# The incredible edible crayfish



## oldstinkyguy

So the fishing has been slow. I've been out and caught the occasional saugfish, been skunked a few times, heck today I caught a four or five pound buffalo. In other words it's been nothing to write home about, much less make a report about. Dan and I did catch a bunch of big gar one day in a creek mouth in the Ohio river. But I kind of look at gar like bachelor parties, sure their fun at the time but you don't go around telling everybody what happened either. So besides this little bit of fishing and some wishing for spring I've been trying to learn a bit more about the river. Lately I've been studying crayfish. What a weird little creature they are if you take the time to really look and learn about them. Here's a bit of what I've learned...

Crayfish are part of the largest grouping of animals on earth called arthropods. Arthropods have hard exoskeletons and include insects, arachnids and crustaceans. Crayfish are crustaceans and differ from insects in that they breathe with gills and have two pairs of antennae. Crustaceans are also the yummy group and include stuff we love to eat like lobsters, crabs and shrimp. And well, crayfish. If you haven't ever eaten crayfish but like the other stuff on that list your missing out, they are delicious. And as every fisherman worth the name knows, the fish think they are delicious also. So here's more than you ever wanted to know about crayfish:
Back to those antennae, crawfish have a long pair and a short pair. The long whiplike pair help the crawdad keep track of what's going on ahead and behind it while the shorter stubby ones are for close in work. From everything I've read they are like a poor man's version of catfish whiskers in that they are sensitive to both touch and smell. Crayfish also have compound eyes on the ends of little stalks. 
I'm not sure exactly how clear a crayfish sees it's world but compound eyes detect movement extremely well. The eyes mounted on stalks are called pedicles. If you watch a live crayfish, you can see the eyes move independently of each other. Instead of ears crawdads have thousands of tiny sensory bristles that can sense vibrations. The "brain" of a crayfish is just a mass of nerve ganglion just in front of and above the esophagus. I'm pretty sure most crayfish behavior is instinctive and they aren't exactly rocket scientists. 
A crayfish has four pair of walking legs. The small appendages along the underside of the abdomen are the swimmerets. These help the gills circulate water through the body, so the crayfish can breath. And if you ever want to, you look at the first pair to determine the sex of a crayfish. (don't ask me, you might want to...) In boy crawdads, this first pair is used to deposit sperm into the oviducts of the female. They are larger and harder than the others. In girl crawfish, all the swimmerets are soft and used to carry the fertilized eggs and newly hatched young. Crayfish have 3 sets of tiny appendages around their mouth called maxillipeds. These appendages help the crayfish manipulate food.
All in all crayfish have 38 pair of appendages! Of course the ones we are all familiar with is that first pair with the big pincers on them. These are used to gather food and defend the crayfish from predators like fish. And don't think they don't use them to defend themselves, just let a big one you catch out of the river sometime latch on to you and you will change your tune. In fact studies have shown that smallmouth bass over and over again select crayfish with smaller claws if given choice. The old river rat trick of pinching the claws off crawdads you use for bait really does up your catch rate. 
Along with claw size, studies show smallmouth bass select crayfish by body size also. The interesting part is that the biggest smallmouth bass, the trophy fish are the most selective by size. They consistently choose a crayfish about an inch and a quarter long if given a choice. I wonder if, given a smallmouth's long lifespan, that a ten or twelve year old bass has just learned by experience that those big craws can be bad news. Those big lobsters you sometimes see are shovelhead bait not bass bait unless the fish is really hungry. And even then the bass is going to suck that big craw in and blow it out several times trying to kill it, making it harder to hook on a bigger crayfish imitation too. If it's claws can't defend it, the crawfish's other option is to flee. This it will do by a sudden flip of it's tail which will cause it to jet backwards a foot or so amazingly fast.
