Fishery Focus: Ashmoor Lakes Carp

I am lucky enough to be part of a family who own a fishery. Ashmoor Lakes in Old Basing.
It is a small, mixed coarse fishery packed with many species of fish.
Initially they were dug for me, and I have been fishing there all of my angling life, over 30 years. Its where I learned to fish, and as such I have extensive knowledge of the venue and how best to catch the fish.

So I figured it was about time I shared some of this information I've acquired through the years and how you can best target and catch certain species by design.

ASHMOOR CARP

Though Ashmoor Lakes is a mixed coarse fishery packed with many wonderful species, like most coarse fisheries, the Carp are by far the most dominant and common.

With Carp angling being as absurdly popular as it is, its rare to find a fishery without Carp in.
When Ashmoor Lakes was first dug and stocked it only had 2 Carp in it. Years later, just before the fishery was opened to the public, it was stocked with many more smaller Carp, and was topped up regularly through the years to a point where, if anything, there are way too many Carp in the lakes!
The old original fish are still there, and pushing 25lb in weight now, but are caught extremely rarely through the hoards of other Carp who get to the bait first.
Common Carp, Mirror Carp, Ghost Carp, Grass Carp, Crucian Carp and Goldfish are all present in Ashmoor Lakes. But its the King Carp species that are the most common, and the ones I will be talking about here.
The biggest Carp in Ashmoor is 25lb, reportedly. Though I know for certain a 23lb was accurately weighed on a separate occasion. The average fish however used to run at about 3-4lb, but now holds steady at 4-6lb.
In the winter, the average fish is around 2-4lb, as the bigger fish become more dormant with the colder weather slowing their metabolism.
The colours of the Common Carp vary from chestnut brown through to silver, all tending to be lean, large tailed, powerful fish. The Mirror Carp range from blue/greys and silvers through to browns, with beautiful accents of colour like yellows, oranges and purples. The Ghost Carp, both Mirrors and Commons, are pale whites and yellows, and often interbreed with the others producing different coloured young. The Ghosties are a bit rarer to find than the more naturally coloured Carp, but no less easy to catch.

A Decent Ashmoor Lakes Mirror Carp

LOCATION

Carp are found throughout all 3 lakes at Ashmoor, so wherever you fish, you will find them. Not only that, but it doesn't even matter which lake you fish on, as surprisingly to some, the lakes are all joined together. Beneath the ground joining Lake 1 to Lake 2, and Lake 2 to Lake 3 are two large pipes, allowing water and fish to pass through between them.
The main reason for this is so that when the lakes are topped up with water from a water holding pond in the summer when the water levels drop, the water flows evenly between them. But it also provides a channel between all the lakes that Carp regularly use travel between and feed in different ponds.
Many a time have anglers caught a notable Carp in Lake 2, only to come down a separate time and catch the same fish in Lake 1. It does mean, however, that if you are after a certain fish, there's no way of knowing which lake its likely to be in that day!
As is usual with Carp, in Ashmoor they can be easily caught near a feature. Along the far margins, by lily pads, and not forgetting the near margins, often right beneath your feet. Near margins are a top place to fish at Ashmoor, but rarely do I see people fish them.
With so many Carp in Ashmoor Lakes, the margins around the lakes are quite undercut due to the activity of the Carp feeding and rubbing along the edges, and this provides a safer haven for them, as well as good places to feed.
There are some more notable swims that Carp anglers like to inhabit. On Lake 1 the aptly named 'Carp Corner' is a popular place, a corner on an otherwise square lake that juts out making a little bay, and the unfishable 'Field Bank' that backs onto the farm land.
On Lake 2, the islands are obvious points, particularly swims where you can fish the area between the two. And on Lake 3, which is home to the lilies, any swim that has one of them in, though the whole lake is very popular due to the entire opposite side being unfishable.

TIME

Carp can be caught all year round. At Ashmoor as with many places, late Spring through to early Autumn is the best time, with Summer being the best. Carp love the warmer weather, and feed most strongly during it. During winter, the bigger Ashmoor Carp tend to get their heads down and become more dormant. Carp can still be caught, but expect them to be less frequent and smaller on average.
Fishing for Carp on a hot summers daytime however often proves unfruitful. Fish bask in the hot surface layers and show little sign of interest in bait. Far better is the morning and the late afternoon/evening. Prime feeding times.

