I was at the local junk store today and a couple guys were talking about trapping crayfish in the local river. It got me thinking that I need to try this. Can any of you recommend a certain kind of trap?

Built my own I'll try to find pictures, pretty cheap and easy with some hog rings and chicken wire

Where's AIX when your need him lol.
Pillow traps work great and are super easy. Just need some chicken wire and zip ties or rabbit clips

pillow traps are a southern thing. stick with the traps with entrances at both ends of a cylinder, same as a minnow trap but with bigger entrance holes in the funnels. if you can find a cheap minnow trap locally, just enlarge the holes. many to choose from on amazon if you want to go that route. youtube has several videos of crawfish trapping in idaho, watch those for trap types to use, and possible locations to go to. check out trapper arnes website for a ton of info and tips on bait, etc. they also sell the swedish traps, and their trappy XL is about 27.00 each. theyll also sell you the funnels and you can build your own with those. idaho has a species of very large crawfish, and i plan to make a trip there someday to trap some of them. with your larger crawfish, you could use 3/4 inch chicken wire, form a cylinder, then push the 2 ends inward to form a funnel at each end. with any type trap, fasten the bait inside the trap, in a way that it doesnt touch the sides of the trap. if it touches the trap walls, the crawfish will sit outside and feed through the wire and not enter. hope this helps.

Fossil just curious why you advise against pillow traps for Idaho crawdads? If they work down south, why not up north?

pillow traps are made to be set in dead water, no current, etc., in swamps. theyre made to stand up and lean against something, tree trunk, vegetation, etc, and remain in the vertical position, with the 2 entries on the bottom. alot of the water down south has no/low oxygen in it, and the crawfish climb the wire to the surface to breathe. you could set a pillow trap in your river, with the openings facing down stream, and catch some crawfish that way, but it wouldnt be as efficient as a cylindrical trap, with a larger entry funnel. you could make the trap pictured above, but reshape the entry end into one opening instead of 2. go to youtube and type in crawfish trapping down south. youll see how the pillow and pyramid traps are set/used, and the type of terrain theyre designed for. then type in crawfish cass lake minnesota, and youll see how the funnel traps are used. a round cylinder type trap will settle down into a current, and roll into position in rocky bottoms, where as a square type trap might end up standing on end or in a position where the crawfish cant get inside. the equipment has to match the terrain its used in. hope this makes sense.

I like crayfish for fishing bait.
I use regular minnow type trap. The main thing , my opinion is the bait used. I like dead chub , sucker, bass guts. .

Pillow type traps are good in deeper water that may fluctuate in depth. There is a pyramid type trap that are made for ponds and shallow water. The best bait for these traps are catfish heads or poggies if you plan to leave over night. If you plan on setting in the morning and running in the afternoon you can throw in a chunk of beef melt. Remember to mark your trap with some flagging s you can find it later.

Last week I placed out one Crayfish Trap and two Minnow Traps- all the crayfish we caught were in the minnow traps- they work just as well.

Cans always just make them shorter and fluf them up , ad a third hold on the back side. Fave way to make them was with a small bait cage made from hardware cloth in the middle . That being said fossil does make a good point about the current deal. Also think yallas are smaller on average then ours. Honestly never likes messing around with the hard ware cloth past making bait cages and the occasional cloverleaf trap for bream. Always just a whole lot of cuts and scrapes and stickers compared to chicken wire. Aqua mesh is some nice stuff though.

Thanks to all of you. I think I can make some with chicken wire. I'll let you know how it all turns out. We've never fooled with crayfish before.

Thanks for the explanation, makes a lot of sense. I suspected current might be a factor. I've spent time in south Louisiana and so have seen beaucoup acres of flooded fields and thousands and thousands of visible crawfish traps sticking up out of the water and of course I've been to many a mudbug boil too

I made a bunch using small cable ties instead of hog rings.Opening at both ends They work great.

I make them round.
I figured then I was guaranteed to be on the bottom correctly. Not sure if it matters for crayfish.
Are best catch area are small drainages.

Trapper Arne makes and sells some really nice round minnow trap style crayfish traps, but they are not cheap.

sundance,,you can DEFINITELY make them from chicken wire, but use the 3/4 inch mesh size. roll a cylinder about the same diameter as a minnow trap, and stitch it along the seam with cheap cable ties. fold the wire to form a funnel at each end, then push the funnels back inside the trap, and shape it like a minnow trap. make the funnel opening about 2 1/2 inches diameter, as i mentioned you have alot of larger species of crawfish than our areas up north. the bigger ones wont fit through the funnel opening of alot of the minnow traps.

ive set cylinder traps in southern mississippi, which were submerged, and had most all crawfish dead the next morning, as they couldnt crawl up the trap to the surface to breathe. very low oxygen in some of those swamps with no current. youll always see the southern traps protrude above the surface for this reason.

vinke is correct, that round traps will settle and position themselves correctly on the bottom.

wolfdog, your crawfish are larger than ours up north, but the OP is from idaho, and they have a species thats bigger than your southern ones. i saw a pic of one that was 11 1/2 inches long. hes talking rocky rivers with strong current, as opposed to your country with no current and low oxygen, and shallow waters. different country requires different equipment.

There’s a fantastic video on YouTube how to make pillow type traps using hardware cloth… I’ve made several and modified the opening to make it legal here in Illinois to catch minnows, Creek chubs, small sunfish, and crawdads. I’ll do some hunting to see if I can find the video. Really simple and cheap,,, Instead of clips, I use zip ties that are cheap from dollar tree. I found a big roll of 1/4 inch hardware cloth on amazon for 25 bucks or so with free shipping. I made several traps out of the roll

sundance,,a couple suggestions. if you have kids, involve them in building/setting/checking the traps. most find it to be great fun. also check your game laws, as some states have limits and restrictions on equipment and transportation of live crawfish. send me a p.m. if i can be of any help.

I’ve built a bunch of these!!! I use zip ties instead of the clips.