StickRig and I fished Ririe last night and decided after hours of dink bass and some perch we would go for some crawdads. It was my first time ever trying for them and all we had was the head of a perch we ate for dinner and some rope we found on the boat launch. We managed to catch about 15 in 30 minutes just dipping the bait in the water and pulling it back in every 3 minutes or so.
I must say that I am now hooked and went out and bought 2 traps today to try out. I just have some questions for those of you who do any trapping.
Is there a restriction on the size of hole in the trap? (Many other states have one but I couldnt find one in the regs)
Where are some places to try within an hour of Rexburg?
What are some of your favorite baits? What do you use as a bait box?
Thanks
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I never heard of a hole size limit. If your hole is too big, you might catch a bunch of perch, which are legal to keep as bait.
I hang the bait in the trap without a box. It keeps them interested.
I like fresh bait like fish. Some people use cat food or other stuff, but when I get in the mood to suck the guts out of a boiled crawdad, I don't want a mouth full of cat food, too.
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I made one of the rectangular crawdad traps from the forums here, and I suppose since it is a long rectangular opening then hole size shouldn't be a problem. And crawdads can get through pretty small holes, so the size of your traps should be fine.
The next trap I plan on making will probably be like Terry Bullard's. I like the idea of the netting tunnel for the crawdads to walk up. And I agree now that fresh fish is the way to go. Grab a few perch, cut them in half and thread onto a hanger wire or something so the crawdads can eat it but not pull it out of the cage.
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Thanks for the information guys!
I was thinking about making the holes a little bigger on each trap because they are pretty small right now. We caught some good size crawdads and I dont want to keep the big ones out...but I dont want anything sneeking our either
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It can be fun too just using string and some bait. I caught a ton of them once on just some fishing line with a piece of jerky tied on. It was what I had at the time, when I saw how many crawdads were around my feet. The single small piece of jerky lasted the whole time.
It is great fun to see them come out and grab it so you can grab them. I even laid my net down and lured them in with the jerky and then picked it up. I know I have heard of others using chicken legs etc on string and just raising it slowly. The crawdads hang on and then you can scoop a net under them.
Tons of fun anyway!
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I thought about trying that with my net! Maybe next time I will.
I got the traps so that I could lay them out and then fish or roast smores while I wait for the craws to come to me...I can't wait to get out and try them!
Anybody know of other spots besides Ririe that are good for laying traps and catching crawdads?
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Here are some plans that were posted some time ago for crawfish traps.
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=527434"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=527434[/url]
Windriver
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Lots of folks down 'our way' just tie a chicken or back - to a string, toss it out - wait for it to "turn black" and pull it in, and net helps. We're allowed 5 lines per.
Seen reports of folks filling 5 gallon buckets in an hours time. You might enjoy [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/Utah_Fishing_Forum_C55/gforum.cgi?post=682786;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;page=unread#unread"]THIS [/url]post.
Thing about a cage - is they gotta find their way in. Not to say it won't work, just -that if they're scurrying around looking for forage - once they grab onto something tasty - they're pretty likely to hold on.
Windriver's pointer was my fav-post for a trap. I have one of the oval style minnow traps, but haven't really put it to work.
A good salty purge should expel that catfood before you get to sucking any heads.
(ever heard the band The Radiators?)
Which trap did you buy? Sportsman's has a minnow trap that has a small hole with a smooth ring, and a crawdad trap that is just a minnow trap with the hole cut bigger, so the mesh is jagged. They also have the square traps with a ramp.
I like features of both the square and round, but I am leaning more towards the round. I'd make another of the one Windriver posted (which I liked a lot) if I were making a square one. With that one I had 4 strings on the 4 corners that came together into one, so that as I lifted it would come straight up.
Oh, and important if you have the round one. Tie your string to the clamp that keeps it closed, but leave enough excess to tie a big loop connecting the two pieces of trap. Someone here posted about how they lost half the trap when the clip came off, but I didn't listen and had to use a snagging hook to retrieve half of mine a few days later.
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Thanks for the link! That was quite the haul they had! My plan is to set the traps and then fish for a few hours and pick them up on my way out. Depending on the fishing I will probably end up using a hand line and some fish guts to catch them the old fashion way...it is a lot more exciting that way!
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I bought the round oval looking trap from CAL-Ranch.
I wondered about the two sides coming apart and losing half of it. They came with some twist ties so I figured I would use those to hold it together on the opposite side of the clip, but the rope sounds much easier and better. I also think I will make the holes a little bigger to try and get the bigger boys to come out and play
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[quote Bardic]. . . Someone here posted about how they lost half the trap when the clip came off, but I didn't listen and had to use a snagging hook to retrieve half of mine a few days later.[/quote]
don't know if it was me, but I did have that happen. The boy still gives me carp about. I came back and tried pitching a fat snagging hook to no avail.
Got a new trap, and haven't tried it yet - but to be sure - it'll be double tied! But I did catch at least one fattie on a chicken leg.
If I could find a bucket-load of these - I'd be in hog-heaven!
there is a size limit on crayfish nets in Idaho. page 44 of current regs spells it out. (i aint smarrt enof to hiperlink it)
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[url "http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/fish/rules/generalFishInfo.pdf"]http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/fish/rules/generalFishInfo.pdf[/url]
(i dun figur8ted it out)
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I read that and saw that your trap must be under 8 cubic feet. Mine is barely half that size so I am good. Thanks for the link
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Raw Bacon, Beef & Chicken livers are great bait.
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You'll have to check out the episode of Jared Scott Outdoors tomorrow. He came along and filmed how we catch our crawdads by diving for them. Its a ton of fun and we always catch a bunch. Although this year was a little slower than in the past we still got a enough to have a good feed. One tip I always try to pass along is how to pull the mud vein out. There is five plates on their tails, grab the middle plate and rotate it 90 degrees and then pull, it will pull off and the mud vein comes out with it. Then all there is in the tail is pure meat. Once you pull their mud vein out they die quickly so I do it right before they hit the pot.
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