Didn't want to hijack the other thread. In these hard times, how does a guy go about trapping a bunch of crawdads? I'm looking to diversify my diet further than elk. I saw some good looking traps online and it seems like I could even make one. Doesn't look much harder than a colony trap.

Bait? fish heads? any meaty scrap

Is there a particular spot in the river better than others? Seems like the bottom of a riffle/top of a hole with slack water and big rocks would be good.

How do you store them in the freezer? I have some pretty good ways for my fish. Curious what others do.

My wife makes a killer dish with the fish we catch and shrimp, but I want to delete the shrimp for something I harvested.

In PA, shallow rocky streams & fish for bait

Pillow traps made from chick wire are stupid easy to make. Reccomended using a oily type of bait . As far as sorung them .... actually not sure never kept them more then a day or two before a boil. I know they freeze the tails all the time after getting the meat out

freezing makes the flesh stick to the carapace, cook and eat fresh

Boil and then pull meat from shells BEFORE freezing.

Save the heads and shells!

You can make a nice stock for gumbo and etoufee.

Chicken bones

I've used hotdog or bologna as a bait, worked good

I like to seine them. Can get a bunch in a hurry

As far as trapping them goes, white sucker is the best bait I’ve found, slice them into chunks. Slack water in rivers with a rock bottom is best, trapping for them here in Michigan heats up early June and ends late August

Fish heads are good if you plan to set traps. Beef melt is good in pick up nets if you gone make a day of it .Never froze them .They do sell them frozen in bags. Ponds are better for crawfishing , but if you have a small very slow moving stream with mudbugs in it that works good to keep the bait scent traveling down stream .

I'm a commercial crawfisherman in south lousiana. We use pillow traps made out of coated hex wire 3/4 inch. There easy to make there's some videos on you tube.we get bad water in the swamp with low oxygen so you have to keep the top of the trap out of the water or they will drown.as far as bait goes shad or pogey but we put in corn or sweet potatoes with it. When your catching 2-3 pounds per trap the crawfish will clean the fish to bones overnight the corn or pasta toe help hold them in the trap and yes they do eat it. As far as freezing you have to boil first then peel its a lot of work but worth it.be careful what fish you use as bait I'm not positive but I think some states have laws against using game fish as bait

Thats what my wife wants to make and i want to eat!

Yellowbelly how's is your ponds producing with all the talk on the news here about low numbers ?

Thanks for the replies. Im still scheming all of this and obviously will obey the rules. The water is pretty well oxygenated and super clean. Ill have lots of options with bait i think

Some of the older guys I know said racoon works good. I've never tried it but it is oily.

youll be in good water so no need to keep the traps shallow or above water. you may also be far enough west that you have the bigger "signal" crawfish, and they need a larger entrance in the funnel, 2 inches will do. an 8" diameter minnow trap will let alot escape, so go with at least 10" diameter. check out trapper arnes website out of arizona. you can buy just the plastic funnels and build your own very easily, and also a fun project if you have kids or someone else interested too. arnes website has a ton of info youll be happy to have access to. hope this helps.

also, my son peeled about 400 crawfish, and ended up with 21 ounces of meat, so a lot of work for little return, but theyre very good. personally i cook, then freeze them whole. thaw overnight in the fridge, then a few minutes in boiling water to reheat them. about 60 will fit in a gallon zip lock bag. if you start catching them, freeze a couple bags to see if you like them that way.

Bait choice makes a huge difference. I’ve found that catfish, shad, carp, and menhaden (pogey) type fish work very well, but bass, crappie, and bluegill heads and scraps don't work nearly as well for some reason. Chicken quarters could possibly be another bait to consider.

I prefer the pyramid style design, but if the water is deep or raccoons are an issue, pyramids won’t work without some sort of modification.

Good luck

We flooded late because of the drought. I've been testing cages out of ten traps two or three crawfish. The basin is the same way right now run about fifty traps for a pound and a half.