METHODS

At any time of the year the Carp can be caught on all methods. Off the surface, on the float, on a feeder and on leger Carp tactics. By far the most popularly used method of the carpers is bite alarms and bolt rigs on the bottom. However I am here to tell you that this is actually the least effective method. Though any decent angler will soon realise that Ashmoors lake bottoms are silty, few people realise quite how deep. During lake maintenance, when I'm in the water in a wet suit, the silt often comes up to mid shin height. Carpers fishing bolt rigs on the bottom often complain that they don't catch many fish, but its mostly due to their rigs sinking deep in the silt, making it impossible for fish to find the bait. A problem eased by using smaller leads or helicopter rigs.
Feeders are more effective, as they tend to lay on the surface of the silt better, and groundbait feeders encourage the Carp to root around in the silt if the bait does get covered a little. Float fishing is even better as you can get the depth dead right, so long as you allow that the plummet will sink into the silt a little too, and sometimes give you a false reading of where the lake bottom is.
Despite the large Carp being present, I would say that 4lb line for most float or feeder fishing is quite acceptable, as there is plenty of room to play a bigger fish in in most swims. With 6lb line for techniques like surface fishing or traditional carp fishing, or if you don't feel confident that you could control a running larger fish being better, as you gain more control over the fish. Many anglers use 10lb line or more, but it is often less effective, as the fish see the line. Size 10 barbless hooks are the maximum to be used at Ashmoor, and are more than sufficient to hook the biggest Carp in the lake, but obviously, using a hook that is a suitable size for your bait is the way to go, with myself never using less than a size 16 barbless when float fishing maggots.
A very good method to pick up a Carp at Ashmoor is to look for bubbles rising to the surface from feeding fish and to place a depth set bait over the top of them, particularly with a float set up to reduce disturbance. A worm or a prawn or a soft hooker pellet being the best baits for this.

BAIT

The most important thing to remember with Ashmoor Lakes is that its a farm venue. As many anglers in the know will tell you, farm ponds tend to be bit trickier to catch from. This is due to the quantity of natural bait that is around for the fish to feed on, not only under water, but also flying or blown in from crops in fields nearby, and as Ashmoor is set in surrounding woodland also, plenty of food comes down from the trees as well. Because of this, natural baits tend to be the way of things to catch fish easier.
This, to some degree, is the way of Ashmoor Lakes. Maggot and worm catch many more fish than other baits, also including prawns and bread. Though naturally, using maggot and worm does tend to catch you a mix of species rather than picking out Carp more specifically.
 However, Ashmoor Lakes is a popular venue, and gets plenty of groundbait, particles and pellet introduced by anglers, meaning pellets, sweetcorn and luncheon meat are also good baits. During periods of closure or quiet times, the fish are also fed on grain and bran based foods, so they are more used to it.
Being a farm pond, and naturals being the way of things, it does mean that boilies are not a very effective bait for catching Carp. Inevitably they will eat a boilie eventually, but all other baits out shine them by far. Pellet hookbaits are better. If you must use boilies (as for some reason the carp boys think they have to) I would suggest smaller ones, and perhaps more fish based smells to match pellet.
The key to all these baits though is to feed little an often, much like a match fisherman, and not toss out large beds of bait. In the summer I introduce about 8-12 pellets or maggots every 5 minutes or so, and less of larger loose feed like sweetcorn or prawn chunks. The Carp guzzle up near enough everything as quick as possible, as do the resident Bream hoards, so you need to keep their interest.

