crayfish trap

[shadrapla]

i wonder what is best bait for trap ? and how long put trap in water?

[WAG416]

I know they love dog food and any kind of meat. I've left mine a couple days. Maybe some leave it longer. good luck

WAG

[Phred52]

shadrapla, All I've ever used was a tubular, wire mesh minnow trap with the funnel ends and a 1/2 of a small sunfish or the like for bait after-all crays ARE scavengers. In 4 traps, on my best day, I got just over 1/2 of a 5 gal pail of crays (about a 24 hr set). Often thought about a Cray-Boil for the tails, Heard they're quite tasty! Phred52

[WAG416]

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Heard they're quite tasty!

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They taste good !!!!!

WAG

[SCUMFROG]

What's a good recipe for cooking them? The lake I'm on is full of them.

[WAG416]

They one and only time I've eaten them, I boiled them, dipped em' in butter, and salted them. Kind of like and Eelpout. They are also tasty.

WAG

[SCUMFROG]

Do you eat just the tail? We had some really big ones in Jamaica, I'm not sure if they were crayfish or not though. But those were really good..

[Schnauzer]

Sausage from your fridge will work too. Just about any kind of fish or meat will attract them to your trap.

I just eat the tails, or if their claws are big enough - the claw meat too. There is a little labor involved to crack the tails open to get the small amount of meat, but it is very tasty.

[Da Beak]

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What's a good recipe for cooking them? The lake I'm on is full of them.

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SCUMFROG, There's a product by Zatarain's called Crab and Shrimp Boil. It's pretty tasty and gives them a little spicy kick. Try checking their HSOforum too. They have some good info there.

Beak

[New Yankee]

Scumfrog - to do them like they do down South, first put a box of salt in a washtub full of water and disolve. You can kinda guess the water/salt mixture from that - I'm guessing the normal washtub is what - 20-25 gal(?). Anyway, place the live crawfish in the salt water and the mud bugs will purge themselves (gets rid of the stomach contents and the other end as well). Let'em soak for 5 minutes of so then rinse and let them sit in fresh water (potatble).

Then, buy some crab boil - which is a brand name and start up your turkey frying or other large pot of water to boil. Add crab boil and some new potatoes, then add corn on the cob, a bit of smoked sausage links if wanted, a couple of lemons halved, then the crawfish. When the water comes back to a rolling boil, shut off the heat and let'em sit for 3-5 minutes, depending on how spicey you want them, drain and dump out on a table covered with newpaper. Add beer and friends and enjoy!

Oh, this should be done outside - the crab boil smells pretty good...

[Ole the Guide]

Hi,

Where do you guys put your traps? In creekbeds, bays or ??

I caught some in the creek by my house but only a couple.

If I put them out in the lake when I go fishing and pick them up 5 hours later would that be enough time to catch a few?

Thanks,

Ole

[SCUMFROG]

New Yankee

I'll have to try that. It does sound very good...

[New Yankee]

SF - unless you can get twenty pounds or so you may be as well served buying them cooked at your local higher end sea food counter. When buying them live, we used to figure 3-4 lbs a person - pull and peel the tails and stuck the fat outta the heads! It's more an event than a feast, takes about 30-40 minutes of peelin' to get full

[SCUMFROG]

That'll keep the kids busy for a while. I'm going to try it this summer. I'm building a trap now, I might make it a little bigger..