In the Midwest most crayfish mate in the fall. (don't ask me how, don't know, don't wanna know)
Then in spring the female will lay eggs which she glues to the swimmerets on her abdomen. These then hatch in 5 to 8 weeks into tiny crayfish which hang on another week or two before dropping off to fend for themselves. And along the way feed nearly everything in the river it seems. Everything from minnows like larger darters and chubs to dragonfly and hellgrammite larvae. There are some you tube videos of dragonfly nymphs eating little crayfish out there that are right out of a horror movie. 
But crayfish are omnivores and get their revenge if they are lucky enough to grow up. Along with a bunch of vegetable matter they will chomp on pretty much anything that's small enough to kill with those pincers including things like small minnows. And as anyone who has went after crayfish with a minnow trap will tell you, dog food is a classic crawdad bait. Like I said an omnivore. 
Crayfish undergo periodic moults, shedding the hard exoskeleton in order to grow larger, and then forming a new shell. During this time they are in fishing lingo, "soft craws" and extremely vulnerable to predators. And fish know this and moulting crayfish are just about the best live bait you can use. But don't discount using "hard craws" that are not moulting. Just remember what I said earlier about bigger bass preferring a small crayfish in the inch and a quarter range. Another interesting tidbit is that a crayfish can regenerate a claw if it loses it battling a fish or I dunno, a bigger crayfish. Over the course of two or three moults the claw will grow back. Which reminds me that when catching crabs in South Carolina it was illegal to keep the huge but somewhat rare stone crab. But you could keep one of the huge claws of this overgrown relative of the crawdad since it too would regenerate. (And one stone crab claw had more meat that a couple whole blue crabs.) 
Speaking of eating crayfish, they aren't just for smallmouth. Besides smallmouth, channel catfish walleye, saugeye, carp, trout, largemouth bass, freshwater drum and I'm sure a host of other fish eat crayfish. And of course people eat crayfish. My personal favorite way is grilled smothered in garlic butter and Cajun seasoning. But of course crayfish are famous as smallmouth food. And with good reason, a 12 inch smallmouth bass in late summer fills up to 70% of its diet with crayfish. Larger bass eat a lot of baitfish but they still eat a bunch of crayfish too. BTW don't ever, even on a drunken dare for a hundred bucks eat a live crawfish (or a raw dead one). A big percentage of crayfish are infected with a parasitic flatworm called a lungworm. After you scarf down the crawfish, the parasite comes out and burrows through the walls of the intestine, hoping to make it to the lungs where they can complete their life cycle and mature. Once in the lungs they form nodules that mature and grow. But sometimes they don't make it and get lost on the way to the lungs and they can end up in other organs, even in your brain. Yeah, YUK.
There are approximately 600 species in the world. Of those something like 350 live in North America. Which I'm guessing is more than the number of people who could tell them all apart. 
Btw an Astacologist is someone who studies crayfish. And if you think the crawdads in grandpas pond are huge, the world's largest crayfish lives in Tasmania and can sometimes grow up to ten pounds! These giant crayfish can live up to 40 years too! Google Astacopsis gouldii, which is their latin name if you want to see some amazing photos. There are also colorless blind crayfish that have evolved to live in caves. According to ODNR there are twenty species of crayfish in Ohio. 
If you keep crayfish for an extended period of time before using them as bait they will stay alive for a long time if you remember a couple things. First and foremost don't keep them in a bucket half filled with water unless it is aerated. But they don't need to be in aerated water if you keep them in something like a cooler with just a tiny bit of water in the bottom and something like grass that they can crawl up on. You see if they can keep their gills moist they can breath air also. And try to keep the same size crayfish together, the big guys will definitely kill the little guys.


----------



## Salmonid

As usual great read Stinky! Youve done your homework and as youve found out there just isnt a whole lot out there on them locally

Ps i love Gar. Bring on the reports!!

