crayfish in the midlands

[hedgerow pete]

in the spring i was liking the idea of a little cray fish hunting in the canals and river etc, does anyone know where they are ?
any where will do, lakes ponds res, canals, river park ponds private areas any where, it will take me ages to sort out the defra form and the owners permission

also what is the sence behind my latest great idea which was the feeding of the cray fish waste, i am thinking here shells ground up as a chicken food suppliment, does the shell match oyster grits and or any good as a food suppliment to help with vits and minerals.

yes i feed layers/growers pellets, no i am not going to stop doing so

i feed the girls lots of greens etc and weeds i have harvested for them as a diet extra and did not know if the fish meal suppliment would also work?

 

[yeogi75]

hi Pete, i believe they are quite common around midlands canals and rivers, there are two species the native and American imported species,the American species is the largest and not protected, but our native species is, defra will not take too kindly to anyone catching our native species if you do find our species they are very rare and endangered good hunting.

 

[dpearce4]

if you contact your local envroment dept offices they will give u the heads up as to where they are and which ones you are banned from catching.

if you catch the americal signal crayfish, you MUST NOT leave the river bank with them alive. Gov regulation to try and stop the spread as they are distroying the native crayfish.

very easy to catch need a small lobster pot type pot which you usually put a piece of oily fish to attract them in.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Plenty of them in Clatworthy reservoir Pete,all you need to catch them is a few drop nets, baited with some old fish, tied in tights,same as for prawn fishing from a harbour.

 

[BeeJayBee]

in the spring i was liking the idea of a little cray fish hunting in the canals and river etc, does anyone know where they are ?

... the American species is the largest and not protected, but our native species is, defra will not take too kindly to anyone catching our native species if you do find our species they are very rare and endangered good hunting.

Fera knows where the Signal Crayfish are - the link won't work but if you do a search you can "quick view" in google docs. But be careful with your identification
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...fined-4-000-catching-wrong-kind-crayfish.html

There are very well informed discussions about these creatures on Wildlife sites as well as hunting/fishing ones.

 

[hedgerow pete]

allready spoken to defra andno they wont in any way help, all they will do is look at the area i want to trap, look on thier computer systems for engligh cray if there is english then no trap tickets, if there is no english then help your self and heres ten tags.

I am on several other fishing forums one this subject but you lot are another starter point aswell.

no replies on using the spare parts as a chicken suppliment or how about as a garden fertilizer, blood, FISH, and bone

 

[premo]

Hi Pete

When I was a lad we played down Sandwell valley, the mine was still active and we would ride down the slag heap on our bikes, there was a big fishing pond there we called it wasan pool (swan pool) it was feed by one or two small streams these used to be full of crayfish, don’t know if there are American crayfish in the pool or the streams but it might be worth a look as its not far from you, you might also look at the river Teme that runs through the valley, it was heavily polluted when I was lad back in the 60s but they have cleaned it up and I think there are fish in it now so there might be some crayfish.
Not sure what council it comes under but you would need to check that it’s ok to set some traps for them, I think you must also be able to show that you can identify the native crayfish from the American crayfish which is not difficult, the native crayfish is protected and must be returned to the water.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

They had some by Lower Loxely I believe, in the heart of Borsetshire.

 

[countryman]

pete you are allow to catch the american signal cray it has an orange belly and claws but if you catch the local white one BBBBIIIIIGGGGGGGG trouble simple to catch simply get nets from your local fishing shop range from 5-9 pound get some old smelly fish load the pocket on them lob in and anchor make a note of where they are hide the rope because they will go if found best early or late in day when no one about leave for 12-24 hours bingo loads of them no need to feed them there are so many they eat themselves you will have to est a cleansing tank up just fresh water in a tank and pump DO NOT feed them emptys them out so they clean (otherwise you have to take out the black digestive track ) leave them for 6 days in there no longer or they will eat themselves them cook in boiling water like lobsters ENJOY!!!

i catch about 20-40 per net

 

[countryman]

also pete while getting the nets ask the fishing shop where they are best place to ask dont bother withthem useless idiots at the enviro agency

 

[BeeJayBee]

There's an interactive map here http://data.nbn.org.uk/interactive/map.jsp?srchSp=148049

Have you got a fishing shop nearby? They'll probably know where you can catch them, but I'd thought they had spread so quickly that they were in almost all suitable watercourses.

If you do catch any there's no reason why you can't dry and crush the shells and either put it on the compost heap or sprinkle it on the garden. Putting it directly onto the garden would probably be better because it would be less concentrated, so less likely to attract vermin. Even mussel shells seem to vanish after a year or so, so it won't do the soil any harm and will probably do some good.

We don't keep chickens, yet, so I don't know whether the crushed shells would be good for them.

 

[yeogi75]

also Pete i think you are an angler dont forget to disinfect your nets between waters

 

[countryman]

totaly correct as crayfish are carriers

 

[hedgerow pete]

to clean nets i can either sun/air dry............. dip in a bio security solution ( jayes fluid, detol, bleach any suggestions............ or a forladahyde solution, i have yet to ask ask at country wide farmers for what they have avalible.

i would prefere to dip as i dont like the idea of drying working that well

as for the whites there is next to no chance of getting a permit from defra when there are whites about unless it is for scientific purposes and or if there are any water voles near by with tube nets. i have read the rules so far.

what i was thinking of was the bicycle wheel drop nets four of.

or making collapable tube nets the tubes can go out over nights and the drop nets would have to be a drop and wait, ie by the time the last net is in start the collection of the first one and leap frog them.

I have been to canada today (via the internet not the Mr Ben shop) and have been talking and looking at one way valves on crab traps and the ideas of one way fingers and loose net funnels to prevent the crays geting back out. what i am now thinking of is a chicken wire end panel with a soft flexable mesh on a coiled wire in between so many can be carriered without the hassel of big lobster pot jobbies. and i have found swan pool on the local internet maps, i will have a wander over there soon to have a look.

thanks all pete

 

[yeogi75]

we used jeys fluid watered down, what about eel tubes for catching

 

[countryman]

pete just get those nets with the what looks like thin spring covered in nylon mesh they collapse down and held together by two clips you can carry loads in a bag if you want loads leave them in for about 12 hours or overnight min put them in deep water so the voles cant get to them but if you do get any white claws put them back pronto