Yesterday's Weapons Forums

Having seen people catching them on TV and watching YT vids, I got the stuff to do the deal myself.

First order of biz was traps. There are ways to make your own, but unless you have window screen or such already on hand, I feel you're just was well off to score commercial traps like this one. Amazon advertises them for $8.

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Then bait. Turns out crawdads go bonkers for mackeral or herring... not many of those to be found in western Nebr so I went with sardines packed in oil and fish flavor cat food. My plan was to do this on the cheep, and both of those qualify that way.

Boiling spices were only $1.45 at the store right here in town.

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Pulled the lids back about 1/4 of the way and loaded the traps.

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There's a canal running through town, and I found a spot right by the road with a post for tying off the trap line.

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After my trapping supervisor waved her tail in approval, into the water went the loaded traps. (Around 7PM)

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We always get up around 5. Back to the canal and retrieved it. Got 3!

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Three crawdads is no big deal, but it validates my theory about sardines being good bait. I shook the 3 out, opened another tin of bait & tossed the trap right back in. I'll let it soak for a full 24 hours this time.

SiL took my other trap he plans to set out where he fishes & with a lot of luck we might have close to 100 for a boil Sunday.

Fun on the cheap! SW

They are AIS here-aquatic invasive species.
Local name for what you have is rusty crayfish.

I really don't know what all the fuss is about. They were sold for generations here as live bait,
and worked quite well on Walleye, pike and drum. They were cheeper than frozen minnows to boot. I've opened up lots of big pike that were just gorged on them.

I suppose anything can be eaten as long as it's cooked and spice properly

It is now illegal for fishermen to possess them.
They cannot be imported to Manitoba, or transported with-in the province.

Interesting idea though- trapping and eating them.
The province should consider a season on them.
I'd be in with both feet if they are as good to eat as I hear...
There may be predator fish in that canal if crawdads are abundant enough to trap!

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

The place shown is about 3/4 mile from the river so you can figure on catfish and snapping turts in the water.

There are no restrictions on crawdads here. No license required - no limit - have fun. I think you do need a bait vendor permit to sell them to fishermen, but these are all for me.

I've had them before and very tasty! Nebr fresh water shrimp! I even tried lightly breading some and a quick trip into the skillet. Not bad at all! I do like a little hot pepper on them.

I'm missing your game dept's logic, though. If they're an invasive species, wouldn't it be a good thing to remove as many as possible? SW

We ate crayfish (species unknown) at least 5 different ways when we went through New Orleans back in 1984-5? There was a seafood place nearby in Lafayette which served a crayfish platter.
There was etuffee, augrautin, stew, fried, boiled and in gumbo. It was all very good. That place might have been Lagneux's. They have a crayfish dinner.

The rusty crayfish is an aggresive species and holds it's claws up in an aggresive attack stance when threatened. This supposedly is not what indigenous predatory fish are used to. Still eating them is one of the best solutions. Lemons into lemonade or au jus.

ive often found them far more palatable than store bought shrimp , fresh caught is always better , they are great bait for a number of species here , never thought to make a trap - i think you went the right way , those actually "look" big enough to eat rather than use as bait , hope you both catch a bunch

The continuing adventures of crawdad trapping...

After I got the 3, I left the trap soak for 24 hours, figuring I'd get 6 or 8. Crawdads didn't get the memo. Got one.

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Time to rethink things... there are public fishing ponds over in the next town at the zoo which is right beside the river.
Also a popular campground nearby. Not wanting camper kids pulling my trap, I waited until it was dark (10PM) until I went over and tied the trap off on a bridge over one of the ponds.

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Flop Ears always gets me up at 5 to go for our morning hike. Instead today we beat it right back over & pulled the trap at 0505. Nuttin'. Dang! Maybe 10' of water was too deep? I didn't think so, but whatever the cause, the trap was empty.

So back over to the canal where it will soak for 24 hours again.

The ponds are turtle central. Several were getting a tan on a log when I scouted the place earlier. Of course they bailed into the water when I walked by but didn't bother to go down.

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What really caught my eye was all the bull frogs! Like a lot of them, and I likes me some frog legs! I need to check on the season and possession limit before I go after them, though.

With crawdad trapping being a bust we drove out to the buttes to check a place where wild roses grow. Yep! The bush was full of blossoms! So I grabbed a small cup full for wifey and back to town for breakfast.

