Crawdad trapping/catching

[colt]

Wasn't sure if you guys consider this fishing but I wondered if anyone here has ever tried catching crawdads and if they have ever tried one. I tried crawdads for the first time last year and they were AWESOME! I've been catching them for quite a few years when I was younger but dad always took them and ate them with his buddies and left me behind Oh well, at least I can catch up now.

What are some baits you guys use if you use traps for crawdads? I've used cooked chicken with the skin broken away to disperse the scent and flavor.

Anyone out here a fan of these?

 

[tomriker]

i've used wetcatfood... a trout... usually let the traps soak for 12 hours at a time

 

[chrisohm]

First off, find some clean water to harvest from. Crayfish do not tolerate polluted water very well. Secondly, they are primarily vegetarians but will feed off living or dead organisms. You can use fish, chicken, dog/cat food, old freezer meat or just about anything that is kinda smelly. I like to get my fishing fix by catching some squawfish/pikeminnow, cutting them into chunks and placing some in my traps. If you know of anyone that has some property with a creek running through it, ask them kindly if you can harvest from the creek and share the bounty. I can fill 3 traps in just a couple hours with fat crawdads. Best part is, you don't even need a license. I do recommend only keeping the larger ones for the best meat and for conservation purposes. Shoot for 6" min.

 

[PNW Sam]

Crawdads smell different than we do. What we think they will like isn't always what they really like. They don't like stinky rotten meats. They smell amino acids and proteins, so for example a plain uncooked chicken tenderloin would attract them well.

That being said, wet cat food works awesome. The huge downside to using wet cat food is that they will always eat some, which is then inside of them when they are cooked. If you catch a whiff of cat food in your crawdads it will ruin your meal. Speaking from personal experience. My favorite bait is squawfish or trout heads, inside some kind of mesh or container that inhibits their ability to eat the bait easily. I soak my traps over night, but in as little as 30 minutes there will be crawdads in your traps.

Just read chrisohm's post and I see that he uses squawfish for bait as well. They are fun to catch on lures, and they do work well as bait.

 

[rippin fish lips]

Sardines work good, and i am sure if you can get a hold of some fresh caught shad it would work pretty good. I save my steelhead remains and use them for crab but not crawdad, i bet it would work real good if it was somewhat fresh.

 

[chrisohm]

I second that on the shad. Shad and squawfish also work for crab too.

 

[colt]

Aren't the squawfish the ugly looking white fish that seem to make weird eerie noises when you grab them to unhook the lure? If so, they freak me out and I caught one last year on the snake. It was about 10 or 12 inches long and seemed to squeal and grunt when I grabbed it to unhook it. Had no idea at the time what it was and just tossed it back.

 

[the_intimidator03]

this is a squawfish or Northern Pikeminnow http://flyguydave.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/northern-pikeminnow.jpg