i have a few secret spot that i catch crawfish at. It may sound strange but my bait is Menheden. They love em but watch out, after a trap has been there a few days the bait will stink really bad.

 

Is it even legal to trap crayfish?

 

If the water isnt too deep, another trick we used is to put the bait out and let them come to it. Get you one of those long 2 prong forks for cooking hotdogs over the campfire. Use that to go over their back and reach in and grab them. Only bad part is its one at a time, and you have to wait for them to come back to the bait, which isnt that long generally. Good fun with the kids though.

 

I read this trick for bait crawdads.
4-6 three ft lenghts of mono w/ strip of bacon tied to one end.
put in one by one and stake it, by the time you get them in and get back to the first one, they will be gripped on, like PH said like a dinnerbell rang, just pluck 'em into a bucket.
Gonna try it one day with the kids. Course I guess you still have to know where they are?

 

when we were kids we would use a minnow trap with hot dogs inside trap...we would set trap in a deeper hole in stream..stream fed into a local river ..lots of crayfish..the only problem was the large crayfish could not fit into the trap..

 

you can use a minnow trap avalible mostly at the coast but some time you can find the localy but can of wet cat food and your off

 

We always used fish guts or hot dogs, fish guts worked the best for us though. Good luck!

 

Actually, I just purchased a Crawfish trap to start trapping them again myself. I have always used chicken neck, like you would for crabs, or anything like cat food in a partially opend can, etc.

Where are you located? Perhaps we can trap together. That is some great eating when prepared properly.
Irish

 

You cook them just about the same way as you do lobster except a lot of people use old bay seasoning just like you would do crabs wash and dump in the boiling water.

 

I have tried Crayfish you buy. How do fix them if you catch them? Like lobsters do you have to keep them live or can you cut the tails off and just cook them?

 

Welcome aboard, bighunter.

PH's adivice sounds good, makes me want to go get some crayfish - good luck and make sure to keep us posted on how you make out.

 

Mudbugs...I have an uncle that taught me much of what I know about life outdoors. He and I used to go frog giggin'. We'd take what was left over after the legs were removed and place it where a small stream (culvert) fed into the pond. We didn't use traps. We'd scoop 'em up with a 5 gallon bucket. The stream wasn't much wider than the bucket though, so it was pretty easy scooping. Anyway, them little crawlers would come like a dinner bell had been rang. I suppose you could use scraps from you fish cleaning.

Try to catch a show on discovery called "Dirty Jobs". I think the show the crawdad fisherman once or twice every week. If nothing else it's good entertainment.

Hope the reply isn't too late and welcome aboard!