I need tips for catching crawdads/crayfish!!!

My buddy and I went up to the local lake last night in hopes of catching a bunch of crawdads to bring home and pig out on. We took a trap with us and fishing poles and didn't catch a damn thing. We saw ONE the whole time we were there and didn't catch it. We used hot doggs on our trebble hooks on the rods and canned cat food in the trap. Does anybody have ANY tips, input or anything to help us catch them?

Thanks

 

Im not sure the spelling on it but you need a minnow sane. Basically some wire mesh, about half inch holes, on two sticks/poles. Get in some shallow water in a riffle or where the current is moving swiftly. Have a buddy stand downstream and hold the sane. Then you take a metal rake and start raking the ground/rocks above him. The crawdads will drift downstream and get caught in the mesh. If you get in a good enough riffles you will catch them by the 100's. Hope that makes sense.

 

When we were kids we used to just wade around in shallow water and pick up the small rocks. There was one under just about every rock we moved. They take off backwards, so you need to be quick to get em.

 

From my extensive crawdad fishing experience (I gre up near a river), you have to find where some fast moving water kind of stops abruptly, cuasing a semi-deep slow moving "pool". they like it because theres plenty of food moving fast to them but the current isnt bad at all.hen all you need is any kind of line (thicker is better), a big hook, and some kind of meat. I have always like using roast beef (little more expensive but they go ape-shit). stick it right in front of crevices and in front of rocks and just wait for them to come out and snag it. wait until they have both claws and mouth on it, and then just yank em up. good fishing!

 

ok. here is what we did. make a trap. tacoeater is correct, it looked like minnow seine. imagine a semi rigid, upside down, square parachute. we used wire clothes hangers and a cheap minnow net. the net ended up as a 2 feet by 2 feet square. put a piece of string in the middle. we used some scrap of excess netting, and wrapped chicken livers into it and tied it to the center string. lower a bunch of these traps, give it an hour, and start making your rounds. we trapped hundreds. just lift the nets smooth and fast and your bring up the crayfish. keep in a aerated clean water, (change water daily) to let them crap out all the shit.

 

Google Crawfish Traps from Louisiana to give you an idea how its done in Louisiana. There are traps for specific for farmed crawfish and some for river crawfish. Without a doubt, there is more crawfish consumed in Louisiana than anywhere in the world.

 

I used to use bacon, years an years ago, but I remember catching quite a few.

 

Crawfish traps along with some nasty, preferable spoiling, chicken (or meat or any kind really).

Let sit for a few days. Come back and retrieve your om nom nom.

You willy probably get some catfish and possibly turtles too. Just throw back whatever you don't plan on eating.

 

I know here in Oregon we catch crawdads in our creeks and we just use a crawdad trap. We usually put cut up fish like herring you buy at a fishing supply store. Its important to have the insides of the herring exposed so the scent can spread out and attract the crawdads. This always works good for us.

 

When I went to my friend's cabin on Thompson Lake, Montana, we'd go out every night and catch bucketloads of them. You have to go get them at night, because they hide in the daytime. My friends would usually do the aforementioned meat on a fishing line technique, but i found that they usually let go of the meat more than half of the time. So I just roll up my pants and sleeves and, with a flashlight shining not directly on them, grab them by hand.

My bucket always filled up faster than everybody else's.

 

They make a trap just for crawfish! Duh

 

cut up two hot dogs into pieces...put in trap, place trap in good crawdad habitat...wait 1-2 days...presto!

you eat them? lol i use them for bait to catch something that's actually tasty

 

I got to a lake about 2 hours from me to go camping a couple times a summer and luckily there is a good amount of crawdads in it. We lure them in with some hot dogs on a string and just put a fishing net behind them. Then we just scoop them up with the net. Its real easy for us actually!!

 

make something like this...here found a pic for you. dont buy one...if you cant tie knots and bend coat hangers..you have bigger problems

 

Crawfish are fucking delicious.

 

x2 It may just be something us southerners do I love em. Shrimp E'toufee or fried is where its at. Or just boil it up like you would shrimp.


Do this, Go fish from the bank, as you catch fish, put em on a stringer and put the stringer down in the water near gravel or chunk rock where crawfish are. They will come out and start eating on you fish. every once in a while just slowly pull the stringer out of the water....crawfish won't let go. Then pull em off and drop em in a bucket. Or set out a trap in a small creek somewhere. I just use white bread and it works great.... I use a trap like the one posted above.

 

The best method is just to have a very close friend since childhood whose grandfather happens to be a crawfish farmer by trade with like 30 acres of crawfish ponds. When you want some, just call him up.

This is the technique I've been using since I was 5 years old.

 

VERY true!!! They're the poor man's/red neck's lobster. Sooooo tasty!!!

Thanks for all the tips guys !!! I'll make a few of the traps you guys posted pics/ideas of and we'll see which ones I have the best luck with. Anybody have tips for where to look for them in lakes???