The King of all Baits

THE BEST WAY TO CATCH

Having discussed the methods to catch Carp at Ashmoor Lakes you'll notice I skirted around one in particular. And that's because it is by far and away the best method of not only catching Carp at Ashmoor, but also catching the bigger of them over the smaller ones.
I cant count how many times I have seen carp anglers sat behind bite alarms with rigs on the bottom of the lake, sat there all day catching nothing at all, when simple watercraft would show them that the Carp are up in the water. Often with fish clearly basking, swimming and feeding on the surface of the lake quite visibly. And this even includes the winter months.
To catch the bigger of the Carp at Ashmoor, the surface is the place to do it. The warm weather drives the fish up, and being a farm pond with lots of natural flies and bugs being blown into the water, its one of the best places for them to feed. Locating the fish in any chosen swim is very easy, you can visibly see them most times, and if not, you'll see the swirls of them taking things from the surface. You will also hear them sucking in food.
The Ashmoor Carp can easily be brought to feed on the surface with the introduction of floating baits, and by spending a little time watching the fish, and letting them feed, you can pick out the biggest fish of the bunch to catch. In this way, you can ensure you are getting the biggest Carp over the smaller ones, unlike all other methods. Not that its all about size. I will often catch prettier looking fish over larger ones, and always target a Ghost carp no matter its size when one appears.
By spending half an hour or so slowly feeding the Carp on the surface, usually with dog biscuit or bread, I can not only pick out the biggest fish or the one I want, but also watch its feeding habits to a point where after coming up and taking a bait, how long it will take for it to eat it and come up for another and also where it is likely to come up from. This method is very much about patience. Though bites can be as instant as 5-10 seconds, it very much pays to watch the fish for maybe half an hour to an hour to get a better quarry.
By far the best way to catch any fish, not just Carp, is to spend time watching them and learning how best to target them.

My tackle of choice when surface fishing is a nice light, small carp reel. At the moment I'm not actually using a carp reel, but a small lure fishing reel as these are designed to be cast and held all day, much like when surface fishing, and are naturally lighter. For the rod, nothing bigger than 1.75lb test curve. 1.5lb is ideal. A barbel rod. You don't actually need one this strong, but you have to be aware of snags the fish could run into and have enough power to bully them out or away from them, and also away of other anglers. Swims can be a little close together, and some anglers quite rightly would be unforgiving if you let your fish run all over their swim and ruin it.
Reel line of 6lb is more than sufficient for the task. Anything stronger then the fish see it and sense it before they even take the bait. The fish are wily enough to be wary of any surface bait before they take it. The last thing to use is a size 10 barbless hook, the biggest the venue rules allow. This is to ensure that the bread hook bait has the best chances of staying on, and also that the point protrudes from the bait to be able to hook the fish. And I never use carp hooks from certain Carp specific companies. These hooks work fine for bottom baits, but they are often too heavy to be used on the surface, and are also too thick and big. Not only do the fish see them, but they can also make your hookbait sit more unnaturally on the surface compared to the free offerings, and the fish can tell this. Fine gauge match style hooks are much better.
I will always fish near margin swims over distance fishing. Reason being, that that's where the fish are, and also I am free lining. There is no casting weight of a float on the line so it makes the whole thing easier. Having said that, pinching a bit of bread flake to the hook and dabbing it in the water, gives all the weight you need to swing it over to a far bank or island.
I would NEVER use a controller or bubble float at Ashmoor, as they are really not needed, and just provide weak points in your line, or things to snag around weeds, over hanging trees, or submerged roots and reeds.
When your target fish is spotted, its a case of placing the bait in front of it to eat. Watching and waiting for the mouth to open, engulf your hook, and close is mouth. Always wait for the mouth close, and strike quick, as within a second, they can spit it out again when they realise. Obviously, for all of this a pair of polarised glasses is as essential as bringing and using a rod, reel and bait. You need to be able to see the fish through the glare of the water. Never leave home without them!
As for bait, I sometimes use a rubber bait band with a tab to push the hook through to hold a chum mixer dog biscuit. Though I do find with Ashmoor Carp particularly, they do see the hook and be more tricky to catch on it. Far better is bread. Some swear by a fresh loaf, but I tend to use the cheapest sliced I can find. Only because I pinch out a 50p piece circle of bread from the middle, lay it between the shank and the point of the hook, then pinch it back over the shank. I find it stays on better, and leaves the hook point open to hook better too, and if by some miracle a Grass Carp appears, you are primed ready to give it a go. Which I will discuss in another blog at some point in the future.
As mentioned, the number one most important thing you need for surface fishing is patience. It can be incredibly stressful, but when you hook up, its infinitely more rewarding than any other form of Carp fishing.

