CrayFish in the BWCA

[ZootAlures]

What color are crayfish in the BWCA. I was catching Smallies on surface lures that were spitting up crayfish. At first I thought they were discolored due to being half digested. The fish was so full of them I'm starting to think that was the natural color. Was thinking on pitching some soft baits by the rocks with worm sinker/hooks. Anyone have any luck with this tactic ?

Dave

[reelemin]

I was just up around the Grand Marais area and catching a boat load (ok -- kayak load ) full of smallies. I was using crawlers and leaches with a bobber on the drop offs.

[Casaloma]

Hey ZA, I'm going to kind of hang my arse out here because my thoughts are purely observational, as in I never studied crayfish except to dig them out to fish with the small ones. Or trap & eat the big ones ( BTW- my favorite color for a crayfish is bright red & fresh out of boiling water .

I believe the most common Crayfish in the BWCAW is the Clearwater varity ( also called green?? ). They have the Grey / Green body with the bright Orange claw tips...

Let me know if I'm wrong, guys.

Later - CLoma

[Casaloma]

Also, the color of the crayfish that are spit up tend to be much more red, due to the partial digestion. If i was going to buy plastic craw daddies I would go for a greenish color with some metalic flecks.

But why buy when they are free? Tons of homemade ways to catch them. People will chime in or you can do a google search. Your fishing lic. allows you to harvest them, for bait or eats. Cannot move them to different bodies of water, read the regs.

I like to break off one claw on the the smaller ones & jig em' hooked through the tail. They even work under a bobber.

Later -CLoma

[DEADhead]

If they look like this:

call the Tower Fisheries Office (tel. 218-753-2580 ext. 221) and report them. Rusty crawfish are an invasive species that are capable of destroying massive amounts of native aquative vegetation, critical to native fish forage and habitat. Rutsy crawfish are already present in several Ely area lakes.

Here's a link to more Rusty Crawfish information

[Surface Tension]

Did you have a lake in particular in mind? I know the Rusty Crayfish are already in some and in good numbers.

[chunkytrout]

And remember it's illegal to transport the rusty's. Pretty tasty though!

[ZootAlures]

Here is a picture of one of the smallies from White Iron in the Fall. The happy fisherman was the famous Paul Drew of Shorewood Ill. This one was taken with sub surface lure. This was a catch and release.

Dave