Lamprey

Has anyone ever used Lamprey as bait.Have seen it in my local tackle shop but havent bought it as it is very expensive

nigel

Hi Nige

Never used it but heard from people on the Thames that it is an excellent bait - bleeds profusely and leave a long trail and the main benefit is that the crabs will not touch it. Quite tough too apparently and ideal for a standard big J hook. They use it for tope and the bigger ray species predominantly...

FWIW

it's great for pike ! bleeds like a stuck pig and is as tough as old boots so stays on for ages . I've seen eel sections used for Tope so would imagine lamprey would be better due to the amount of scent it puts out.

What is it?

hi,if you log on to http://www.worldseafishing.com there is a article there about it.

nige

I was surprised to hear that lampreys were on sale in tackle Irish shops. Since all three species (Brook, River & Sea Lamprey) are protected by EU legislation, I would be concerned about the legality of this.

Hi Rarefish,I didnt know they were protected by EU legislation.I will ask the lads that own the shop when I am in during the week.

nige

Hi Rarefish ,
Any idea when the protection order became effective ? The shop where I asked for them had them last year but said they were temporarily out of stock so I guess they were planning to get more .
nick

Rarefish,

Could you be more specific as to what legislation they're protected under, and maybe provide a link to an online source that could be printed off or something?
Just to give anyone that is going to bring the issue up with their local tackle dealers a bit of backup. Otherwise somebody could end up saying "I read somewhere they're protected" (meaning this thread) and the tackle dealer could just say "no they're not, you must have misread it" and the argument would be dead in the water.

Hi all
I made a call to the cfb, and hope to have some clarification tomorrow.
I'm locking thread until then.
If anybody has some definite information before then, pm me and I'll unlock
tx
John

Hi all
I made a call to the cfb, and hope to have some clarification tomorrow.
I'll unlock
tx
John

Ok
I need to look further into this- it is National Parks and Wildlife that are3 responsible for enforcing the Habitats Directive.

BUT

The taking or harvesting of Lampreys for bait is NOT SUSTAINABLE in either Ireland or the UK.

Any luck on this JD?

I've been sent a copy of EU Regulation number 850 of 1998, there are two tenuous references to lampreys in the text, neither worthy of any note. This is direct from the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.

I haven't had time..
:(

jd

No worries. :wink:

If you want the PDF for whatever reason, gimme a shout and I'll mail it to you. Think its 3MBs.

No worries. :wink:

If you want the PDF for whatever reason, gimme a shout and I'll mail it to you. Think its 3MBs.

sure
to my gmail account- it is in my profile..
John

Sorted.

The Sea and River species are given protection under Habitats Directive (Annex IIa), the Bern Convention (Appendix III) and both are UK Biodiversity Action Plan species. I think the spawning grounds can be offered protection under the Directive if located although I'm not 100% sure if correct. In a previous post we/EA tried to identify spawning areas on the Thames from locating carcasses of spent adults although never found any ammocoetes (young/larval form).
Have taken live Sea Lamprey whilst sampling Power Station intake screens and they're really not pleasant.

As you lot are obsessing over lampreys (vile bloody things) I thought you might like to read this passage I spotted on the famous demise of Henry 1 of England who died after a banquet of them:


"Henry was respected for his parliamentary skills and for not being a tyranneous ruler. He died on December 1st 1135 from overindulging in his favourite food, Lamprey. This was sad and therefore a bad thing as it meant he could not enjoy his favourite dish on Christmas Day. A few words on lamprey in case you're wondering. Lamprey is a mean looking fish with a parasitic temperament. It has a round sucker for a mouth with teeth like projections. They attach themselves to other fish and rasp away the flesh with their teeth. Satiated, they then release their grasp leaving a sucking hole in the side of the poor fish who will no doubt die later from the effects of infection if not eaten by an even larger fish. Lamprey are highly esteemed as food having a meaty taste and texture but sadly (for Henry at least), because their flesh is very fatty it is not easily digested."

Obviously they weren't protected then!