Crayfish! (River Lea)

[Mirror Painter]

A bit late to this but these were eaten last summer:

 

[GlenC]

Where in Sonning?

Hi No Regrets

I am planning on catching these blighters (the crayfish that is!) this spring/summer/autumn and welcoming them onto my bbq. Of course, they will be trapped with a license and approved cages.....my question was where in Sonning you saw these last year. At the Sonning sailing club or on the river?

Thanks!
Glen

Rather handy living next to the river...

We have noticed a few families fishing for crayfish over the last week or so, and so I instructed SWMBO to obtain a couple of lines and a net, so we could join in the fun.

First foray yesterday arvo saw at least fifteen in an hour, with just two lines and a few bits of bacon, which we gave to the other fishermen along the bank, as we had no way of storing them...

Today, seven in around fifty minutes, which are currently purging in fresh water in the kitchen.

Which makes me wonder how many of these things there are infiltrating our rivers! seriously, there must be billions of the Brown clawed American Crayfish in the Lea alone. Everybody os hoiking them out by the dozen or more, mostly to eat, some, I suspect, are being flogged to local restaurants.

We first saw this a year or so ago up near Sonning, when a local boater had a tender full (400?) of the things, all destined to be sold to eateries in the vicinity for £1 a throw apparently...

It's illegal to chuck them back in, and easy to see why when you see how easy it is to catch them.

The local Chinese (Restaurant?) children were using a simple piece of string, with a net bag of Mackerel, and were pulling out sixty an hour with ease. These were ten year olds....LOL

What a great way to wast a couple of hours!

 

[sturmvogel190a]

A bit late to this but these were eaten last summer:

Love them but you need so many to make a meal out of them only eating the tails and claws.....lots of boiling for small reward so ytou have to like them .
A few off our mooring

Never found they taste any better if you leave em in clean water or just stick them straight in the pan
Not caught any whilst fishing at Sonning but think they are in the Loddon so must be a few there Steve

 

[No Regrets]

Hi No Regrets

I am planning on catching these blighters (the crayfish that is!) this spring/summer/autumn and welcoming them onto my bbq. Of course, they will be trapped with a license and approved cages.....my question was where in Sonning you saw these last year. At the Sonning sailing club or on the river?

Thanks!
Glen

On the river.

 

[Sulley]

You need some Akvavit to drink and some drinking songs to sing and you have a Swedish crayfish party!

We normally have to bring frozen boxes back from Sweden or make a trip to Ikea mmm maybe I just need to get a net and licence.

Everyone...

Helan går
Sjung hopp faderallan lallan lej