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No crawdads, but I like getting out early when the sun is just coming up. Dog enjoyed it too and waved her tail the entire time. Still tired, she's belly up on the couch.

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Life is good! SW

There is a shortage of commercial frozen salted minnows here.
Low water has everything to do with it.
We had a very dry winter last year, and any rain we get now is instantly sucked into the ground.
I suspect the crayfish may be like minnows, and require green shoreline for feeding.
The dry mud flats we have for shoreline sure don't attract much minnows.

Nice on the wild roses. Ours are pretty much the same with petals on the smallish side.
Color and smell are pretty tough to beat though!

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

I did get another 4 last night in the irrigation canal. I'll cook what I have at dinner tonight so everybody can have a sample. Then no more trapping until I find a worthwhile spot. SW

The payoff!

This is part of what we had tonight. Dang! Time for more - a lot more! The Zatarains boil spices made them a little warm, but very tasty! SW


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Good luck on a better spot!

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

they are good , you might need to find a less accessible spot tho , i always caught more and bigger in the areas that folks found a little less hospitable for humans - not sure why exactly i dont think most folks are looking for thembut them again if its a real nice fishin hole some will search for opportunistic bait , id always find that spot that the fish were biting and while waiting loook up and down stream for the less accessible spots to pick mine up ,

as kids we had no issue crawling into those spots but as an adult ive been less inclined , im thinking out loud but you might want to try it a little

I dropped another trap at the public fishing ponds near the zoo next town over again. I waited until dark (2200 hrs), but with the heat there were still several people out there fishing and toasting marshmallows.

Left it soak for 8 hours & when I picked it up this morning - no crawdads but I did get 2 tiny blue gill - maybe crappies which quickly went back in the water.

Earlier I went out after dark with a big flashlight to a different public pond where we've scooped them up with hand made nets before. Only saw one.

Could this extreme heat be the problem? I dumped the sardine bait back in the water for turts to enjoy and no more trapping until we find a place with plenty of them. SW

i suppose the heat might be a factor but i kind doubt it , i suspect the fish are eating them , as you noted they are tasty

Farmers are irrigating now and canals are running. While I was out doing errands, I stopped by a trucking company here in town beside the same canal and got permission to tie my traps off from a post on their canal bridge.

Next up - Co-op gro sells frozen tilapia fillets and sometimes puts out freezer burned ones at a hefty discount. I'll see about a small bag of those Sunday AM.

I'm ready for a crawdad boil! SW

Post pix~ especially if you get enough for a meal or 2!

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

Away we go! Scored a cheap bag o' Tilapia fillets at wally, loaded the trap with one and off to the canal.
I'll let it soak for 24 hours.

$5 for 5 fillets which makes them cheaper bait than sardines or cat food.

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Tied the trap off to a post at the trucking company's gate.

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And into the water it went! Free food, crawdads! Come on in! SW

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Maybe it's gonna work.
Too bad I couldn't mail ya some pike or burbot livers- that'd work like a charm!

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

Day 1 - nuttin. Which comes as no big surprise. The canal hasn't been running that long and it's just starting to warm up.

Back in the water the bait went.

Doc, I finally saw salted minnows. I was watching Life Below Zero last night, and some natives up north were using them.

Caught several nice pike, too. SW

They are the go-to for walleye and sauger in a lot of places around here.
Getting a little pricey at 8.00 for 1/2 lb tub.
There are a few fast water places where night crawler earth worms work on eater size walleye.

Getting hard to keep track of the "Life Below Zero" series and all it's variants.
"The Next Generation" variant seems to be the least heavily scripted, so far.
The Below Zero "Canada" series seems to be another good one, but air-times are sporadic.
The only way to get these here is on Nat Geo, which we subscribe to.

Edit: Just watched on the Next Generation a young fella in Alaska somewhere taking blue grouse with a Buckmark .22 rifle and A/O scope. He did not miss many...

The salted minnows are also a favorite of ice fishing.

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

Had a couple in the trap this morning. I was going to pull it in favor of a pond here in town, but back in the canal it went.

I'm not sure what improved my chances - maybe hot weather. It's over 100 for a few days. That or the tilapia filet decomposed and was smelling tasty to the crawdads.

Not that big, but I get a couple dozen more to go with them, they'll taste just fine! SW


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