Crayfish-how to get?

[Guest]

Hi,
Do any baitshops in central MN/Metro area sell crawfish? Do I have to catch 'em? How do I catch 'em? Can I breed 'em? Ideas?

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RobertC

[mistermom]

Hey Rob!
My brother-in-law has trapped them and cooked them. They are little fresh water lobsters after all. I'll get a hold of him and ask how he did it..... You always come up with interesting questions while you're at work sir!

mm

[Nels]

Oh yeah,
If you want to entertain a couple of kids...
It is fun to dig a shallow pit and put a couple of the little buggers in there and let them "wrestle".

[vern]

When I was a kid I would spend hours at Minnehaha Creek in Mpls. catching crayfish. Take a stick & a bucket then get in the creek & start gently lifting rocks. You'll see crayfish under most of the big rocks in the creek. Slowly lower the bucket behind the crayfish & then put the tip of the stick in front of him & he'll shoot backwards right into the bucket. A big minnow net would probably work even better. Lots of fun for the kids too. Vern

[Crawlerman]

Seining for them works; find a nice shalow sandy area with some rocks and you should be able to pick up a few. Remeber that to do it legally you need to use them on the same water you got them from. They make traps for em too.

[This message has been edited by Crawlerman (edited 02-14-2003).]

[mistermom]

HEAVENS NO! NOT SPONGEBOB! Coldone would be proud. It's PBS. You do remember that I can do almost every voice on Sesame Street, right?
Got to go do some actual parenting now. BYE-BYE!

mm

[Guest]

Yum!
Langostinos is what I think they call them and they are good!Boil them untill they turn pink and peel the shells of their tails and dip in hot butter.I am drooling just thinking about it.
You can catch them jsut about anywhere.I have been catching them since I was lod enough to leave the back yard.
The easiest way to get them is trap them.But if you want lots in a short period siening is the way to go.In a lake you can drag your net in the weeds and come up with bunches.Better yet at night drag a net in the sand on the inside of the weed edge.
If you want to take the easy way out if you are using them for bait jsut get some uncooked shrimp.They work jsut as well and to me they taste very similar.

[Guest]

Thanks folks! I didn't know those things were so abundant. I initially was thinking smallmouth bait for my June weekend trip to Lindbergh that I'm having such a hard time getting reports on. Hmm - an evening campfire meal of spit-roasted walleye, boiled crayfish & brussel sprouts, and aluminum-foil baked corn-on-the cob. Mmmmm. Too bad it'll be too late for fiddleheads.

My offspring get PBS too (and MM does EXCELLANT SS characters!) and Spongebob when I'm watching it ! If Erik keeps to type and becomes an engineer, maybe he'll work for Coldone someday!

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RobertC

[Try Too Fish]

I live by a creek and set out a minnow trap in the summer for my bait and cuss the crayfish that are in there all the time now i know what i'm giong to do with them they won't bother my trap again and supper too boot

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Try Too Fish
Forced Too Work!!:)

[Jim W]

Robert,
If you can't run across any real ones plastics work as well if not better.
I have continued success working plastic craws for smallies. IN fact, not just the crawfish imitations work well!!

Jim W

[Nels]

But the plastic ones don't taste quite the same, and they are a little bit chewy...

[DARK30]

I usually bite the head off to shorten up the bait a little (On the Plastics). Live Crayfish work real good for me when I use them....either smashed or alive.

I get plenty of them in my minnow traps to last. I consider the creeks going into the Minnesota river the "same" body of water but I've never made an issue of it either.

Well I'm glad my Dockers still fit me...Gotta go out to eat with the Misses at a special Valentines dinner...This better be worth it!

WET NETS!

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cast,cast,cast,cast......

[korn_fish]

I agree with Darko. I feel that inlets to the river constitute the same body of water. The rule is there so you are not bringing a species into a body of water that doesn't exist or to transfer diseases from one to the other. If the crayfish are in the creek that feeds the river, they are in the river as well. The only question that remains is how far from the actuall inlet you get the crayfish. I catch crayfish in the Minneopa creek at Mankato all the time that I use right at the opening of that creek for catfish and walleyes.

Oh yeah - I forgot to mention how I catch them. I set the small square traps out that are made by Frabil. I put a cut sucker in there and weight it with rocks. Then leave it there for a night while I camp, come back the next morning and usually have 15-20 for bait.

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[This message has been edited by korn_fish (edited 02-14-2003).]

[Nels]

There is a section in the MN regs about crayfish...
They can't be sold as bait.
They can be used as bait, but only in the body of water they are caught in.

I have caught and eaten them before, but haven't used them for bait. I've caught them by turning over rocks in lakes that I know they are in. Also, sometimes you can find them underneath docks/boats. Just use a small net like a butterfly net.

I've also seen them eating fish remains at night on the lake bottom. I'm not sure if you could bait them like this (Would it violate the: depositing fish parts...?)

They are good to eat, but it takes quite a few for a meal. And, it's is hard to find a lot of the bigger ones.

Have fun,
Nels

[This message has been edited by Nels (edited 02-14-2003).]

[slabberknocker]

Crabs are awesome to eat. Back home in SD we go out crabbing and catch 25-30 gallons of them and them boil them. We use to always go crabbing to before going on fishing trips because that is one of the best baits for perch. Pull the tail off and put it on the hook and throw the head in the water as additional bait in the area.

