Anyone dive to collect freshwater Crayfish in the UK?

Taking a walk over to the canal with a fishing rod this weekend, we crossed a small stream. I always take a look to see if there are any crays (there never are) but low & behold, a nice big juicy one scurried across the stream bed and under the bridge. Time to get the 99p garage nets, unused cray trap & cheap Lidl's sardines out. Its Crawdaddy time!

Did some paddling with the little nets & Lidl's sardines this weekend. Things were a bit quiet at first but within an hour and half we 10 crays of which 9 where large or very large. They were all but three were hiding in gaps between rocks underneath (usually) brick walls. A quick prod. revealed they have hollowed out a considerable space behind the walls, 30-50cm deep. An arch in one of the walls is starting to show signs of collapse (one brick out, others starting to fall out around the gap).

Think of serving with the lobster caught recently and/or as crawdaddy. Lobster crawdaddy?:hmm

Oldsarge said:

I'm envisioning a lobster split down the middle with a crawdad flavored cream and mushroom sauce over the top and a big bowl of steamed rice on the side. Oooooooooooh . . .

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Genius! Although I might try yoghurt rather than cream.:hmm

BTW some thoughts on some of the more popular crayfish traps:

I prefer the large, collapsible, round ones sold on ebay as bait/crayfish/lobster/crab traps for about £5 from various seller. However, they are not very good for lobster & are quite bad for crab because their openings are restricted & quite small -- as I noticed when I caught loads of undersize edible crabs on holiday. I've read that you can further restrict the size(sic!) with electrical cable ties. However, I have replaced the wire rings on mine with 3mm bungee cord, making the entrance bigger & it will now stretch upto double in size - big enough for large crab, although probably not the very biggest. Pity they don't use a coarser mesh with wider openings, to allow blennys, small crabs, etc. an easier exit; I don't repair minor tears for that reason. The main zip on mine broke (probably salt - that messed up my rod bag's zips) but I just used string to lace it closed now, which actually works well & allows me to leave some gaps.

I have a similar, slightly smaller cray trap that is rectangular in profile, specifically designed for cray & bait I think. I don't like this one. The fine mesh is way too fine, even for small cray - perhaps intended for catching minnow? It traps any and all weed drifting by. The fine mesh is easy damaged (holed) in use, the wire frame rusts a little (unlike the one above) & the clips that hold the trap closed during transport (surprisingly important in use) are feeble & quickly become useless.

All the crays caught yesterday were caught wading in wellies with cheap beach nets (99p round & 2.50 rectangle versions - the latter being more robust), sardines & an old fish head (removed after use). A couple of big crays were heading for the trap, along a wall, from downsteam (in quite a strong flow) when I was packing up but the trap obviously needed more time (overnight?).

BBC: American Signal Crayfish vs. Chinese Mitten Crabs

Forwarded by a colleague: BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Aquatic alien 'thugs' set to meet