Crayfish

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Garry

Garry

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Do anyone know if you can catch crayfish in late March ?
 

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I can't catch them any time...….and I've been trying for years! I'd love some pointers. My fishing buddies have also been poking fun at me for years because of it.
 
Keith Stockman said:
I can't catch them any time...….and I've been trying for years! I'd love some pointers. My fishing buddies have also been poking fun at me for years because of it.
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I do well with a crayfish trap baited with can dog food opening 4 or 5 holes with a church key !
 
That sounds like it's worth a try. I've watched my BC charter guide do that for prawns. Any location tips? I've been putting a trap in what I thought were good spots - 6 to 8 feet deep around rocks, etc., but no mudbugs. Then I catch a smallie and he's puking up crawfish parts! 😡
 
Keith Stockman said:
That sounds like it's worth a try. I've watched my BC charter guide do that for prawns. Any location tips? I've been putting a trap in what I thought were good spots - 6 to 8 feet deep around rocks, etc., but no mudbugs. Then I catch a smallie and he's puking up crawfish parts! 😡
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That sounds like a good spot . Might try where you clean your fish .
 
Bacon, Bacon, Bacon!!!! They are alot more active if the water temp is above 55. It should be at least above 50. Plan on it taking an hour or so to get them coming in. You can use a trap, or a rod with a hook and a strip of bacon. I anchor in about 10 feet of water and drop the bacon down to the bottom. Put the rods in the holders eat lunch and wait for the line to start moving around. Make sure that you reel them up slowly. Sometimes you will get as many as five on at the same time. Once they start moving in, it can be real exciting as my wife and girl just like to reel them up and knock them off is side the boat. I have had as many as thirty of them running around boat. I just use my needle nose pliers to pick them up by their claws.

My wife and my little girl would rather catch crawdads than bass. This last September, we caught three gallons of them during lunch in the back of Last Chance.

Remember to soak them in salt water for several hours while they are alive as it cleans them out and drastically improves the flavor. 1 cup of salt to three gallons of water. Wait until the water is tea colored or a couple of hours.
 
You're killing me! I've used bacon, and chicken livers, and fish parts from the fish we've cleaned, and I've put the trap in ten feet of water (and all the way up to about three feet of water), and off the side of the houseboat after we're cleaned fish right there, and in rocky places away from the houseboat. I have a crawfish trap that's made the trip with me many times, but to this day I've never caught a crawfish. My fishing buddies have been greatly entertained by the whole process, but that's about the only good that's come from it.
We have a crawfish boil at my house every April, but the mudbugs are shipped up from Louisiana! Maybe I just need to give up on the trap and start using just a strip of bacon on the end of a line like we did growing up. I do like the punctured dog food idea, though...........for my last try.
 
A raw chicken leg AND thigh is good bait. Gives them a bigger piece to grab without having to crowd around a leg only.

Never heard of the salt trick, I'll give that a whirl.
 
I've never caught them (or tried to) at Powell, but I've caught a bunch in our mountain lakes. I just use the fish guts as bait, and my fishing net to scoop them up. We've done many boils with crawdads caught that way.
 
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