[JAT83]

Whatever you prefer to call them, I am looking to go catch a bunch of these. I know they are in Strawberry, East canyon, Scofield, and quite a few other places. I have heard they are really good eatin' but that you have to catch a bunch to make a decent meal. What have y'all found to be the best bait to lure these fellers in? I have a trap and stuff, I am just wondering what baits are the best. I tried googling it, and I would think that Fresh fish like carp would work, I have also heard of people using chicken or bacon as well. What do y'all use for bait?

Thanks,

Jeremy

 

[Nibble Nuts]

My understanding is that chicken works great.

 

[Grandpa D]

I don't know if it's legal, but I have heard of people punching holes in a can of tuna or fish flavor cat food and putting the can in a trap.
I have used chicken leg bones or hotdogs with great success at Starvation Reservoir before.

 

[jahan]

I use traps, chicken, chicken liver, ect. Almost anything works. It does take many to make a meal, but the hard part is you can't transport them while alive, but you are not suppose to cook and eat them after they are dead. One thing you can do is cook them where you are at or rip off the tail and pincher's there.

 

[jeorv]

Put a bag of ice in a cooler and cover it with newspaper, take off the tail and de-vein them at the lake as you pull them out of the trap, then put the tails on the paper so it will be cold but dry, someone at the crawdad fest at Strawberry told me this, seems to keep them til you cook them.

 

[threshershark]

I've used all kinds of meats. If you've never done it before, one of the best things you can do is lay out a large number of baits. Traps are nice to leave in one place for a while (hopefully it's a productive place), but I have done much better by dropping about 10 baits per person and then rotating down the bait line checking each after a few minutes.

Using a bait without a trap is pretty easy. You'll need a small net with somewhat fine mesh, some string, and some type of fairly firm meat that doesn't tear off very easy. Tie a chicken wing, drumstick, or some kind of meat to a string about 10 feet long. Toss the baits out in a line so you can cover some ground and find which spots produce best. Wait a few minutes, then slowly raise the first bait. The 'Dads will cling to bait if they are there, right up until you lift them out of the water. This is where your net comes in: Dip the net under the bait as you lift it, and once the meat breaks the surface the crayfish will just drop right into the net. Repeat this over and over as you cycle through the baits.

I've used freezer-burned venison, chicken, turkey, etc. To clean them (remember you can't legally transport live ones) just twist the tail at the base. It will pop off clean. Then grasp the middle tailfin and twist it 90 degrees, and pull it. The vein will come right out. The tail is now ready to be iced and cooked.

 

[fishmanjustfish]

I've been catching and eating the little lobsters for the past 30 years or so. Around here I have one of the best baits is an old can of salmon. I occasionally find canned salmon at dollar stores. Anyway, I'll put a can or two in zip lock baggie, juice and all, then take a knife and stabb 10 or so holes in it. Toss it in the trap and they can't resist.

Here's is one of my favorite things to do with:

1) Boil up 100 to 150 in some Zats crab boil, be patient and peel all of them, leaving a small mound of meat.
2) Brush the bottom of pan with some oil and soften up some corn tortillas.
3) Once done with the tortillas, put a table spoon of oil in pan, teaspoon or so of fresh garlic in pan and tossed the crawfish meat around for a minute to warm and absorb oil and garlic, remove from heat.
4) Divide meat mixture into how ever many enchiliadas you want, a dozen or so is about right.
5) Roll meat and a bit of your favorite cheese into tortillas.
6) Align in pan as if they were enchiliadas.
7) Cover them with just a little bit of cheese and bake cover at 350 for 30 minutes.

Serve with a squirt of this sauce:
In a blender, puree the following 1 cup of mayo, 1 jalopeno (seeds removed), teaspoon of garlic, 1/3 bunch cilantro, few drops of cider vinegar.

Dribble the sauce over the enchiliadas and serve. excuse any typos.

 

[LOAH]

Excuse any drool that may be forming at the corner of my mouth.

That sounds pretty good. I've never even tried them, but I think I may have to now. I think I'll start small though in case I can't bring myself to eat them...Less waste. :lol:

 

[JAT83]

Wow, that recipe sounds good! The drool is forming in my mouth too! I hope I can get a bunch this weekend!!!

 

[Fishrmn]

Traps are nice to leave in one place for a while (hopefully it's a productive place), but I have done much better by dropping about 10 baits per person and then rotating down the bait line checking each after a few minutes.

