The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

As some of you may have seen I have found a little slice of heaven in the shape of an old "neglected" estate lake. BUT deep down lurks a little devil that is hell bent on tormenting me to distraction

He comes in the form of a Signal Crayfish !

So a question, can you recommend a bait that they don't like ! So far they seem fond of Prawns, sweetcorn and.....and.....

I may have to go plastic, but only as a last resort !

Try crayfish no idea they even like cheese paste on the river soar

Floating crust.

We had this same problem on a lake and found that nothing avoided their attention, it's just a matter of getting to know the bite from them as apposed to other fish which is very hard and at times annoying. Don't forget it's illegal to release them if you catch them so take them home and eat them.

Thanks KF and Loop ! maybe pack a BBQ next trip !

I'm told that is you crush a few crays up and lob them in your swim it will repel the crays but attract the fish. Not tried it as fortunately they are not a problem on my waters.

Here is one from a few weeks back - they are a nightmare and not a lot you can do to avoid them, they are a complete nightmare and being scavengers will eat most things. If you go down the artificial bait route don't use any flavoured ones as they still like those. Popped up baits they simply walk along the hook link until the bait comes down to them - watched them do it. Avoid any type of tungsten in your set up (tubing, putty etc) as they absolutely love it.

The only way I have found to be able to keep a bait on for more than a short while in waters infested with them is to use shrink tubing over your normal bait or use artificial hook baits with no flavour and avoid the margins. The closer in you fish the more problems you will receive.

Signals have been the ruin of so many waters now even if the chub, perch, carp and catfish have grown well eating the young.

Encourage a few to use traps and thin them down as much as you can. A dead fish (they love mackerel) in the bottom of a net will remove a fair few each night and they taste gorgeous. Make sure they are Signals though and not our indigenous crays.

Dave Burr wrote:I'm told that is you crush a few crays up and lob them in your swim it will repel the crays but attract the fish. Not tried it as fortunately they are not a problem on my waters.

Thanks Dave might give that a try

and thanks Shaun for the advice, maybe I should lob a mackeral into the next swim down !

They will not ignore anything! Even plastic corn! I found by either dropping in some pieces of mackerel/herring/sprat or a half opened tin of tuna to one side of the swim they were inclined to leave my bait alone - but not always!

A bed of hemp attracts the fish but perhaps not Reggie & Ronnie?

Before eating they need to be "flushed" in clean water! The crays in the Kennet did not pass a health test for human consumption!

*You will need a Licence to catch crays in a net*

Silurus Glanis make nice pets... you will need to engage the EA though.
( I've known these clever little sods to walk a line with their mates in order to drag a poly ball mounted bait down...)

Its illegal to use crayfish as bait, I think this may be to prevent accidentally using native ones. Also you need an EA licence to trap them but if you catch them by rod & line you are supposed to kill them and not put them back (same with all non native species on EA hit list even zander from rivers).

I would try bread flake a few inches off the bottom and do as suggest and throw in a smelly dead mackerel the other side of the swim or several handfuls of trout pellets.