Crawdad Trapping

Hi there,

I am not sure if this message is in the correct place. So if not,
well, sorry.

I want to try my luck with crawdad trapping. I was looking at traps
and well there are quite a few. I see some that are tubular and some
that are rectangular, etc.

What are the pros and cons of using these different geometric shapes?
I will be trying in a fairly slow moving river, it appears to be some
sand with some fairly large rocks. Rocks being couple feet across.
There are places that are swift and othere that are slow movers. But
still some current.

I don't want some cheap traps, but I would like to get the traps
within a week or so. Who's should I look at? I don't want a massive
trap either space is somewhat limited, and I sure as heck don't want
to make one, but I guess I can modify one if necessary.

I see Cabelas and Bass pro have some, but they get mixed reviews.

Any pointers? How about bait consideration? fish heads? cat food
canned? My grandpa used salami, he swore by it, but he's not around
to ask now.

How long to soak these guys? I was planning on throwing a couple out
at mixed places and well, fishing other places with a rod and reel for
fish. so overnite would be nice,

On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:31:12 -0700 (PDT), ULB
wrote:

Hi there,

I am not sure if this message is in the correct place. So if not,
well, sorry.

I want to try my luck with crawdad trapping. I was looking at traps
and well there are quite a few. I see some that are tubular and some
that are rectangular, etc.

What are the pros and cons of using these different geometric shapes?
I will be trying in a fairly slow moving river, it appears to be some
sand with some fairly large rocks. Rocks being couple feet across.
There are places that are swift and othere that are slow movers. But
still some current.

I don't want some cheap traps, but I would like to get the traps
within a week or so. Who's should I look at? I don't want a massive
trap either space is somewhat limited, and I sure as heck don't want
to make one, but I guess I can modify one if necessary.

I see Cabelas and Bass pro have some, but they get mixed reviews.

Any pointers? How about bait consideration? fish heads? cat food
canned? My grandpa used salami, he swore by it, but he's not around
to ask now.

How long to soak these guys? I was planning on throwing a couple out
at mixed places and well, fishing other places with a rod and reel for
fish. so overnite would be nice,

I can't recommend any particular type of trap as I have always made my
own. Bait? You should experiment to see what works well in your
area, and is Legal. One of my favorites is chicken liver that has
been out of the refridgerator for a couple of days - the worse it
smells, the better it seems to work. Soaking? Overnight minimum.
Better if you can soak for a couple of days, but with every new area
that you try, an overnight-er will give you an indication if your
quarry is in the area, or if you are wasting your time. Crawdads are
like most other fish in that they will find "slack" water to stay in,
and let the food come to them.
Good Luck and keep us updated on your luck.

--
Calling an Illegal Alien an "Undocumented Worker" is like calling a
Crack Dealer an "Unlicensed Pharmacist"

On Apr 21, 5:31*pm, ULB wrote:
Hi there,

I am not sure if this message is in the correct place. *So if not,
well, sorry.

I want to try my luck with crawdad trapping. *I was looking at traps
and well there are quite a few. *I see some that are tubular and some
that are rectangular, etc.

What are the pros and cons of using these different geometric shapes?
I will be trying in a fairly slow moving river, it appears to be some
sand with some fairly large rocks. *Rocks being couple feet across.
There are places that are swift and othere that are slow movers. *But
still some current.

I don't want some cheap traps, but I would like to get the traps
within a week or so. *Who's should I look at? *I don't want a massive
trap either space is somewhat limited, and I sure as heck don't want
to make one, but I guess I can modify one if necessary.

I see Cabelas and Bass pro have some, but they get mixed reviews.

Any pointers? *How about bait consideration? *fish heads? *cat food
canned? *My grandpa used salami, he swore by it, but he's not around
to ask now.

How long to soak these guys? *I was planning on throwing a couple out
at mixed places and well, fishing other places with a rod and reel for
fish. *so overnite would be nice,

I haven't done it in years. I used to just use the conicle shaped
traps such as this...

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...5C &noImage=0

They seemed to work fine. Here in my local river and small lakes
where I did it I used to just use canned cat food with a couple holes
poked in to the can for a 3 day or so soak. Liver works very well
too, as the other poster mentioned, as would just about any other,
rotten, stinky, flesh.

Good luck.

wrote:

I want to try my luck with crawdad trapping. I was looking at traps
and well there are quite a few. I see some that are tubular and some
that are rectangular, etc.


