers, most between 8-10 inches long. They still hurt, even with industrial rubber gloves on.

T'was not long before they were despatched. The only memory now is the sublime taste of tagliatelli langustine.

Looking forward to the Spring, with my licence and my half dozen traps.

I did notice that my local supermarket is now selling prepared wild crayfish, but the box gave no indication of their origin. Will be eating those soon as well!

Handyman