Bullfrog, Good Hope, Halls Jan 30-31

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Mildog said:
Cajun,
Don’t overlook the crayfish season here! It’s only a couple months away! Maybe sooner this year!!
We usually do 3 or 4 big boils a year!
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Thats a long way for crawfish. I'm glad someone else enjoys them. I'm originally from LA and have to go back for a food fix occasionally, I bring back sausage and boudin. I can make it here but prefer to let them do it perfectly.
Mildog said:
I’ve seen stories about the big ones in Idaho. I want to go after them when I’m up there fishing for other stuff! We go all over for them,
But Strawberry is tough to beat for quantity and size. Once you get peeling them Down which is really easy once you learn the tricks you can have a pile of tails in no time,
If any left after the boil, last gathering we had 40 people! Still had some left! We did 8 five gallon buckets full!! Took two cycles each in 4 huge pots to cook them all. I peel up a couple-three pounds and vac pack them for later use in gumbo, Alfredo sauce, chowder and more I love em, been catching and eating them for 50 years , holy smokes I didn’t think I was that old! 😂
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It sounds like you could be part Cajun. Easy to purchase nets allow you to get more than you want. After my boil at Strawberry and everyone was full, they started to walk away, I said we ain't finished until they are all peeled. Sad faces for an hour until they where all done. They got the smiles back when they showed up in a seafood gumbo. Fish on Brother
 
Just a thought about crawfish regulations for Utah. I have been trying to get them changed to where you can legally transport them home alive. I keep saying that the regulation that you can't transport them alive from the water you catch them in is not working. They are everywhere now. I think an honor system would work just as good. Say it is illegal to transplant them and that would work just a good as what we have now. I keep getting the reply that then they would not be able to stop people from transplanting them. It's not working. They also say that you can't transport fish alive and they think crawfish should be the same.

Maybe someone out there can help me as a group because as an individual I am getting nowhere. If we got together maybe we could get them to listen to us. What do you think? Do you have any suggestions? Do you agree we should be able to take them home alive? They are punishing all of us that would like to take them home for the few that may transplant them. They can't catch those that transplant them anyway or we would not have them everywhere.
 
Not Yet You Bet said:
Just a thought about crawfish regulations for Utah. I have been trying to get them changed to where you can legally transport them home alive. I keep saying that the regulation that you can't transport them alive from the water you catch them in is not working. They are everywhere now. I think an honor system would work just as good. Say it is illegal to transplant them and that would work just a good as what we have now. I keep getting the reply that then they would not be able to stop people from transplanting them. It's not working. They also say that you can't transport fish alive and they think crawfish should be the same.

Maybe someone out there can help me as a group because as an individual I am getting nowhere. If we got together maybe we could get them to listen to us. What do you think? Do you have any suggestions? Do you agree we should be able to take them home alive? They are punishing all of us that would like to take them home for the few that may transplant them. They can't catch those that transplant them anyway or we would not have them everywhere.
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I attended the meeting at DWR the year they put the NO TRANSPORTING LIVE CRAYFISH rule in place!! Several friends and colleagues I worked with at Anglers Inn did as well . It was way back in the late 80’s OR early 90’s. I cant remember exact dates. I told the DWR personal at the meeting that the people illegally moving fish and or crayfish are breaking the law already, and it hadn’t stopped them! It is illegal to transplant fish or crayfish. Another law is just going to
Punish those that want to enjoy them whole and cook alive at home etc. and stop them
From enjoying them that way. THEY DID NOT CARE.
They said it was an additional legal tool to help them, as when they caught someone away from the lake transporting crayfish alive they could stop and ticket and severely fine or punish them since that would be illegal, otherwise they would have to wait to catch them in the act of transplanting them. I said the law has not stopped illegal planters and another won’t either. Then they put up a map of where the invasive crayfish ( native are much smaller) are spreading, where they were and where they were NOT yet and spoke about how harmful it could be to fisheries., They had Strawberry/Soldier creek on the NOT there yet. I raised my hand and said they are in FACT IN Soldier creek and I can confirm that! I also said I had nothing to do with it !! They said it could be terrible for the lake and were very disappointed, they were unaware they were in there at that time . (Well at this point today I’m not sure if it has hurt anything at Strawberry?) Long story made very short I saw a kid with one in a glass jar at ramp on soldier creek one day in the 80’s and asked him where he got it!! He said by the dock. I went and looked, I did not see any. I turned a few rocks etc, The Next trip up we took traps and placed them in several places on Soldier side we only caught a few and only near the Soldier Creek RAMP. We tried several spots on the Strawberry side as well that year never caught any, within a year or two/three they were widespread on All parts of Strawberry and Soldier Creek. They said it could be terrible for the lake and were very disappointed . (Well at this point today I’m not sure if it has hurt anything at Strawberry?)
I’m assuming whoever put them
In dumped them in at that SC ramp. I have caught them up there for over 40 years now!