A Beautiful Common caught Freelining Bread on the Surface 

Nature Notes: The Crayfish

I remember catching my first crayfish maybe 20 years ago from the Basingstoke Canal.
Float fishing maggot in the margins for Gudgeon, Roach and Perch, I had been getting some strange bites on the float, and when I struck into them, nothing was on the line. Eventually the culprit made a slip up and I reeled in a very cross looking Red Signal Crayfish who was hooked fair and square in its mouth parts. Often the crayfish cling to the hook with their claws and can be easily landed like that, much as if you were crabbing down at the coast, but this guy in his hunger had hooked himself properly.
After admiring the beast, who bristled with anger at me, raising up his claws revealing the red undersides, the task of dispatching him had to be taken. A sad task to undertake on a creature, that through no fault of his own, must be killed by law. The price of this species' success.
There are a few different species of crayfish in our UK waters, but only one that is native, the White Clawed Crayfish. All of the others have been introduced, and one in particular, the Red Signal Crayfish like the one I first caught that day, has had a huge, and devastating, effect on the ecosystems of our fresh water areas.

A defiant Red clawed crayfish in its river home

The Fresh Water Lobster

Crayfish have a lobster-like appearance. The tough outer shell, 2 large claws at the front for feeding, displaying and fighting, and multiple legs each tipped with a small claw to grip underwater surfaces with more ease in the flow of fast water, and a flat tail for swimming, particularly backwards to escape danger. These fresh water crustaceans breathe through feather-like gills, and are mostly nocturnal, moving around mostly at night.
They live in many still or slow flowing fresh water environments such as rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, reservoirs, and canals, preferring chalk, sandstone and limestone areas for the minerals.
They like to live under submerged rocks, boulders and logs, underwater tree roots, and holes in the bank sides. Each crayfish can burrow tunnels up to 2 metres in length in the bank, and these often make large networks of tunnels when multiple systems join up. During the winter months crayfish retreat into these tunnels to over-winter, and they enter a state of torpor.
Crayfish can move around easily, particularly down stream, and even over natural and artificial  barriers. Its estimated that they can travel up to 300 metres in water in one day, should they want to, and even travel over land sometimes for 100 metres or more, usually during the night and after rain so their gills remain wet and they can breathe. Its also when there are less predators about, and its cooler.
Crayfish are voracious predators and eat near enough anything they can get their claws on. Omnivorous, they will eat small fish and fish eggs, frogs and their tadpoles and spawn, many invertebrates such as snails, insect larva and worms, aquatic plants, carrion, and even other crayfish, including their own species.
Around autumn time UK crayfish start to breed, and they become very territorial as they fight and display for mates. The female carries the eggs she has laid on the underside of her tail through the winter periods and into spring to protect them, using the tunnels they dig in the side of the banks for home during this time. When the eggs are hatched, the young remain under her tail until May/June time when they are released and have to fend for themselves.
The juveniles grow by moulting and get larger and larger. Moulting is a dangerous time for crayfish, as they shed their protective outer carapace. Their body is soft and unprotected until it hardens up into the new, larger shell.
Young juveniles seek safety among cobbles and stones on the river or lake bed, and also in vegetation like watercress, grass mats and leaf litter.
The further north in the UK you go, into Scotland, the less prevalent the crayfish population is. This is mostly due to the colder months being longer than in the south
Despite being voracious predators themselves, crayfish are also prey for many other species of fish, including pike, perch, trout, chub and eels. In fact, it is thought that the populations of crayfish are less pronounced in the west of Wales and Scotland due to the eel population there. Heron, otter, rats and the non-native mink also find the crayfish tasty meals. Juveniles are eaten by near enough everything water-based, including predatory insect larvae.
Crayfish prefer waters of about 1 metre deep, but can also be found in waters anywhere between 5cm to 2.5 metres deep.

Big Up The Reds!

The Red Signal Crayfish's (Pacifastacus leniusculus) native home is North America.
In the 1970's our UK government decided to import them into the country and farm them here to export them to the European market, particularly the Scandinavian market. In Europe, a crayfish plague had ravaged their populations of crayfish and there was a shortage of them in the food industry, so growing and commercialising them here seemed an attractive thing to do.
However, it turned out that the Red Signals were a carrier of this crayfish plague.
Inevitably some escaped from the farms and into our waterways, and transferred the plague to our own native White Clawed Crayfish, decimating their numbers. On top of that, being bigger, faster growing and able to reproduce more quickly than our own native crayfish, their numbers swelled as fast as our White Clawed were destroyed by them.
Red Signal Crayfish are easily distinguished from other species of crayfish by looking at the underside of their claws, being orange/red in colour, which also have a blue/green patch by the claw hinge. Their hard shell is greenish brown in colour. They grow up to 16 - 18cm in length and have a smooth ridge running along the middle of the rostrum.
Female Red Signals can lay anywhere between 200 - 400 eggs, but only when they are 2 - 3 years old and beyond. These crayfish have been known to live for 20 years.
Hardier by nature, they can withstand small levels of pollution and even slightly saline water.

