# Crawfish Trapping Northeast Ohio



## bubba29

I wanna get some crawfish. I have done some research and found many people trap crawfish, crawdads, mudbugs, and crayfish (all the same thing btw) in the North. I heard April/May are the best times but I need to learn more. Should I focus on pools in creeks and rivers? Would lakes and reservoirs also work? What should I use for bait? How long should I leave traps out? Any tips, tricks, and advice would be appreciated.


----------



## King-Fish

This is northwest Ohio but all the same. I always enjoy just going to shallow creeks or rivers and flipping rocks over And grabbing them but traps do work also just not as fun lol. Spring and into summer is time I usually poke around for em. Also while hunting them set the soft shell smaller ones to the side they are great smallmouth bait. When I was a kid me and my buddies would set up a tent along a local creek here and camp for days. At times crayfish was all we ate lol. Get out and enjoy them people don’t realize how good they are.


----------



## King-Fish

If your gonna use traps just put some dog food inside and leave overnight. They’ll be in trap come morning. Never have tried for them in reservoirs or lakes so can’t be of help there.


----------



## hailtothethief

You can pick up tons by hand in the grand in the shallow rocky bottoms. Great bass baits


----------



## fishmeister

I usually just seine them out of riffles in streams in rivers. 
Michigan Sportsman website has an entire forum devoted to trapping crawdads. You might want to check that out.


----------



## Bluefinn

fishmeister said:


> I usually just seine them out of riffles in streams in rivers.
> Michigan Sportsman website has an entire forum devoted to trapping crawdads. You might want to check that out.


A buddy trapped some last fall & they were great. He used dog food. Lots of youtubes on it. I'm making some traps & do it myself this year!


----------



## DLarrick

Can of tuna works great for traps. Don't cut the lid all the way around so it stays on and don't let all the bait out.


----------



## CoonDawg92

Creeks and streams. In the south you can seine them out of roadside ditches but not sure if that would work up here. Pieces of turkey neck if you want something that will hold together. (Or turkey pecker if you saw the YouTube videos over the holidays )


----------



## Doboy

This Youtube guy has some good videos on the subject,,,, Interesting, bait of choice 'TEST'.
(NH!)





His Underwater trapping Video is cool stuff,,, I gotta show it to my G-kids;


----------



## Lewzer

I have had my best success catching crayfish in bulk at the MWCD lakes while catfishing at nighttime. Sitting on the rocky rip rap with the lantern going at the waters edge brought the bugs in and the crayfish would come into the shallows and sit on the shallow rocks and feed on the swarms of bugs at the water surface.
It was real easy to snatch the crayfish with a small aquarium net and toss them into a 5 gal bucket. In a few hours of catfishing you get fill about 1/2 a 5 gallon bucket. I caught some real big ones too. Much bigger than any I've caught in streams and creeks.
It will keep you occupied between fishes. This was all summer once the water warmed up. June through the end of August.


----------



## Doboy

Bluefinn said:


> A buddy trapped some last fall & they were great. He used dog food. Lots of youtubes on it. *I'm making some traps & do it myself this year!*



In those videos, you'll see that he's just using minnow traps,,, with huge success.

*Do you already have a prototype in mind?*


(I watched a bunch of kids crabbing for blues down Fort Myers,,, they had Flat bottom rectangular traps like this one, but they were much larger than what we would need. One of their square traps had 4 ramps,,, one on each side)









So, If I were to built traps, I would make them flat bottom rectangular shaped like in the picture, with ramps on both ends.. Trap door on top.
Build an entrance *ramp* *1/2 way up* with a 1/2"-3/4" opening,, depending on the size of the crabs in your area.
Like those kids said,,,, 'as long as there is bait in there,,,, they'll never want to come out.'
They were using chicken wings for bait. ;>)

Bluefinn,,,, I just got done making 4 ****, squirrel/ whatever box traps & I still have a small pile of concrete mesh out back,,, I'll never use it all. 
So, If you would like some pieces, it's here, for the asking.


----------



## Bluefinn

Doboy said:


> In those videos, you'll see that he's just using minnow traps,,, with huge success.
> 
> *Do you already have a prototype in mind?*
> 
> 
> (I watched a bunch of kids crabbing for blues down Fort Myers,,, they had Flat bottom rectangular traps like this one, but they were much larger than what we would need. One of their square traps had 4 ramps,,, one on each side)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, If I were to built traps, I would make them flat bottom rectangular shaped like in the picture, with ramps on both ends.. Trap door on top.
> Build an entrance *ramp* *1/2 way up* with a 1/2"-3/4" opening,, depending on the size of the crabs in your area.
> Like those kids said,,,, 'as long as there is bait in there,,,, they'll never want to come out.'
> They were using chicken wings for bait. ;>)
> 
> Bluefinn,,,, I just got done making 4 ****, squirrel/ whatever box traps & I still have a small pile of concrete mesh out back,,, I'll never use it all.
> So, If you would like some pieces, it's here, for the asking.





Doboy said:


> In those videos, you'll see that he's just using minnow traps,,, with huge success.
> 
> *Do you already have a prototype in mind?*
> 
> 
> (I watched a bunch of kids crabbing for blues down Fort Myers,,, they had Flat bottom rectangular traps like this one, but they were much larger than what we would need. One of their square traps had 4 ramps,,, one on each side)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, If I were to built traps, I would make them flat bottom rectangular shaped like in the picture, with ramps on both ends.. Trap door on top.
> Build an entrance *ramp* *1/2 way up* with a 1/2"-3/4" opening,, depending on the size of the crabs in your area.
> Like those kids said,,,, 'as long as there is bait in there,,,, they'll never want to come out.'
> They were using chicken wings for bait. ;>)
> 
> Bluefinn,,,, I just got done making 4 ****, squirrel/ whatever box traps & I still have a small pile of concrete mesh out back,,, I'll never use it all.
> So, If you would like some pieces, it's here, for the asking.


Thanks for the offer. I have a bunch of hardware mesh left over from a chicken coop I'm going to use. The videos I saw did pushed in indented holes where the go in but don't go out. My buddy uses minnow traps that is the same set-up. He was trapping minnows & complaining about all the crayfish he was catching. Told him just throw them in my dogs pool to purge.


----------



## bustedrod

wow thats a bowl some tasty stuff...........


----------

