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In reply to Post #1
I am a member on a water with large numbers of crays. Its a boilie and pellet only water so I always bait heavily with pellets and smaller baits, in line with your thinking. I generally use 12mm baits and plenty of liquids too, my thinking is that there are more food items on and around the spot, plus the liquids should leave something in the area even if cleaned out. I always fish artificial baits over it- takes a bit of getting used to but when you've had a few you wont worry about that at all
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Have a look at the Cork ball & cray thread in the bait section 
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In reply to Post #7
Yes. And they are the best if the lake is full of big crays that tear through tigers and shrink wrapped baits quickly. They absorb certain essential oils very well.
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Anyone still trying wooden balls?
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In reply to Post #5
Thanks all for your very sound advise!
Nasty critters they are indeed  .
I rather fish silty areas anyway (as everyone is fishing the gravel) so I guess thats a startpoint.
My friends shrink-wrapped their hookbaits which works well it seems. For me this is a bit better reg. confidence than using flavoured rubber balls. Have them but will probably not use them. Or only e.g. as snowman with a regular bait.
I guess I will give the small bait approach a try and see if I can handle it and if it works at all.
As I mostly fish short session I can do regular recast with fresh bait also.
Tigers definitely worth a try too as some interesting areas can be baited with spods as they are not too far out.
Again thank you all and have a great season!
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In reply to Post #1
I often fish lakes with crays in, they can be a nightmare. If tigers are allowed then use them as hookbaits and fish over tigers and particle. You can add boilies/chops to the mix if you want but i would avoid using as a hookbait.
Simple, stiffish rigs like a flouro D, no putty (they love the stuff for some reason)! Fish balanced tigers on the hair. (Tigernut drilled with abit of cork in)
If you can, also try to avoid shallow, gravelly areas. If you have to fish those areas because thats where the fish are then stick to the above and youll be fine.
Good luck.
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In reply to Post #1
Fish somewhere else 
Nightmare, rubber baits were the last things I was trying and fill it in so there is plenty to go around, last lake I fished with low carp stock I got totally pissed off with them, ruin the fishing and the traps, swarms of them constantly pulling that bait no matter how much you put out! Avoid the firm spots, try a chod in weed, deep silt or something along those lines, horrible feckers 
Air dry some shelf life’s for a few weeks and then coat and soak them in oil, to hold the water out for a bit longer, they will last a while and a 20mm will come out like a 12 and look like somebody has had a nutcracker around it after constantly being pulled all over, adjust the sensitivity on your alarms too! 
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I fish a club water and one of the waters is dominated by crays.
I've found using artificial boilies/corn hook baits to work well and knowing you are still fishing.
Tiger nuts are also very good bait to deter crays.
I normally use a heavy spot mix with boilies, tigers and particles
Also try to avoid tungsten product as crays love it.
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In reply to Post #1
Trap them, bait an area you have no interest in fishing with punctured tins of cat food inside the trap.
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Fishing some crayfish infested waters this year and as I have limited experience with these critters I thought I might ask all you experts :-).
The common way to go on my waters is to feed and bait up larger baits 24-35mm so the crayfish take a long time to eat them fully.
My friends have video footage where these things - some as big as small lobsters - carry away even big boilies.
So I wonder if it wouldnt be wiser to actually bait up and fish with 10 oder maximum 12mm boilies as there would be many times more bait on the floor for the crayfish to eat.
Logically the crayfish should need much more time to clean up a baited area and not be able to "claim" boilies which carp in turn wouldnt touch anymore.
What do you think about this approach? Any experience feeding small baits when crayfish are present?
Or whats your go to approach in crayfish infested waters?
Fishing with 10mm boilies as hookbaits would risk that the bait is gone as soon as a crayfish takes hold of it I guess. A 35mm one would at least stand a few hours.
Tricky...
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General Carp Discussion