Put your hands up for Detroit!

The Natives

Our native White Clawed Crayfish (Austropotambobius pallipes) was once widespread and common across England and Wales, but now has had its population decline by around 50-80%  across the UK and Europe. The White Clawed Crayfish is sadly now classified as an endangered species and is on the red list of threatened species that is at risk of global extinction.
The White Clawed Crayfish share the like for the same habitats as the Red Signal Crayfish, and are omnivorous and eat the same food as them too, there in competing for the same habitat and food sources.
The White Clawed Crayfish is, however, much more intolerant to pollution than other crayfish species. Indeed, a good sign of good water quality is if White Clawed Crayfish live in the water, preferring clean, mineral rich waters.
White Clawed Crayfish differ in appearance to the much more common Red Signal Crayfish by the underside of their claws being white rather than noticeably red. They only grow to a maximum of 12cm in length, so are smaller as adults also. They have a spiky ridge running along the rostrum rather than a smooth one. White Claweds have a 12 year lifespan, much less than the Signals.
White Clawed Crayfish only lay between 20 - 160 eggs and don't reach sexual maturity until 3 - 4 years of age.

White Clawed Crayfish

Other Invaders

There are several other species of crayfish present in out UK waterways. All of these species are non-natives, and have either escaped into, or been introduced into our water systems, much like the Red Signal Crayfish. All of these species, the Narrow Clawed Crayfish, the Spiny Cheeked Crayfish and the Noble Crayfish, to name the top 3 other players, carry and transmit the crayfish plague. Thankfully though, these crayfish are extremely rare, only being present in very small localised areas.

Narrow Clawed Crayfish

Spiny Cheeked Crayfish

Noble Crayfish

The Red Plague

The crayfsh plague (Aphanomyces astaci) brought over to us by the Red Signal Crayfish, is a waterborne fungus. The fungus itself cannot be seen on infected crayfish, however it does alter their natural behaviour. A common indication of the creature being affected by it is being out and about during the day, where usually, as mentioned, they are nocturnal species. Another curious peculiarity is something experts call 'walking on stilts' where the crayfish raise themselves up on the tips of their legs to walk about.
The crayfish plague is absolutely fatal to our White Clawed natives, the fungus spores travel down stream infecting all crayfish it comes into contact with. These spores can survive up to 2 weeks in damp conditions, which makes it especially important to disinfect and dry anything that has come into contact with the water.
Another threat the Red Signal Crayfish bring is by their burrowing into bank sides to make their homes. The individual 2 metre long tunnels create networks when joined together, and cause serious bank erosion. Not only does all the removed soil silt up the water, reducing oxygen levels in the water threatening all lifeforms that live there, but the silt and mud also covers up key breeding areas in rivers for fish, particularly fish like Salmon, Sea Trout, Barbel and other species, reducing the spawning grounds and reducing the species count of these fish.
Furthermore, entire banks can eventually collapse, severely silting rivers and lakes and increasing the risk of flood during rainy seasons to surrounding areas. Livestock are at risk of getting their legs stuck in crayfish holes, and causing injury.
Their burrows also take habitat away from other at risk species such as water voles.
By breeding so prevalently, and being now so numerous, fish populations are depleting from them simply being eaten by the Red Signal Crayfish, and smaller bottom dwelling species like Bullhead, Stone Loach and Gudgeon are particularly at risk of being eaten, with noticeable reductions in numbers of all these species due to them.
As well as the crayfish plague that effects our native White Clawed Crayfish, the Red Signal Crayfish simply are bigger, grow faster, are more tolerant to a wider range of conditions, and reproduce more quickly than White Clawed Crayfish. They out compete our own native species at every turn.
Red Signals and White Clawed Crayfish can live side by side for up to 3 or 4 years, it is thought, but eventually the White Clawed are extinguished through competitive exclusion. Areas before 1992 studies, for example, where the two species were found in the same area, are now entirely composed of Red Signal Crayfish.

