[Bonjoy]

 Had a look in the stream under a certain Yorkshire venue the other day after spotting a disembodied claw up at the crag. Lo and behold after looking under a few rocks I found quite a few crayfish, lot's small but some big enough to eat. Took a pic (will try and remember to post later) for identification purposes. Judging by the red underclaw these are the American invading species the Signal Crayfish. These are a serious pest in british waters, displacing and spreading disease to the smaller native White Clawed Crayfish.
 Having filched some chicken wire from work I am planning on knocking up some lobster pot style traps and dropping them in the stream whilst i'm climbing this weekend.
 Anyone got any knowledge on other location, catching techniques or recipes for these tasty shellfish? I hear most of the cleaner rivers in the south of England are overun with the things and DEFRA are pretty keen for people to trap them.

[Bubba]

I heard something on R4 where a guy was trapping them by the shitload - apparantly they are very tasty.

Not sure I'd fancy the ones from the Don/Sheaf rivers mind.

[Bonjoy]

They only live in clean water apparently.
 
 The ones I found were nowhere like as big as these.

[Scouse D]

I think as long as you put them(live) in tap water for 12hrs or so they will effectively clean themselves out.
Then drop em straight in boiling water. Taste like chicken.

[SA Chris]

Amazing, never knew there was a native freshwater cray here, let alone an invader.

Bonjoy, I'm sure you know this, but the Australians call them Yabbies. Google catching and cooking Yabbies, there's loads of information on them. Or consult Bush Tucker Man.

[r-man]

But does trapping them help the native species, or are they doomed to extinction? Does the native species live anywhere up north?

I think as long as you put them(live) in tap water for 12hrs or so they will effectively clean themselves out.
Then drop em straight in boiling water. Taste like chicken.

Did anyone see the three men in a boat programme? Amusingly they tried eating some freshly caught crayfish from the Thames - had to spit them out. I guess making sure they are cleaned out is quite important. Also, it seems stabbing them in the back doesn't work as well as boiling them. They tend to become a little distressed - something to do with not having the right shaped limbs to extract sharp objects from hard to reach places.

[Falling Down]

This man knows a thing or two about crayfish...



There's a recipe in his first book - ours is packed away unfortunately as our kitchen is being ripped apart otherwise I would've scanned it.

[Bubba]

But does trapping them help the native species, or are they doomed to extinction?

I guess trapping them can only help:

They transmit crayfish plague, a disease caused by a fungus which affects our native white clawed crayfish, which is protected under both UK and European law, and is classed as globally threatened.

[soapy]

i tasted hugh fearnley-wittingstall's smoked kipper once

[Houdini]

Crustacean Scum! 


Eat them.  Eat them all.  You can let them grow bigger as long as you kill them and eat them in the end. 

[Bonjoy]

This man knows a thing or two about crayfish...



There's a recipe in his first book - ours is packed away unfortunately as our kitchen is being ripped apart otherwise I would've scanned it.

Yeah, have got that book too. Have also got useful info off the wild food section on the forum of the river cottage website: http://forum.rivercottage.net/viewforum.php?f=28&topicdays=0&start=0

[Sloper]

Let me know about your trapping techniques, partial to a bit of crawfish myself.  Sadly apparently our local ones are all the protected species.

I'ts all them foreigners, sand em back I say

[soapy]

sand em back..


quite


what have they ever done on grit?

[Idol eyes]

You can trap them by fashoning a trap that is, lets see, like a milk bottle made out of mesh, with the opening that is bent in to wards the inner side, so imagine the entrance being all nice and smooth, and the exit being all spikey and orrible. make the bottle out of mesh, or better still use a 4 ltr plastic one and just enhance the entrance using the smooth come spikey tech.
used, tried and tested this method, use bacon fat as bait.
watched otters eating these in the Lakes behind our old house where the largest pop in uk are... we rated the BBQed cooking method,
or if you want the top Pat King recipe, Sear the fuckers, make some linguine, add all to a pan (slightly under cook the linguine, post al dente) add garlic, vodka, orange zest and serve after 5 mins hard cooking time,...
Ohh, Jelly eyes for afters, followed by rinsemeal.

[cofe]

anyone tried cooking one of these mothers?

[Bonjoy]

 Sounds nice Pat, all served up on a glistening platter of carabiners no doubt, as an aperetif to some donner with onions?

Is that Ronny or Regy?

[Houdini]

Never be on first name terms with din-dins.

[Bonjoy]

I have made a chicken wire crayfish trap and will be test driving it tomorrow. Will report on results.

[bigphil]

There was something about catching and cooking those American Signal Crayfish on the F-Word a few weeks ago.  Recipe may be on channel 4 website.  Watch out for those river wardens/bailffs though, Ramsey did say that you need a licence from the environment agency but that they were free.

[Bonjoy]

 No joy with the trap  . I think the drop in temps or the high stream flow has sent them all into their burrows, as I couldn't find any under any rocks either.

[Slide]

Just been chatting to a friend this weekend and he is waiting for his license from the ministry of agriculture to catch cray fish. Apparently It doesnt cost anything and is easy to get but you could find yourself with a hefty fine if you aint got one.

[Bubba]

(See this page for info)

[Bonjoy]

 Where abouts is he applying to catch them? I believe the licences are specific to waterways rather than a blanket ok to catch anywhere. I can't be bothered to apply for licence until I find a good place to catch them.

[Bubba]

No joy with the trap  . I think the drop in temps or the high stream flow has sent them all into their burrows, as I couldn't find any under any rocks either.

I've just read somewhere else that crayfish are only really active at night, so you probably need to leave your trap in overnight.

[Johnny Brown]

There are native White-clawed Crays in several of the White Peak dales, and its considered quite an important population both in UK and European terms - Lathkill dale has been subject to captive breeding to reintroduce them after an outbreak of plague. They are a protected species, so probably worth checking your ID carefully before chowing down.