I agree with YOU I wish it were legall to transport them home alive to enjoy them proper, They really need to be cooked alive .
You can remove tails and bigger claws and put on lots of ice and they are safe and can cook up well. But it’s not the same as cooking whole and alive! I have not found a way to kill them whole and cook them later that is safe or works!! So we take big burners and pots and cook them at the lake, we stay over and enjoy a boil or rush back home with a pile of cooked ones and keep them warm which is a pain when we do such big batches!

Not yet you bet,
I’d like to see it changed, they are everywhere now already as mentioned so why not allow us to take them home alive legally , but keep the law that it’s illegal to transplant them in other waters!
I don’t think they will listen and not sure how would be the best way to try to get it changed??
 
OK, I tried to get some help from Rocky Mountain Anglers fishing club, but it didn’t go well. Following is the reply I got.

Unfortunately the crawdad proposal we dicussed over the phone didn’t go over well with the DNR on Tuesday. Trina escalated it and it went over like a lead balloon. We discussed it in our club meeting. Nobody in the club seemed to crawdad fish, so they didn’t know what to say.

Is it possible there might be a crawdad club in Utab that could help you submit a letter to gain some momentum?

Regards,

Here is my response to the Rocky Mountain Anglers club

Ok, no crawdads Cubs. I also talked to Trina and I don’t know how I can fight the whole division. They think crawdads are fish. Therefore, if they open it up that you can transport live fish everybody’s gonna be moving live fish around. I don’t believe that.

Unless we can get a group together with some clout, we’ll probably never accomplish being able to take them homes and be legal.

I think that there are very few people that consume crawdads and therefore they really don’t understand what we’re trying to do. Their minds are already made up and they are not going to budge.

Glad there is at least one more person out there that agrees with me. Thanks for your comments.
 
I think better chance of getting crawfish able to be taken home alive, than minnows being able to be used alive as bait even if from water they were caught in. I think both are very slim to be allowed, and ad some might say Slim has already left the station 😂. I wish it would be different but I think that’s DWR position on it. As far as other states allowing live minnow most are east of the Rockies, I Believe. Much different fisheries and minnows are more common, native and pre-exist in concert with fish in many water body’s. A lot of the baitfish that would be used here are competitors to trout for food etc. More warm Water fishery states seem to allow live minnows as opposed to trout predominate states? I may be wrong but I heard that logic from “ people” in that realm.
Maybe Wayne or other fisheries biologist could add to this.
 
Sorry to steal this thread. We should’ve probably titled it something else. But appreciate the comments. Maybe we can move these comments to another title, but I don’t know how to do that.

I agree with the use of live minnows caught in the water where you are fishing. I think you can use crawdads for bait, but I am not sure.

I don’t think they’re gonna catch many people that transplant fish where they should not. They know they’re breaking the law and are going to be very sneaky and hard to catch.

The Quadra muscles are possibly a bigger threat than a lot of the other fish transplants. And the honor system has worked fairly well though not perfect. I think most sportsman follow the law if they are educated and understand the reason for the laws, there are always those out there that don’t know the law.

It’s not fair that others have to suffer because there are people out there that break the law.
 
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