Slowing The Spread

Trying to control the population of Red Signal Crayfish has been a topic for conservationists for a long time. There are various ways to help keep the population down, but sadly none to eradicate them completely.
The simplest answer is to get our natural predators to do it for us. By encouraging otters and heron to waters numbers of crayfish can be eaten by them. However, with otters in particular, their numbers have been booming due to the abundance of crayfish food in the water ways already, and otters cause other major problems for fisheries across the UK because of this.
Maintaining and creating Atlantic Salmon spawning areas, and areas for European Eels, Perch and Chub and other fish predators also helps, particularly in the eating of juvenile crayfish, and adults during moult. Indeed, these fish have been growing bigger and bigger on their crayfish supplemented diet through the years as it is.
Trapping crayfish is a common method for water owners to thin out the numbers in their water. Not only that, crayfish caught make a very tasty meal for us humans, not just the wildlife.
However, this method also has its problems. It is illegal to trap crayfish without permission, and permission must be sought from the Environment Agency and land owners, and the whole affair of obtaining permission is long and difficult. Though the results are clear when a trap is pulled up after 24 hours, it has been found that trapping only reduces numbers short term. The traps only remove the  larger crayfish and this reduces the natural predation of the juvenile crayfish by the adults. This means that population booms of them happen in the following years.
As far as reducing he transmission of the fungal crayfish plague, biosecurity measures help to prevent its transfer, as well as any crayfish eggs to other waters. As we know, the spores can live for 2 weeks in damp conditions, so it is imperative that everything that has been in contact with the water be disinfected and dried thoroughly after use, and certainly before moving to another water. This includes fishing equipment, wellies and waders, boats canoes, oars, nets etc

Saving A Species from Extinction

Conservation efforts to help increase and save the White Clawed Crayfish population from extinction are in place. Numbers of them are now kept in zoos to ensure there is a breeding population incase the worst happens.
Wild populations are mostly in central and northern England, east Wales and other small locations in rivers, clinging to existence where they can. There is a local population of them in Candover Brook, which is a tributary of the River Itchen. Where as, sadly, a known population of them in the River Frome was declared wiped out in 2008. There are also still some small populations in Europe, though these are also in decline, though mostly due to human disturbance and pollution of habitat.
Populations of White Claweds in isolated lakes and ponds are becoming increasingly important, as the crayfish plague sweeps through rivers and streams much more easily and quickly. All these known areas are being monitored and maintained.
There has been a noticeable reduction in slurry emptied into water ways from farms, which has helped. Slurry introduced  in this way can seriously drop the oxygen levels of the water, killing all wildlife, not only crayfish.
River keepers in such areas where White Clawed Crayfish are present, and in other areas too, are encouraged to maintain and remove silt or mud from river beds, as is a big problem. White Clawed Crayfish often feed over silt, or travel over it, but they don't like living in it.
Reintroducing natural habitats into the still and flowing waters helps too. Putting cobbles and gravel back down into areas, and planting and maintaining aquatic plants such as watercress, willow moss and water crowsfoot.