You might want to limit that number to 5 baits per person in the future. Unless they are close enough to grab without having a line attached.

Taking crayfish
Utah Admin. Code R657-13-15
Fishing for crayfish (also called "crawdads") is a fun activity for the whole family.
If you're under the age of 14, you do not need a license to fish for crayfish. If you're 14 years of age or older, you must have a valid Utah fishing or combination license to fish for crayfish. You may take crayfish for personal, noncommercial purposes at any body of water where there's an open fishing season. You may not take crayfish if the fishing season at that water is closed, however.
You may take crayfish by hand or with a trap, dipnet, liftnet, handline, pole or seine. You must also obey the following rules:
you may not use game fish or their parts for bait, or use any substance • that is illegal for fishing;
seines (nets) may not exceed 10 feet in length or width;•
you may not use more than five lines, and not more than one of those • lines can have hooks attached to it (on the lines without hooks, simply tie your bait to the line so the crayfish can grasp the bait with its claw); and
you may not transport live crayfish away from the body of water where • you captured them.

Fishrmn

 

[fishmanjustfish]

Here's the second favorite for the versatile little creatures:

Boil up a bunch of peeled potato's, don't boil them to mash potato soft, just soften them up. Bring'em out of the water and place in COLD water, and then chop to bite size. Set aside.

Soften up oh say 2 cups of chopped celery, one full bunch of green onions greens and all, 2 cups or maybe less of shredded carrots, soften them up in a stick of butter. Probably 10 to 15 minutes.

Pour in a quart to half gallon of milk right into your vegies, add one good sized cup of cooking white wine, and now add the potato's. Add a shake or two or three of Cholula hot sauce, add maybe two tablespoons of pepper, and salt to taste. Bring to a SLOW SLOW boil, be careful or the milk will burn for a few minutes then turn down to simmer.

Sorry, prior to all the above, boil up 100 or so dads in Zats, clean, and get your mound of meat. It's really hard to stay out of them. Again, warm the meat in a little bit of oil and and fresh garlic.

Add the dads to each bowl of chowder, NOT TO THE POT, if you put them in too far before serving, they can rubber up on ya. Just prior to serving.

You can thicken the chowder by adding a bit of Wondra Flour toward the end of the boil.

I know this sounds simplistic, but people rave over the stuff. Serve with some oyster crackers. Basically, it's clam chowder but made with dads. I've yet to have one person turn their nose up at the stuff, in fact, I bet you can't make enough of it.

If you really want to fancy it up, put the chowder in an oven safe bowl, set your dads right on top but do not stir in, then cover with a white cheese, broil the beegbies out of it, then serve.

The white wine is the key. Make it a few times and adjust to your liking.

 

[JAT83]

Sounds like I am going to have to try out a lot of these recipes!!!

 

[JAT83]

Actually, now that I think of it, I have another question...

What times of the year are best for Crayfishing? Can they be taken through the ice?
I read somewhere that they prefer temperatures above 40 degrees, but wasn't sure how active they were at icy temps?

 

[fishmanjustfish]

Oh I'd say August and September are best harvest times around here in Utah. At least that has been my experience. Maybe a month earlier down south. You got my mouth watering when I first read your post so I went out last night and put some traps out. I've got a bad feeling about catching anything though. The water was so low that it looked like much up their habitat has shrunk. I bought a pork butt for $6.00 at Albertson had them slice it up. So, between pork butt, an old cooked chicken, old chunks of smoke ham, and a can of salmon, and other meat scraps we shall see. I just didn't get that c-dad sensation. It chaps my wife's butt but a small corner of chest freezer looks like a frozen compost pile. I don't throw any meat scraps away throughout the year. I think Strawberry and the Gorge provide the best harvest.

Try making the chowder at home sometime, even minus the crawfish. The white wine and milk sounds crazy but it works.

 

[fishmanjustfish]

No luck, six traps, two c-dads, but had fun fishing. Way to cold for them. :mrgreen:

 

[JAT83]

Where did you end up going?

 

[fishmanjustfish]

East Canyon

 

[JAT83]

At what point does it become too cold for them? Do they just go down deep and hibernate when it gets cold like this?

 

[fishmanjustfish]

I don't know and the internet wasn't much help. Seems like August is the best month, maybe it is the heat. I have shipped in 100 lbs from down south a few years ago. About 1/4 were dead though.

 

[spiraleyes]

Bumping this thread