Slab

[erikwells]

Robertc, build a wire trap with a funneled opening in. Throw a couple of big rocks in it with fish guts in 3 feet of water and viola crayfish.

[Guest]

Oh. Thanks Nels & Wells - good info.
MM - I ate 'em in Boy Scouts. Our leader called 'em 'inland shrimp'. Yum. I have to think about something interesting at work, don't I?
So, my options are either to catch 'em or go artificial. Hmmm. How 'bout a thawed out popcorn shrimp on a jig? Does anywhere on a river count as part of that body of water, or is it pool-specific?

MM - you've been on the computer a lot this morning - Sponge Bob Marathon?

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RobertC

[This message has been edited by RobertC (edited 02-14-2003).]

[DARK30]

Now that I think about it...Why would "They" be worried about Crayfish anyway? Crayfish are a good thing for any body of water. They help keep the water clean and are a great food source for game fish.

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cast,cast,cast,cast......

[AaronM]

To catch them go out and night with a flashlight and a minnow bucket. They move into 3 feet to 3 inches of water and let me tell you, it is one of the funest things i have ever done. They come up by the hundreds and it is to my understanding that they do this on any body of water, anywhere on the lake. They do it on mud bottems but they like the rocks the best. Good luck.

FF

[Guest]

So are you sayin' they are attracted to the light? I'd be 'jackin' crawdads?

Dark30 - I just got your screen handle - when is the best time to fish? Oh-dark-30, or night-dark-30. Ahso Desu, Dark30-san.

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RobertC

[Guest]

The Minnow Trap with some chicken livers will get you a bunch of 'em overnight.

The Livers put out good scent and blood that the Crayfish can't resist. If you can sink the trap on a rock pile all the better

Hey Vern, I grew up along the Minnehaha by 12th Ave. bridge and we used to catch piles of Crayfish by running our nets under the red weeds along the bank. Where did you grow-up?

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Chells

[DARK30]

I like to be all set up by dark30....and I'm always home about the same time!

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cast,cast,cast,cast......

[vern]

Hey Chells, I grew up near the Upton Ave. bridge. I started fishing the creek with my older brother in about 1975 when I was 6 or 7 years old. We spent just about everyday down there between the Penn & Xerxes bridges. We'd sneak some bacon out of the fridge & catch lots of suckers, carp, panfish, etc. We also did a lot of swimming, crayfish hunting or just scooping nets through the weeds to see what we could catch. The creek was a lot deeper & had more fish back then. I'm sure my whole fascination with river fishing is based on those early years exploring that small stretch of the creek. I started fishing those old spots again last year for flathead bait. The creek is real shallow, but it's a great source for creek chubs & suckers. It's also a lot of fun reliving those days when I was a kid. Chells, when did you grow up on the creek? Did you fish it much? Vern

[Guest]

Vern,

I grew up along the creek from '65-to '79.

My fondest memories are walking or riding my bike along the parkway to Nokomis or Hiawatha with my brother and a friend early in the a.m. We'd be the fist ones to the lake most of the time. We spent hours fishing under the Cedar Ave. bridge at Nokomis and we loved to scoot under the security fence at Hiawatha Golf Course and fish where the creek dumped into Hiawatha. I'll bet we caught more Northerns over 10lbs. in that area than just about anybody.

When we got a little older and could travel farther, we'd pack our stuff and ride to Lock-and-**** #1 or Hidden Falls and catch Carp from the Mississippi all day long.

Just a package of frozen Corn from Red Owl, a Zebco 202, some nuts and bolts from my dad's garage (for weight in the River) and cheap hooks was all we used for River fishing--what a blast!

You must be Washburn Alum? Southwest? I graduated from Washburn in '79.

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Chells

[lakevet]

Hey guys!

Please be sure to ONLY use crayfish in the body of water they are caught in!!
Ask anyone who knows about the rusty crayfish problem in Lake Vermillion. They were introduced, most likely by someone from a state where they already have infested all the lakes (Ohio, Indiana, etc.) The last few bass tournies I fished on big V, you would see them crawling all over the bottom in midday. Some areas your crankbait would come back with a crayfish hanging on every 3rd or 4th cast, they are that aggressive. They displace native crayfish, destroy good weedbeds like cabbage, and generally are undesirable. That is why the DNR wants you to not transport them. Unless, of course if they have been boiled!!

Lakevet

[vern]

Good stories Chells. Sounds like we had similar experiences growing up, except I mostly fished Harriet & Calhoun. I biked down to the lakes just about every summer day, usually leaving the house before sunrise. Caught lots of monster carp back then. I still spend a lot of time on those lakes. I went to Southwest-1987. See ya on the water, Vern

[Lunker]

Can't tell you where to get them, but i thought you might wanna know that i caught one through the ice on a minnow this year.

[Guest]

How to build a crayfish trap!
Take a coffee can and cut a portion of the lid off so that it will still fit on the can. Put a rock in the can to weight it down. Put some liver or some other kind of meat in the can along wiht a mini mag flash light. You will want to put the flash light in a few zip lock bags to ensure you don't drown the light. Now just put the can in the water so that the hole in the lid is on top. ( the can must be laid on its' side) on the crawdads can't sneek out. Set this out over night or even a few hours and your can will be full. I have seen many modifacations to this and have never done this myself but have seen it done.

[vern]

That's interesting. I've seen them crawling around on the rocks out on Calhoun in the winter. I was surprised to see them so active. I guess I always figured they went dormant or hibernated. Vern