Crayfish - success!

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Crayfish - success!
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Mat S

Joined: 07 Nov 2004
Posts: 282
Location: Leicester

Posted: Mon Sep 26, 05 7:36 pm Post subject: Crayfish - success!

Saturday night.

Place - https://multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=52.363&lon=-1.5021&scale=25000&icon=x
River Sowe, Baginton, near Coventry Airport - upstream from the sewage works.

Kit - 2 crab lines, bait & weight lowered into the water from the end of my 10 foot-ish pole and rod to clear the weeds etc. Butterfly net to aid landing.

Bait - luncheon meat initially. Bacon works better because it doesn't fall apart as easily under the weight of a greedy crustacean.

Time of day - I arrived about 1730. Was about ready to go home in a huff as it got dark around 1930 when - very exciting - there was some resistance and flapping around on the end of the line. Got a net under it as it came out of the water and there was cray number one. Waving claws at me indignantly, showing red underneath - a signal cray. Bingo!

Got 6 in total (including one tiddler and 3 really big'uns), boiled up and eaten with garlic bread. Yummy. Can't wait to get more.

I know that technically I probably broke the law (live transportation?). However, I removed creatures of an invasive species, no water from that river was dropped down a drain (little went on the garden) and the post boiling remains were bagged up and binned so I don't think I've spread disease or eggs.

I'm not sure if they only feed when it's dark (couldn't see the bottom but it was black mud) or if it took 2 hours for the smell of my bait to get to the critters.

Ideas for spotting areas where there are loads of crays appreciated..

nettie

Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 5888
Location: Suffolk

Posted: Mon Sep 26, 05 10:21 pm Post subject:
Wow what beauties! Nice one Matt. And thank goodness they were upstream from the sewage works. Don't think I've got the stomach to drop them in boiling water though, I'll leave that to someone else!

zigs

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 524
Location: Somerset

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 05 6:09 am Post subject:
wow ! result or what. not seen em that big since we drained the tillingbourne. nice one

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 05 9:17 am Post subject:
Splendid specimen! Mat, did you "hold" them for a couple of days in clean water?

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 05 9:20 am Post subject:
Nice one Mat. excellent foraging

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 05 9:52 am Post subject:
Brilliant, Mat. They look very tasty How do you pick a likely bit of river?

Res

Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 1172
Location: Allotment Shed, Harlow

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 05 10:09 am Post subject:
I used to catch them by hand in the river stort when I was a teenager. They used to love it in the overflow offshot, nice fast running water and only ankle deep. Never cooked one though, just chucked them back

Mat S

Joined: 07 Nov 2004
Posts: 282
Location: Leicester

Posted: Wed Sep 28, 05 12:36 pm Post subject:

In order then -

Nettie - I did feel a bit guilty dropping them in the pan but it soon passed. Made sure it was a rolling boil, mind.

Dougal - No, took them home and cooked them.

Cab - used the nbn gateway thing, I have a feeling it was you who put me on to it. Looked for a largeish river (don't fancy my chances in the stangnant ditches sometimes marked on the OS), somewhere quiet and with a footpath running alongside. Checked for obvious industrial estates, sewage works etc. Still looking for somewhere with a greater population of crays.

Res - is the Stort near Bishops Stortford or elsewhere? MIght need to start looking for weirs...

Everybody else - thanks for your kind comments...

Mat

Mr O

Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Posts: 5512
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada

Posted: Wed Sep 28, 05 5:13 pm Post subject:
Mat S You are in my neck of the woods there! the blue line out of your circle to the right goes right through my holding! I will keep an eye out for you!

Res

Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 1172
Location: Allotment Shed, Harlow

Posted: Wed Sep 28, 05 5:20 pm Post subject:

Mat S wrote:

is the Stort near Bishops Stortford or elsewhere? MIght need to start looking for weirs...

Yes mate. The stort goes through B/Stortford, then Harlow.

Mat S

Joined: 07 Nov 2004
Posts: 282
Location: Leicester

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 05 5:49 pm Post subject:

The Orange wrote:

Mat S
You are in my neck of the woods there! the blue line out of your circle to the right goes right through my holding! I will keep an eye out for you!

Were they your horses that followed me across the field then? Scared the life out of me when one appeared out of the darkness!

Mat S

Joined: 07 Nov 2004
Posts: 282
Location: Leicester

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 05 5:49 pm Post subject:

Res wrote:

Mat S wrote:

is the Stort near Bishops Stortford or elsewhere? MIght need to start looking for weirs...

Yes mate. The stort goes through B/Stortford, then Harlow.

I kinda guessed.

Mr O

Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Posts: 5512
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 05 6:32 pm Post subject:

Mat S wrote:

The Orange wrote:

Mat S
You are in my neck of the woods there! the blue line out of your circle to the right goes right through my holding! I will keep an eye out for you!

Were they your horses that followed me across the field then? Scared the life out of me when one appeared out of the darkness!

No not mine! There is one field between me and the river, It would have been GOS sows if you were on my land, much friendlier than horses and tastier too!

Jeff

Joined: 23 Feb 2005
Posts: 145
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 05 3:17 pm Post subject:

Mat S wrote:

Nettie - I did feel a bit guilty dropping them in the pan but it soon passed. Made sure it was a rolling boil, mind.

You'll be pleased to know that you can avoid having to do this! Do what chefs do with Lobster, put then in the freezer in a tub, scientists say this is the most humain way to treat them because they unknowingly shut down... Once you're sure they've passed then drop them into the rolling water as you would normally...

zigs

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 524
Location: Somerset

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 05 7:58 am Post subject:
arr, i do that with the prawns i catch

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