Salmonid


----------



## Hampton77

Thanks for the write up OSG. I had been chasing info on crayfish as well. I found a study done on a central Ohio creek some years ago, that shed a little light on molting periods, frquency during the lifespan of the crayfish, etc. If I remember correctly, this study was conducted on a single species, and was well written for a layman such as myself. I will see if I can track down the link if you haven't already found it yourself.


----------



## Lowell H Turner

Very nicely done OSG. A few more interesting facts if I may: it is perhaps fortunate that crayfish are cannibals, with `dads of any size readily eating both smaller unfortunate specimens as well as helpless just molted larger 1s. Just molted crayfish cannot help but to secret some body fluids which attract predators (including much smaller still hard crayfish) like sharks. Crayfish apparently value food more often than sex with the male often eating his love interest, literally. And even swallowed, the fight dies hard with a crayfish; have several times in the past filleted fish and feeling a hard lump in the fishes` stomachs cut it open to find a still live crayfish with the stomach lining gripped in 1 claw ! Either fish have no feeling in their stomachs or they were SERIOUSLY hungry to tolerate THAT...and DO NOT ever swallow a live whole crayfish for the exact same reason, you will probably regret it. Plus there is the fact they very likely will have salmonilla bacteria which are common on crayfish due to their diet...


----------



## Shortdrift

The first time I ate crayfish was in Paris, France. They were served prior to your main meal, not as an appetizer but a source of roughage to improve digestion. These were very small crayfish and you ate them shell and all.
Brought that home with me and thought about their taste and decided to try the mature crayfish, tail only. What a great appetizer! Just boil the whole crayfish, break off the tail and remove the exoskeleton, dip in butter or a tomatoe based sauce and enjoy.


----------



## afishinfool

As s kid, 4 decades ago, we used to camp near a creek. When we got hungry it was into the creek we went hunting craws. A old pot filled with water and a campfire and 30 or so craws makes a pretty good meal.


----------



## z3bul0n

great read, makes me wonder why all these companies sell plastic craws with huge pinchers and making it seem the bigger the better, when in reality its the opposite. but they do catch fisherman &#128521;, so i guess bigger is better for some things.

Sent from my VS980 4G using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## AtticaFish

Thanks for the post........ learned a few things too. They sure are tasty.


----------



## MassillonBuckeye

I'm guessing they see extremely well based on my knowledge of the Mantis Shrimp and theirs stalked eyes.. Which is a pretty amazing creature in it's own right. Maybe THE most amazing? I can't post it here unfortunately because some of the colorful language used, but if you google:theOatmeal mantis shrimp, you'll find a quite entertaining cartoon regarding this neat, and deadly little guy.


----------



## jonnythfisherteen2

I assume they reproduce pretty well to survive predation from humans and fish and to be taken in such large amounts?


----------



## MassillonBuckeye

jonnythfisherteen2 said:


> I assume they reproduce pretty well to survive predation from humans and fish and to be taken in such large amounts?


I doubt our creeks could support everyone taking like that for very long. They aren't as much a food source up here as they are down south.. Us mid-westerners have a lot of culinary hang-ups ie; we don't know what's good for us! They are also pretty good at hiding from fish so they do just fine.


----------



## greghal

Great report Steve. I have boiled crayfish and ate the tails in the past, very good. Hey Steve, or anyone else who might know, is the tail the only thing edible, or that taste good?


----------



## afishinfool

Actually the tail holds all the meat that is harvestable BUT you can tear the tail off and suck out the juices from the front half of a craw. Not many will do that though.


----------



## Bassbme

z3bul0n said:


> great read, makes me wonder why all these companies sell plastic craws with huge pinchers and making it seem the bigger the better, when in reality its the opposite. but they do catch fisherman &#128521;, so i guess bigger is better for some things.
> 
> Sent from my VS980 4G using Ohub Campfire mobile app


I think they make the claws big so they'll float more easily and show the defense posture more readily when sitting motionless. The bigger claws also present more of crawfish appearance, at least to us humans. 

