Crayfish

[Two Tone]

Sheep street in Stratford with all its restaurants. Lambs and The Vintner usually have Crayfish Cocktail on the menu.

But not today, so we had the Prawn Cocktail instead

The Marie Rose sauce had a really good Cayenne pepper kick to it that made your eyes stand out on stalks.
Just how I like it!

 

[ollie989898]

It's amazing how some species are basically running riot and can't be caught fast enough. Those king crab are considered an invasive species in some regions, yet crab meat is eye-meltingly expensive wherever you buy it. You'd think cray fish would be sold in every pub and chip shop in the land. Apparently they do make good eating.

 

[t.eddie]

It's amazing how some species are basically running riot and can't be caught fast enough. Those king crab are considered an invasive species in some regions, yet crab meat is eye-meltingly expensive wherever you buy it. You'd think cray fish would be sold in every pub and chip shop in the land. Apparently they do make good eating.

They are very tasty, I think from what I could make out when getting the license was that in order to move them alive you have to have a commercial license yet to get that you had to meet certain requirements I.e. have certain transportation and holding sight to keep them etc to prevent escapees. You also were only allowed to sell those over a certain size. I enquired about getting a commercial licence to allow fornlive transport only and was told in no uncertain terms that they wouldn't consider it and i wouldnt chance doing it when I have a shotgun and firearms licence and risk losing them

 

[Kidds]

was told in no uncertain terms that they wouldn't consider it and i wouldnt chance doing it when I have a shotgun and firearms licence and risk losing them

It is purely this fear of repercussions that keep us all in line when in fact there are no repercussions anyway. There is no joined up thinking or communications between government bodies, if you got caught with a crayfish the EA aren't going to tell the firearms dept. In any case you aren't going to get caught and even if you did you just say someone down the pub gave it to you and stick to the story. This applies in all walks of life. Running on red diesel is another good example, I would have saved goodness knows how much more than any fines over the years. Never once been dipped in over 40 years of driving.
The gypsies have cottoned on to all this, that's why they just do whatever they like.

 

[t.eddie]

It is purely this fear of repercussions that keep us all in line when in fact there are no repercussions anyway. There is no joined up thinking or communications between government bodies, if you got caught with a crayfish the EA aren't going to tell the firearms dept. In any case you aren't going to get caught and even if you did you just say someone down the pub gave it to you and stick to the story. This applies in all walks of life. Running on red diesel is another good example, I would have saved goodness knows how much more than any fines over the years. Never once been dipped in over 40 years of driving.
The gypsies have cottoned on to all this, that's why they just do whatever they like.

I don't disagree your 100% right, the likelihood of getting caught when I do it on a private farm well away from any footpaths are nonexistent but I still won't risk it

 

[Ffermer Bach]

It is purely this fear of repercussions that keep us all in line when in fact there are no repercussions anyway. There is no joined up thinking or communications between government bodies, if you got caught with a crayfish the EA aren't going to tell the firearms dept. In any case you aren't going to get caught and even if you did you just say someone down the pub gave it to you and stick to the story. This applies in all walks of life. Running on red diesel is another good example, I would have saved goodness knows how much more than any fines over the years. Never once been dipped in over 40 years of driving.
The gypsies have cottoned on to all this, that's why they just do whatever they like.

used to rent a property to a traffic policeman years ago, I was a bit slow on the uptake and wondered why he had an IBC that he kept filling with red diesel!

 

[t.eddie]

The latest haul, probably the last for the year with other commitments and the soon to be cooler weather. Little one very happy pulling these in

 

[t.eddie]

Cooked, packed and ready for the freezer

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

Suppose you just smash them open like a lobster?

One of my favourite fishing spots has been ruined by crayfish, no small or soft baits possible at all now. Not sure how because its a closed lake.

 

[t.eddie]

Suppose you just smash them open like a lobster?

One of my favourite fishing spots has been ruined by crayfish, no small or soft baits possible at all now. Not sure how because its a closed lake.

Doesn't take quite as much effort as a lobster, more like dispelling prawns. They will crawl across open ground providing they stay damp which I think is how they spread so far, also eggs getting attached to other things and transported that way

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

That makes sense, the lake i'm thinking of is a hub for Wildfowl.

 

[t.eddie]

Made the Thai green curry with a couple of bags of these tonight, was fantastic so that's on the list to be made again

 

[SteveHants]

how do you catch them ? what kind of trap ? i know we have some in a stream on the farm so might send my boys to try get some

When i was a kid, we'd fish them out of the Kennet without a bought trap. just bend a rigid hoop (coathanger?) round an onion bag and stick a fish head in the bottom, attach to string and just dangle it in, when the crays are on the fish head, just yank it up.
Some people just used to have a chicken carcass on a string, same effect - the crayfish would go inside it.

We trapped them commercially when I was fish farming, just made small "lobster pots", but as others have said, you can buy them.

 

[SuffolkStalker]

Not knocking you - lord knows I love crayfish to eat. The latest literature does suggest that trapping actually causes a bigger population problem. As they predate on each other, trapping the big ones means all the little ones have chance to grow.

It's a real dilemma as leaving them to run amok just doesn't seem like a good thing.

 

[t.eddie]

Not knocking you - lord knows I love crayfish to eat. The latest literature does suggest that trapping actually causes a bigger population problem. As they predate on each other, trapping the big ones means all the little ones have chance to grow.

It's a real dilemma as leaving them to run amok just doesn't seem like a good thing.

That's a fair point though we do get a fair few small ones in the traps as well, usually small instead of big to be honest but yeah hard to know which is the best thing as not taking them out in numbers would mean there would be far more there/ working their way to other food sources or waterways

 

[ollie989898]

Given how readily the things are caught in traps you'd assume removing every last one of them from water courses and lakes would logically be pretty straight forward? Keep catching them and eating them until they are gone?

The king crab is another pest that is spreading across the globe eating everything in sight, the way those things move you'd think crab meat would be 10 pence a pound.

 

[SuffolkStalker]

Given how readily the things are caught in traps you'd assume removing every last one of them from water courses and lakes would logically be pretty straight forward? Keep catching them and eating them until they are gone?

The king crab is another pest that is spreading across the globe eating everything in sight, the way those things move you'd think crab meat would be 10 pence a pound.

The trouble is that many crayfish which are predated on by large crayfish you cannot trap due to size. If you remove the large crayfish, all the little ones have chance to grow predating on each other but also native species such as the white claw.

 

[t.eddie]

The other way to look at it is that by taking out bigger ones you give smaller fish and the native crayfish a better chance of not being predated upon by the bigger and more aggressive signal

 

[SteveHants]

Also, smaller crayfish are much more likely to be predated upon. Chub quite like them for instance

 

[egbert]

Reminds me of a hunt master I knew, who told how used to catch 'yabbies' in Oz as a lad.
Drop the bait in - a dead cat was favourite...preferably someone else's cat. Sit down with a few tinnies, and wait.