Crawfish

[Riverratpete]

Maybe a silly questions but does anybody trap Crayfish for eating purposes on Mille Lacs? I know that there are a ton of them in the lake, just sitting here at work going hhmmmm?

[Navigator]

Oh heelll no! Sorry, I couldn't resist...I've been told by my wife that I listen to KQ too often.

Lot's and lot's of those buggers in the lake, but what would they taste like?? Nav

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Jon Navratil
Navigator Guide Service
www.naviguides.com
Central MN rivers & lakes

[Riverratpete]

Hell YA! Ever been to Norleans? They taste awesome, same animal as a crab or lobster, put them in a big boil, some corn cobs, shrimp, etc and about 15 beers, hehe

[huskiesplayer15]

the tails are good, it takes alot of them to feed ya, but they taste just like a shrimp, and down south they have some mean gumbo recipes for them, better then you think.
best fishes
chris

[FlyingV]

If you want to try Crayfish then head up to the Naughty Pine in Bennettville on Highway 169 north of Mille Lacs, south of Aitkin. Mike and Leslie the owners have cajon food on Friday and Saturday starting at 5:00pm.
Its good! They also are the biggest bar in town and claim to have the coldest beer in town...

[wrench]

I think the naughty pine is the only bar in bennetville. they also have deep fried gizzards. yah baby

[Navigator]

When I was going to college in Menomonie Wi...it took at least 6 leini bocks to get me to eat a trout. Trout was a stable in our house while going to college and beer was neccessary for me to eat it!! Blah...yuck and I still have bad memories about it and we prepared it everyway imaginable. So, with this in mind, I will pass on the craws. Nav

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Jon Navratil
Navigator Guide Service
www.naviguides.com
Central MN rivers & lakes

[89Bronco]

Frabil makes a crayfish trap also. Just like a minnow trap except that it's rectangular in shape. I've seen them sometimes at Gander, Fleet, etc.

[Schnauzer]

I used to eat Crayfish out of Mille Lacs all the time. I used to get hundreds of them by snorkeling with a butterfly net when I was a kid. I'd just stick the net behind them and wave my hand in front of them. I used to be able to get as many as 3-5 per dive, but always at least 1 per dive.

I thought the crayfish out of Mille Lacs were quite tasty. I'd eat 'em any day. I'd boil them live and just eat the tail meat or the claw meat if they were big enough. They taste similar to lobster when dipped in butter. It was a lot of work compared to the meat total though.

[beetle spin]

Last time I was at Mille Lacs all you had to do was walk along the shore and pick 'em up. Of course, it was a rather windy day, and we were on the West Side. The waves just washed 'em right up on shore.

Took some home and cooked them, they were okay, but nothing like those served in SE Texas or Louisiana. The reason for that is the water in Mille Lacs is too clean. All the crawfish down here live in muddy, chemical infested waters, which gives them a real deep, real rich red color. They taste great. We cook 'em whole, just like lobsters.

Don't forget, you've gotta suck the head!

[This message has been edited by beetle spin (edited 05-06-2004).]

[Guest]

When I was a kid, we went crayfish hunting and ate them as a family once. They were pretty good. We went out at night when they come out of the rocks and are in the open. We hand caught them. We just used a flashlight and walked around slowly. they are everywhere. A small butterfly net would make it easy. A fun family activity.

[Northsider #13]

I was born near the Mississippi north of Mpls. and used to boil and eat the tails all the time. The small ones make for excellent small mouth bait. The bigger ones just break off the tail and take the shell off and use it for smallies.
On Mille Lacs I used to catch and eat them all the time. They make fantastic chowder. Boil them in some salted water and eat hot dipped in butter or cool them and eat them with cocktail sauce (ketchup & horseradish).

Brian

[whiskie]

OK call me naive but how do you catch enough of these things to eat?
My only experience catching them has been while swimming.