White Clawed Crayfish

Caught in a Trap

As addition, if you do feel like helping out and getting a trapping licence for Red Signal Crayfish, here's how you go about it:
Firstly, you need to locate the crayfish. Looking for bank side holes, parts of dead crayfish on banks discarded by predators, or visually seeking them as they are sometimes active during the day, particularly daybreak and dusk, or even better accidentally catching them by fishing.
Crayfish are trapped using fyke nets, pots, or crayfish traps, though more commonly proper crayfish traps, and its free get a licence.
When you have chosen your river, lake or canal with Red Clawed Crayfish in it, check with the Environment Agency that its not a restricted zone ( has a potential White Clawed population in, for example, or is a site of specific scientific interest, or is an area that trapping is prohibited. Canal and Rivers Trust owned venues are a no go incidentally)
You then MUST get written consent from the Environment Agency, including legal specifications of the traps you are going to use, including opening size, mesh size, if it has otter guards, the quantity of traps you personally going to use (as they will send coded tags for you to put on them with reference numbers). The Environment Agency will help you to know whats allowed, and whats not. And help with acquiring the legal traps and robust strings are needed and be thrown in from the bank and pegged as well.
Bear in mind, legal action will be taken on illegal traps. Crayfish trapping without a licence and un-tagged traps will be met with hefty fines.
You MUST obtain the land owners consent also. This is actually the hardest part. Either the council, owning club or land owner must give you written permission to trap on their water. Without it, you will not be given a licence.
With your new licence and freshly tagged traps, you are good to go! The best placement of traps is 1 metre deep and on gravel patches, as we know these are the preferred places of Red Signal Crayfish.  April to November are also the best months as they are more active, but they can be caught all year.
Bait will need to be put into the traps to attract them in. The fresher bait is, the better. Salmon heads, trout or mackerel are some of the best baits, put within a bait cage within the trap.
The Environment Agency rules on trapping, which they will give you, stipulates that traps must be checked in 24 hours, and any caught crayfish must not be returned to the water alive (which is the whole point of trapping them anyway).
They can be dispatched humanely with a sharp knife to the back of the head, taken home and eaten, and some companies might even buy them off you.
Any caught fish in your traps must be returned immediately, and of course the traps must be disinfected and dried after use.
I don't know if it is a rule or not, but I would think it a kindness to inform the Environment Agency of the number of individuals you catch. The gathering of information may help them out.

A typical crayfish trap

Aid From the Anglers

Trapping them and eating them may not be your thing though. And anglers on the bank usually catch them by mistake.
As anglers, though, what can we personally do to help?
Well, firstly and most importantly, as mentioned,  disinfect and dry boots, waders, nets, boats and other equipment before fishing anywhere.
Secondly, avoid fishing multiple different venues in one day. If you do, disinfect and dry all equipment in between moving.
Thirdly, don't use crayfish as bait to catch or attract fish. Doing so is illegal anyway.
And if you should hook or catch one by mistake or design, always remember that by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is an offence to release, or allow to escape, any non native species into the wild (except under licence). If a Red Signal Crayfish is caught and brought ashore or into a boat, it MUST be humanely destroyed.

The biggest Signal Crayfish I have ever seen!

I have never caught or seen a White Clawed Crayfish in all of my years fishing. Only in zoos.
Nowadays a trip to that same canal section that I caught my first one in all those years ago has changed dramatically. Float fishing in the margins still results in the odd Perch and Roach on the line, but the many, many Gudgeon I used to catch have all but gone extinct from the water, replaced instead with Red Signal Crayfish. An entire species population in an area decimated by the crustaceans.
River fishing is not the same locally either. Putting a pellet on the line and sitting back and waiting for a big Barbel to eat it up results in a bare hook where the crayfish have eaten the bait off it, or landing the thief instead.
Their success is certainly quite amazing, and you cant help but be impressed, and for me, I do love catching crayfish, as they are beautiful, if moody, little animals with lots of character, but it is clear to see the devastation they have wreaked. I think anglers see it most over all other water users.
Personally, I don't think there is a lot that can be done about them to eradicate them completely. Once you have them in your water, a never ending task of catching and removing as many as possible to keep their numbers low enough for other species to get a look in seems the fishery plan I would have to adopt.
Yet again human intervention is the only thing to blame, like the introduction of Carp to the Australian ecosystem, and Wels Catfish to the Spanish rivers. The deed has been done, and cannot be undone.
However, crayfish are very delicious to eat, which is how this whole mess started in the first place. There is nothing nicer to me in a sandwich (except perhaps crab) than fresh crayfish. A bit of salt and pepper, fresh watercress, perhaps a bit of mayonnaise, and brown or whole grain bread.
Perhaps if popularity of crayfish as a meat were to be increased then more people would go out and catch them? Currently, of course you need permission from the Environment Agency to do so, but if more people got it and trapped their own dinner, I reckon the population of them could be kept in check better. Of course, it isn't that easy, as anyone who has tried getting this licence will tell you. I have tried to apply for a licence to catch crayfish before now, several times, and the whole procedure is ridiculously difficult and convoluted and overly complicated. I've never even made it past the paperwork stage! My feeling is that with a simpler system put in place to acquire permission, especially on venues where it is clear that there are no native crayfish present, then more people would be able to help out. And if this was the case, I'm certain that us anglers would be on the front line of defence.