While I've never known largemouth bass to do it, smallmouth bass will disarm a crawfish by biting off one, or both of their claws. It's usually smaller fish though. There have been many times while fishing craw imitations for smallmouth, that I'll get a bite, and set the hook and miss the fish, then after reeling the bait in to make sure it's still rigged properly, I notice one of the claws missing. I usually throw right back to the same spot I had the bite at, and either hook the fish when it hits again, or miss it again only to reel in the bait to find the other claw missing. The third time is usually a charm. Feel the bite, set the hook, and reel in a small smallmouth bass. 

I've never caught a smallmouth bigger than about 13" when that happens. Which is why I say it's smaller fish. 

As for the posting from OldStinkyGuy ........ awesome post. Very informative. Thank you for taking the time to post it.


----------



## Lowell H Turner

Have been consistently just AMAZED at the very nice sized fish that will not hesitate to instantly inhale a 1-2" `dad, including rather large bass, crappie, catfish, bluegill, trout, carp, walleye and probably just about anything with fins that swims. You`d think they wouldn`t even bother with such a small `dad, but the exact opposite is true...just as soon as they see it, it`s "GULP !"


----------



## buckeyebowman

afishinfool said:


> Actually the tail holds all the meat that is harvestable BUT you can tear the tail off and suck out the juices from the front half of a craw. Not many will do that though.


Down in Louisiana they call that "pinchin' tail and suckin' head"!

Last Summer my next door neighbor made a New Orleans style crawdad boil and gave me some. It was excellent! God knows where she got the crawdads. I guess some seafood specialty shop.


----------



## etheostoma

We eat them on occasion. Used to make a deal out of it in early spring. They are excellent if you do it right.

Harvest them in late winter or early spring. They are clean tasting then due to the cold water and lack of algae. Put out many traps in creeks that you feel are pretty clean, and have good populations. Bait the traps with cans of tuna that are punctured, canned corn punctured, or(my favorite) if you have access to it chicken feed tied up in a women's panty hose. If you soak the chicken feed in a cup of water for a while until it starts to ferment, even better. 

Once the boys and I set the traps, we come back and collect our bounty. If we do not have enough from 24 hours, we set them again. Release any small ones or any berried females(not common).

Take them home and put them in big tubs, with only enough water to cover them half way up. If you cover them deeper they will drown. I know that sounds crazy, but crayfish gills are under their carapace. They need moisture and oxygen. If you put too many in a tub of water say 12 inches deep, they will use up all of the dissolved oxygen and drown. If you only put about a half inch of water in, you can pack them in, and their gills will stay moist and absorb atmospheric oxygen.

So leave then there for two days. Change the water at least once or more if you can. Remember to us dechlorinated water. Use dechlor for fish tanks, rainwater, or let the water age for several days before you need to use it. This waiting period will allow them to clean out their digestive tract. If you don't do this they will be gritty, and not as tasty. It is like eating deveined shrimp versus vein in. So let nature and time do it for you.

Once we are done with the cleaning out phase it is time for the good stuff. We give them one last rinse, and dump them into a big pot of boiling water with a decent amount of salt(really can't over do it) and maybe some lemon juice, sometimes we dump in some "Old Bay" seasoning.We have steamed them as well. I prefer them steamed, but you have to cook less at a time to be sure they are cooked equally. Either way it only takes about 4-6 minutes. They will turn lobster red. Yes even our drab Rusty crayfish(Orconectes rusticus) likely our most common crayfish in Ohio, and one of our biggest will turn beautifully bright red once cooked. Remove, and allow to cool enough that you can handle then to peel and eat.

We don't try to make them like a Cajun boil. We treat them more like lobster. We pull the tails, peel them, and dip them in drawn butter. They taste, at least to me is about halfway between lobster and shrimp. We never try to suck the guts, my boys mess with the claws a bit if they are big enough, I don't

I really enjoy doing this, and it always reminds me of a survival situation. You can flip rocks and hand collect enough crayfish in a day to certainly account for your protein needs, provided there is a decent stream nearby.

