Willard crawdads

[zburninator]

I just recently read something online saying that there are crawdads in Willard Bay. I've got a couple traps I built but haven't tested out yet. I'd like to test them out without having to drive way far away from where I live. So my question is does anybody know what the population of crawdads looks like in Willard? Would it be worth it to go out there and throw a couple traps in for a few hours?
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[jjannie]

I've never seen any around the docks at Willard, but Strawberry/Soldier Creek is always where we have never had a problem catching enough for dinner when camping, it sure keeps the grandkiddos occupied as well

[zburninator]

Thanks for the info. I was at strawberry last weekend and we killed it. We ended up filling up two Rubbermaid containers full of crawdads. I'm guessing that we had close to 60 people in our camping group. That day nobody went hungry. I'd like to go back to Strawberry but it's so far away. I live in Tremonton so it's several hours drive for me. If I'm going to go all the way out there I'd like to spend the weekend. Unfortunately I got tons of stuff to do so that may not be happening. That's why I was interested in finding a place a little closer to home. Do you have any other suggestions?
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[r2u2]

There are crawdads in Willard, I have seen them on occasion crawling over rocks around the dikes. I have caught booth catfish and wipers with crawdads in there gut.

Your question about population I don't know. I would not expect to find a concentration of them anywhere in that body of water. If it is like anything else, you don't know until you try.

RJ
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[zburninator]

Good point, I may just have to head that way in the morning. The main thing I'm curious about is if my traps will work properly. So as long as I catch a few I would be happy. Besides going to Willard would be a good excuse to go out after some cats.
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[Jedidiah]

I haven't been able to trap crawdads in Willard for a while. Nothing eats them in Strawberry, that's why there's so many....on the other hand, lots of stuff eats them in Willard.
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[RonPaulFan]

[quote Jedidiah]I haven't been able to trap crawdads in Willard for a while. Nothing eats them in Strawberry, that's why there's so many....on the other hand, lots of stuff eats them in Willard.[/quote]

That explains a few things for me, so I'll add what I know and we'll have another piece of the picture.

These fish in the photograph were caught there (thanks WiperHunter2) on LiveTarget crawfish lures on a day when other lures weren't working.

(Edit: I don't know why the picture is not displaying as a picture when viewed from my tablet.)
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[wombat1947]

Mantua has quite a few of them . If you can get past all the vegitation.
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[zburninator]

Well I went out to Willard this morning to see if there were actually any crawdads left in the bay. I tossed my traps in and let them soak for just about 2 hours. And the verdict is...... not one crawdad hahaha. It doesn't surprise me at all considering between the wipers, walleye and catfish those crawdads really don't stand much of a chance. I'm sure there may still be some in the bay but my guess is there are very few on numbers. Now I'm off to the Bear River to see if I can land a big old cat before my day gets officially started. I'm thinking another trip to Strawberry very soon will be well worth the drive.
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[a_bow_nut]

Try running the traps after dark too. I have noticed that the crawdads are much ore active after dark.
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[Therapist]

The reason that you don't see lots of crawdads at Willard is that when the stick their heads out of the rocks, something eats it, be it a bass, wiper, crappie, walleye, catfish, or even a carp. They are there, but they try and preserve their hides by hiding most of the time. When heavily preyed on, they usually only come out at night.

The reason that you see more of them at someplace like Strawberry/Soldier Creek is that the trout species only prey on them when they are small. once they get over 1.5 inches, nothing but the bigger trout can eat them. DWR had a situation years ago at Enterprise Res. in Southern Ut. where they drained the res to repair the dam. There was a thriving crawdad pop down there, but the trout kept them in check because they cropped off the young of the year most years. When the res drained, the dads continued to thrive and grow, so then the lake refilled several years later, the dads had the upper hand and were impacting the growth of the planted trout. It was all made moot when someone put golden shinners in there, which resulted in the stocking of wipers to control them. Wipers and Striped bass feed heavily on crawdads.

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]The crawdad population at Willard is at a low ebb right now. As others have suggested, the mud bugs are a big part of the diet for the predators...especially during the winter and spring, before the shad spawn and provide other food resources.

One of the other factors has been the low water. When water levels are high enough to cover the lower rocks of the dikes it provides more spawning area and cover for the crawdads. When water is low there is very little cover or protection for the heavily munched crawdads.

The higher water this year should help provide a better spawn for the bugs. If it stays up a few years they may develop a larger population. But I have never seen them so thick in Willard that they were easy to harvest in traps. Lots of better places.
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