Crawfish questions

[LeeTL]

What makes a good bait for traps?  I just got started trappping these things lastnight,I caught 3 middle to large size Red Swamp crawdads off of some bluegill someone had used as cut bait for fishing. It seemed to work good but I don't think your allowed to catch and kill bluegill for bait,or perhaps that is just a rule for pay lakes,I do not know.  Today after eating crawdad for the first time, I went out and made three more traps,now they are sitting in a crawfish infested pound that my grandfather use to catch them from. Needless to say my goal is to eat my body weight in crawdads before the summer is out,they are fine eating and the are fun to catch,plus they are free.  Just how big can these  guys get? I read somewhere that they don't turn red untill unless they are dead or cooked,but once as a young lad I seen the Crawdad of all Crawdads to come,very lobster like,alive,well and red as can be near a roadside ditch.I kick myself now as I look back on it for letting that one go.

[cotton1]

take a can of cheap cat food and poke some holes in it or dry dog food works too

[Bubber]

Powder River paste bait works great belive it or not. I have only set crawdad traps a time or two but that is what I used. I forget why, but it does work well.

[wvbowman04]

I was wondering if anybody could post pics of their crawdad traps or give instructions on building one??  I love to eat the things and would like a better way to catch them than by just flippin rocks and pickin 'em up.  Thanks to anybody who can help.

[Mallard]

I use those wire minnow traps that you can get about anywhere for around $5. I just form the opening into more of an oval and make it a little bigger, wire a chunk of fish to the middle, and set it. Works for me.

Here's a similar trap on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=11727&item=3677471246&rd=1

[rascal (Joe Duncan)]

Like Mallard, I use some wire minnow traps as well as making crawdad traps myself.  

Those dead minnows that float to the top of your bucket when you're fishing make excellent crawdad bait.  I dip them out, save them for a day or two (till they get good and ripe :wink: ) and then put in the crawdad traps.  Crawdads love them.

[wvbowman04]

Thanks guys!!!  I got a couple of those wire minnow traps layin around here somewhere.  I never thought of usin them.  Thanks again

[shoot'n hogs]

beef melt works great and its cheap

[Newt]

Would you beleave.I never ate one ?

[RdFx]

Newt you sure nuff ate one of his cousins (the lobster).  Man they is very good.   Munch  the tails and suck out the heads MMMMmmmm good. And wash  it down with yr favorite  tummy wash   :wink:

[Newt]

You Bring'm  I'll eat'm ! What convention ?

[RdFx]

How about Marquette, the UP  Michigan rondy?

[Newt]

What's the date ?

[yottey]

How do you guys cook them critters? ate them a few times but never cooked them! yottey

[Trapper Ryan]

I just set my minnow trap for minnows and get a ton of crawdads along with minnows. I bet a guy could throw out and empty one and catch quite few of the little buggers. I think there just end up crawling right into the trap.

[Dan Mich Trapper]

Newt , I cant belive you never ate none .  I thought a wildman such as yourself has eaten everything , good and bad .

Yottey , all I ever do is weed through them . The little ones go for coon bait and the big ones get boiled till they are nice and red , shelled dipped in butter or shrimp sauce  , and eaten .

RdFx , you sick , sick man . My boy likes to suck the heads too . Something about eatin guts just dont do it for me .

[warf73]

This post brings back memories.

When I was just a pup kid 13 years old for extra money in the summer my best bud and I would sane up crawdads for the local bait shops.
We saved the monsters for the boiling pot.
It wouldn't take long to fill a bathtub half full with crawdads and off to the bait shop we would go  :-)

If you’re using a minnow trap we would take a piece of bacon and tie it to the middle of the trap.

We had a good crawdad spot my mom and dad used to take my sister and me crawdad fishing lol it was fun.

Take you pole and a big piece of bacon and hook it the middle. Lower it into the water wait 5mins the first time and pull up slowly and drop your line into a 5gal bucket.
From then on lower line into the water and pull it out every 30secs. or so and drop the line into the bucket. Those big crawdads don't let go of an easy meal.