The best Mud Bug catcher is a burlap sack.

This is the way it works, take a burlap sack, then mash a whole tub of
liver into it, spread the stuff to cover as much area as possible, just
smear the stuff through the bag

Weigh the sack down so it stays on the bottom, and leave it over night,
I have seen 300 craw fish "trapped" on a single bag the next morning.

The little hooks , and spines on their legs gets caught on the burlap
threads, trapping them, you just pick them off.

Note place these in very shallow water, in thick weeds if possible, the
reason for this is it must be where fish can't pick them off before you
get there the next morning
--
SpecTastic Wiggle Rig,
Fishing lure remote control
See lure video you won't believe
http://ezknot.com/videos.html

"ULB" wrote in message
...
Hi there,

I am not sure if this message is in the correct place. So if not,
well, sorry.

I want to try my luck with crawdad trapping. I was looking at traps
and well there are quite a few. I see some that are tubular and some
that are rectangular, etc.

What are the pros and cons of using these different geometric shapes?
I will be trying in a fairly slow moving river, it appears to be some
sand with some fairly large rocks. Rocks being couple feet across.
There are places that are swift and othere that are slow movers. But
still some current.

I don't want some cheap traps, but I would like to get the traps
within a week or so. Who's should I look at? I don't want a massive
trap either space is somewhat limited, and I sure as heck don't want
to make one, but I guess I can modify one if necessary.

I see Cabelas and Bass pro have some, but they get mixed reviews.

Any pointers? How about bait consideration? fish heads? cat food
canned? My grandpa used salami, he swore by it, but he's not around
to ask now.

How long to soak these guys? I was planning on throwing a couple out
at mixed places and well, fishing other places with a rod and reel for
fish. so overnite would be nice,

I lived in Louisiana for a long time, and here's how they do it.

They take rubber coated chicken wire of about 1" mesh, maybe slightly
smaller. They roll it into a tube about 18" long, and 16" around. They
squash it flat, and make a cone out of the wire for one end going in. The
other end is held shut by a strip of old inner tube and a hook made out of
coat hanger wire. Emptying requires taking off the rubber, shaking the
trap, and tossing in dead fish and resetting. The design allows for many
traps to be stacked and bound into bundles. Sometimes they need to be
puffed out a little, but when they are about 8" high, that seems optimal.
Make a bridle out of one piece of cord about three feet long, and tie it to
diagonal corners. That way, the trap can be lowered, and lands flat. Tie
to nearby tree, or put a jug on it.

Locations are identified by the plastic ribbons engineers use. In
Louisiana, messing with another man's traps is grounds for shooting, no
questions asked, and no witnesses willing to testify. Or at least one shot
to your boat at waterline to put the message across. Second shots usually
are delivered to the motor, and you can imagine where the third shot goes.
It's up to the shooter's personality how many shots they will fire at the
same offender.

Some jurisdictions require you to have your name and fishing number on the
jugs, or somewhere on the line, so check that. You WILL also have a lot of
nosy people pulling them up and messing with them, so they need to be
tended. If you leave them overnight, the crawfish monster may eat them all,
and in the morning, there's no traps! Or they will be empty, but at least
they don't steal them.

I'm going to make some for a lake near me, and all I have is 1/2" hardware
cloth. A lot of it, and free, so I'll make a dozen or so and see how that
goes. That will not smush down like coated chicken wire, so I'll have to
handle them a little different. Probably make them squarish, and stack them
inside the boat.

Crawfish are good eating. Put them to soak in flowing water so they can
discharge some of the mud, and agitate occasionally.

Let us know how it comes out.

"Rodney Long" wrote in message
...
wrote:

I want to try my luck with crawdad trapping. I was looking at traps
and well there are quite a few. I see some that are tubular and some
that are rectangular, etc.


The best Mud Bug catcher is a burlap sack.

This is the way it works, take a burlap sack, then mash a whole tub of
liver into it, spread the stuff to cover as much area as possible, just
smear the stuff through the bag

Weigh the sack down so it stays on the bottom, and leave it over night, I
have seen 300 craw fish "trapped" on a single bag the next morning.

The little hooks , and spines on their legs gets caught on the burlap
threads, trapping them, you just pick them off.

Note place these in very shallow water, in thick weeds if possible, the
reason for this is it must be where fish can't pick them off before you
get there the next morning.

I've seen a lot of crawfishing, and that's one unique idea. I'm going to
try that with my hardware cloth traps. Thanks.