AbstractEstimates of recreational fishing effort and catch are needed to inform fisheries management, but such estimates can be challenging to obtain. We combined a zig‐zag line transect survey of buoys, a fisheries enforcement survey and a drone survey to estimate recreational effort in the open‐access trap fishery for signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) in the sixth largest lake in Europe, Lake Vättern, Sweden. Using supporting variables such as size of nearby ports and bathymetry, our model‐assisted estimate of total effort was 6400 (±4300 CI) buoys during the three‐weekend season. Using the frequency of buoys to traps as a constant, the total number of crayfish traps was estimated to be 25,500 (±17,000 CI). The sampling design and methods presented are useful for ecologists and resource managers to design future multi‐source surveys of recreational trap fishing effort.