Make sure that you cook them thoroughly as they can like anything else harbor parasites. When fully cooked the meat will be white all the way through, rather than translucent, like a live one.


Atticafish's post above are largely Rusty crayfish, and you can see how they turn a nice red after cooking. Looks like he does it a lot like we do. Can't tell if he makes them in the the Cajun style or just the basic style like we do. Either way you can't go wrong. I do very much prefer them from cold water, but have eaten them mid summer, though not quite as good still worth harvesting.


----------



## AtticaFish

etheostoma said:


> .............if he makes them in the the Cajun style or just the basic style like we do..............


Old Bay, onion, piles of garlic and lemon juice. !%

I've had them 'fresh' from Kroger in the past..... what a joke! When they are fresh, they give lobster a run for the money. We have had a few that you can get a chunk of meat out of the claw. Not much though.


----------



## etheostoma

AtticaFish said:


> Old Bay, onion, piles of garlic and lemon juice. !%


Yeah, in my opinion, you are making them the good way. Not quite as simple as I make them, but nonetheless. I have had them Cajun style, takes too much away from the good meat flavor. I am glad to see at least another up here making use of this resource.


----------



## Tom 513

Ive been tempted to trap them in My creek, but feel they are better left for the Smb


----------



## GarrettMyers

Damn Steve. That was awesome info. Thanks for putting in all the hours and sharing with us.


----------



## etheostoma

Naw, you have to at least try some Tom. There will be plenty left for the bass. Don't take a whole meal out of one hole, if that makes you feel better.


----------



## etheostoma

AtticaFish said:


> When they are fresh, they give lobster a run for the money. We have had a few that you can get a chunk of meat out of the claw. Not much though.


 I agree. Very good, and surprisingly under utilized in this part of the country. Also, they are low on the food chain, so less likely to have much built up toxins.


----------



## AtticaFish

These were taken from an upground reservoir using both traps and sight fished after dark with worms.


----------



## oldstinkyguy

This is turning out to be a pretty cool thread. I guess the ultimate local feast would be some morel mushrooms along with a channel cat and some craws all fixed on a rock bar out on the river one day...

In studying craws one thing I was struck by was the jumble of small ferocious monsters all feeding on one another at the bottom of the food chain. Things like dragonfly nymphs, hellgrammites, crayfish, water bugs and more. It's not like higher mammals where, "Okay its a wolf, it eats deer". Instead it's a matter of bigger guy eats smaller guy no matter what the species. And a bigger version of what you ate five minutes ago might come along and eat you. Then you throw in all the fish predators and it's incredible what a violent kill or be killed place the average riffle is. Somewhere on that riffle life and death struggles are going on every minute twenty four seven. It only looks peaceful out there...


----------



## Dandrews

I never really thought of catching gar as somehow like a bachelor party but now that you mention it&#8230;I guess it kind of is, in the way you described it.
Somewhere I&#8217;ve seen a local study on crayfish, when I have a few minutes I&#8217;ll see if I can find it.
I&#8217;ve had fried crawdad tails a few times & they&#8217;re really good.


----------



## afishinfool

oldstinkyguy said:


> This is turning out to be a pretty cool thread. I guess the ultimate local feast would be some morel mushrooms along with a channel cat and some craws all fixed on a rock bar out on the river one day...
> 
> OSG, sounds like a plan..maybe change the channel cat to crappie or gills and I'll bring the drinks! You bring the wheelbarrow to get me out of there after its over!&#128526;


----------



## z3bul0n

Bassbme said:


