crayfish

[slodge77]

are the crayfish in minnesota good to eat either regular ones or the rusty crayfish?

[AaronM]

They are indeed good to eat, however I would would be weary of where you choose to take them from. Personally, if I feel the water where I'm at isn't of a good quality, I won't think of taking any home. Anyway, welcome to the site!

[JigginIsLife]

yup they are good to eat but like fishing frenzy said im sure the water quality is what would taint the taste of the meat. the rusty crayfish are actually an invasive species, and im sure the dnr wouldnt mind you taking out a few hundred from a lake or so. not sure though if you will find a place in mn that harbors enough crayfish to have a feed such as the louisian'ns do down there. we have them but they are far a few between i suppose if you spent a day looking for them it wouldnt be so hard, maybe people do traps up here?? i have no clue about that though

[Tippman]

We boil up a kettle full each year on our Vermillion trip. They are mighty tasty but there isn't much meat in their little tails. You gotta get quite a few, which isn't a problem on that lake.

[btetzl50]

Adrians Bar in S Minneapolis is having a crawfish boil this Saturday! I'm excited to give it a shot.

[Daze Off]

Really??? I've been dying for a crawfish boil ever since I went to one in New Orleans - delicious table fare!

[NCLaker]

Don't for get to suck the head!

Couldn't bring my self to do this, but that is suppose to be part of the process.

[btetzl50]

Yeah, it runs from about noon - 4pm I think.

Their Rib Fest is known to run out of food early so I'm guessing this might too.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

There are tons of Rusty Crayfish in Vermilion, especially on the East end of the lake!

They are very good eating and easy to catch. Just throw out a baited minnow trap and it will probably be stuffed full the next morning!

As stated earlier , you have to be careful what type of water you take them out of, as they pick up many pollutants because they are bottom feeders.

DO NOT transport them ALIVE anywhere!! They spread like wildfire if released into new waters! They are very detrimental to any waters that they get into!

Cliff

[polarsusd81]

Yep, Cliff is right, don't transport them alive.

You could face a large fine for doing so as I believe it is against the law to transport them alive being an invasive and all.

[Can'tFishEnuf]

I have often wondered why someone doesn't start fishing these commercially for profit? I'm sure there is a good reason, but it seems like a good way to get rid of these problem species. Sell crawdads to the Cajuns, carp to the Europeans, make water flea jelly for someone. Lamprey might make good sushi?

[Tippman]

I'm not sure but I believe they are sold commercially as langousto (sp?) lobster. I've seen these many times in stores resembling crawfish tails and wondered if that is in fact what they are.