Fishing Forum

Are there crawdads in Mackay res or Magic res? My wife has been wanting to try and catch some but i'm not sure where the best place to try is. I read on here that Ririe res has them but I have never been there before.

About a month ago we went to Island Park res and tried to catch some but didn't know where the best place would be. We threw a trap out north of the dam a ways in some rocks but had no takers.

I thought it might be something fun for the wife and kids to catch some when they get tired of fishing.
[signature]

Salmon Falls Creek Res. has a lot of crawdads. You can fish for a lot of different fish species and catch crawdads.
[signature]

Salmon Falls Creek has lots of BIG crawdads in it. I dropped 2 traps with left over chicken pieces in them and in 2 hours they were stuffed
[signature]

After you get your crawdads out do you put them in a bucket of water(lake or city) untill you cook them or just put them on ice till you get home?
[signature]

I put mine in a bucket of water until I get home, then I purge them in a heavily salted brine for about 1/2 hour (per Betty Crocker). After the purge I throw away the dead ones and throw the rest into a pot that is already boiling. I've heard you are not supposed to eat Dads that have died before cooking. It has worked out well for me.

Does anyone know if it is true that you shouldn't eat Dads that have died before cooking? I'm looking for credible references but can't find any.
[signature]

If you can't trust a Cajun when it comes to Crawdads who can you? I love these directions.

[url "http://www.cajun-shop.com/crawfishcookingoffseason.htm"]http://www.cajun-shop.com/crawfishcookingoffseason.htm[/url]
[signature]

I catch them at Ririe. We usually bring our burner and pot with us. We catch as many as we can before 11:00PM then throw them in the pot with Zamarins Cajun crab boil.

Then we sit around and eat them until they are gone. This year we will add red potatoes and corn on the cob to the boil. I went on trip to New Orleans this year and ate some this way that were awesome.

We usually have quite a few people and it is more like a snack then a meal. When I went to New Orleans I ordered a pound and a half of whole crawfish and it was about right. Times that by however many people you have and it becomes a big chore to get that much.

Windriver
[signature]

Box canyon Creek is LOADED with them. Niagra springs creek is also full of them. Ron
[signature]

I love crawdads. Its interesting how many times they can be in areas where people don't even know they are around. I usually use the carcass of crappie that I flet for bait. Seem to work well.
[signature]

I prefer to keep them on ice while transporting them. If you keep them in water they will use up the oxygen in the water and quickly drown. Once I get them home I turn a garden hose on them for a good half hour to rinse them off and revive them. We have also heard never eat a dead crawfish. One thing we do that a lot of people don't do is devein them. If you notice on the tail there is 5 plates grab the middle plate and twist it 90 degrees then gently pull on it and out comes the mud vein. They die a few minutes after you do this so have the water boiling before you devein them. Next time I go crawfish diving I'll video the deveining and post it. Nothing better than fresh Idaho lobster.
[signature]

Don't know the Idaho laws, but have heard they are pretty strict in Utah about transporting live Crawdads.

So unless you're cooking at the lake, you're gonna have all dead ones left! (could be they release toxins when they die. Same kinda story for other shell fish - clams and such. Tap them and make sure they suck closed, strong hold).
Do you just eat the tail, or do you suck the head (Radiator's song...). Cook em whole, or just break of the tail for the boil?

I've heard tell - a chicken leg on a string can work well, better than traps even. But since I tossed half my minnow trap into the river - haven't had a chance to try. (shoulda double checked the clasp!)
[signature]

Good point on the deveining. I do that as well.

Windriver
[signature]

Utah Fish and Game has a link about crawdads and how to care for and cook them. It says to kill them by sticking a knife in their body right behind the head then pack them in ice. I sure there is a link on the Utah Department of Fish and Game's web site with all the details.
[signature]

[signature]

Thats what I'm talkin about.

Windriver
[signature]

I live in Evanston wyoming and sulfer creek resivour has lots of crawdads. Just dont leave your traps over night or there is a good chance they will be stollen. I lost 3 last year that way.I generaly make my own traps and was catching a 5 gallon bucket full with 3 traps out over night. I have also heard they go toxic when they die on their own. and to kill them quickly to avoid that kind of problem and keep them cool not directly on the ice but seperated with a wet piece of burlap if you kill them in the feid. In wyoming we dont have to worry about that but Utah does. I bait my traps with 1 fried chicken bone and 1 piece of raw chicken. I have tried them seperatly and get on average 1/3 less crawdads per set. Good luck!
[signature]

Thanks for all the replys everyone. Looks like I will have to get some chicken scraps and go give it a try. My wife is really excited about catching some. She thinks she is a crab fisherman on " The Deadlist Catch " [] .
[signature]

We use fresh cut bait. Some people use catfood and poke a few holes in the can. Others use rotten stuff. But, when you take them out of the trap and boil them and suck the guts out, you are eating that catfood or rotten junk. That's why I prefer they have a nice belly full of fresh fish meat.
[signature]

I really like the look of your traps. Could you post a couple more pictures that show a little more how you made them?
Thanks!
[signature]

Here are a few more pictures of the traps. They are made with wire mesh and zip ties for the most part. I also place 2 weights in the bottom and 2 pieces of foam on the top so when it is thrown in they orientate themselves with the bait box in the bottom. I also put the plastic(gallon jug or 2 liter soda bottle ) on the out side of the bottom area. It keeps the crawdads from geting a free meal from the out side. the cones are cut from the mesh in a half circle. on a 24" long trap shown in the green make your tube part of the trap so the ends are 9.5" at the open ends. for the cones I take a string and starting from the center of the 24" roll hold one end of the string. The other end tie a marker to it and start at one sine of the wire mesh and make an ark over to the other side drawing your half circle to be cut out. The non coated wire fir the 24" X5' is about $8.00 the coated stuff is About $13.00. In the picture of the green madel you can see I tied a liter rootbeer bottle to the casting line to be used as a float if I drop them from my boat while fishing. most of the time I just set them from along the shore. Hope this help.
[signature]