[fish4ed]

Whiskie - you can trap 'em, and minnow traps will work - just bait a minnow trap with something that won't float away (fish head, chunk of meat, ?). Give it a few minutes then check it. You can't leave the bait too long, though, they'll pick it clean. The other option is gather up a bunch of kids and make little cane poles out of a few feet of fishing line and tree branches. They can dangle some bait tied to the line in the water, then pull it slowly to the surface and pounce on the crawdads.

[Riverratpete]

Thanks for the insight, as a kid we used to spend a lot of time on the river in the north metro and catching them and using them for bait (great catfish bait!), this gives me an idea of something when I go to Mille Lacs fishing for the day.

[slabberknocker]

Growing up in South Dakota we would go crabbing all the time in the summer. We would take a 20-25 foot seining net and pull the shorlines of stock dams and sloughs. We would get between 25-30 gallons of crabs and have a crab feed. My dad has an old outside cooker that we could boil 10-15 gallons at a time. Man do I miss that. They still do it a lot but it is a spur of the moment deal so I have not had crabs in a long time. The next day you would drink about 3 gallons of water because of the cotton mouth from the salt. I need to stop thinking about it, my mouth is watering.

Slab

[Slugo]

Do ya need to wait til later in the year to get them? I mean are they tiny in the spring and you need to wait til late summer or fall for some size?

[Guest]

There's always plenty of adults around.

[blkfrg]

In the days of my youth, my brothers and I would wade in the river and catch hundreds of big craws, just grabbing them worked best. Man, some of them big boys could put a hurt on a dude. These tasted the best.

[Slugo]

Thanks Dave I'll have to give them a try earlier in the year...fresh crawfish pie MMmmmm

[CRITTER]

After you clean a fish or two put the the leftovers in a calm protected place next to shore held down by a rock.
Do it in more than one place so you have multiple spots to check. After dark oh say
one or two hours check your bait. Bring a flashlight and a bucket. They just cover the
bait and are so intent on eating they really
have no idea what's going on. It worked well
last June. Buy some crab boil from Cub or use tomato sauce with onion, salt, pepper and water.
We used the deep fry setup that you use for fish with the strainer basket. Get your boil going so you have a nice simmering pot
and cookem till they turn red. The dipping sauce is up to you. Goes great with steak and beer.

[Schnauzer]

Hey... where is all the "crayfish talk" now? I'm beginning to think there will be something else to do sometime soon... maybe as early as midnight?

[New Yankee]

Well, if you get a big batch of them, they'll taste a bit better if you 'purge' them first. Take a wash tub filled with water and put a box of salt in it. Dump your crawfish in it and let'em sit for about 10-15 minutes.

The salt water causes them to regurgitate the stomach contents. Then, drain them and put them in the deep fryer/turkey fryer (in h20) with a bag of crab boil. New potatoes and half ears of corn and a couple of onions/lemmons and you're set.

It doesn't take long - put the veggies in when the mix comes to a boil and cook for 15 minutes or so before you add the mud bugs - after that it'll take 5 or 6 minutes and dinner is served!

Most fish mongers can order them live if you give them a week or so. Last time I did a batch they were 49 cents a pound, but that has been...... nearly 20 years ago in Baton Rouge.... dang I'm getting hungry!

[Sportfish1850]

Just got my crayfish trap from Cabellas. So now, what do you recommend for bait ?

I was thinking chicken livers...any other suggestions ? Entrails would work too I suppose but you can't clean fish out on the water and wife would go nuts if I kept a bag of fish guts in the freezer for crayfish.

Is there a Minnesota restriction on the trap hole entrance size for crayfish traps ? I saw no mention of this on the reg book that discusses crayfish. My trap is designed for crayfish, (the rectangular cabellas crayfish trap) and not tubular like trap for minnows. My concern was because the trap came with instructions to restrict the opening size with some provided wire if necessary for your state and the minnow traps have a 1.5 inch restriction on the opening.

Thanks.

[Slugo]

Sportfish you might try a tin of cat food. don't realy open it just punchsome holes in it. NO fish guts in the freezer!!! Your garbage can must be real ripe by the time the trash man comes.