> I think they make the claws big so they'll float more easily and show the defense posture more readily when sitting motionless. The bigger claws also present more of crawfish appearance, at least to us humans.
> 
> While I've never known largemouth bass to do it, smallmouth bass will disarm a crawfish by biting off one, or both of their claws. It's usually smaller fish though. There have been many times while fishing craw imitations for smallmouth, that I'll get a bite, and set the hook and miss the fish, then after reeling the bait in to make sure it's still rigged properly, I notice one of the claws missing. I usually throw right back to the same spot I had the bite at, and either hook the fish when it hits again, or miss it again only to reel in the bait to find the other claw missing. The third time is usually a charm. Feel the bite, set the hook, and reel in a small smallmouth bass.
> 
> I've never caught a smallmouth bigger than about 13" when that happens. Which is why I say it's smaller fish.
> 
> 
> ill have to keep that in mind, thanks
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my VS980 4G using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## Tom 513

z3bul0n said:


> Bassbme said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think they make the claws big so they'll float more easily and show the defense posture more readily when sitting motionless. The bigger claws also present more of crawfish appearance, at least to us humans.
> 
> While I've never known largemouth bass to do it, smallmouth bass will disarm a crawfish by biting off one, or both of their claws. It's usually smaller fish though. There have been many times while fishing craw imitations for smallmouth, that I'll get a bite, and set the hook and miss the fish, then after reeling the bait in to make sure it's still rigged properly, I notice one of the claws missing. I usually throw right back to the same spot I had the bite at, and either hook the fish when it hits again, or miss it again only to reel in the bait to find the other claw missing. The third time is usually a charm. Feel the bite, set the hook, and reel in a small smallmouth bass.
> 
> I've never caught a smallmouth bigger than about 13" when that happens. Which is why I say it's smaller fish.
> 
> 
> ill have to keep that in mind, thanks
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my VS980 4G using Ohub Campfire mobile app
> 
> 
> 
> I never would think thats why My rage craw comes back missing parts, but I think You are right, it makes perfect scents now.
Click to expand...


----------



## Hampton77

After diggin through my Google history, past 1000 pages from google maps updates, I finally found the study I mentioned earlier in the thread.

http://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/1811/22357/V076N2_073.pdf?sequence=1

There is no mention of the common name of the species they focused on, so maybe etheostoma can help out there. 

I think this gives some additional insight into the larger Bass preference for smaller crayfish. During the first year + of the crayfish's life they molt several times due to rapid growth. My take on this is that these more seasoned fish have keyed in on the smaller crayfish as there is a better chance not only of smaller pincer size, but also of a softer meal throughout the year.


----------



## etheostoma

It is Sanborn's crayfish. It is not doing well in Ohio, but is secure elsewhere. It's decline in Ohio is due to it's inability to compete with the also native, but very invasive Rusty crayfish. Rusty crayfish are illegal to possess in many states. So bad idea to catch any local crays and use them as bait anywhere but the body of water that you catch them in. Every one here has seen the rusty crayfish. It has a distinct rusty colored spot on each side of it's carapace, making it very easy to identify.


----------



## Dandrews

Recipes

http://ayltv.com/images/episodes/__11/11-49/Crawfish%20Recipes.pdf


----------



## Hampton77

oldstinkyguy said:


> This is turning out to be a pretty cool thread. I guess the ultimate local feast would be some morel mushrooms along with a channel cat and some craws all fixed on a rock bar out on the river one day...


This sounds like a heck of a way to welcome spring. I would be up for setting a trap or two in the creeks around the house in late winter to prep for an SWO OGF feast. I may even have access to a large boil pot from my uncle. They lived in Morgan City, La for years and I remember visiting a couple of times. Each of those memories is accomanied by the memory of HUGE crawfish boils in a local park. When they pored that massive pile of mini-lobster on the table everyone in the park was on their way, and welcome, to the feast.


----------



## 9Left

oldstinkyguy said:


> This is turning out to be a pretty cool thread. I guess the ultimate local feast would be some morel mushrooms along with a channel cat and some craws all fixed on a rock bar out on the river one day...
> 
> In studying craws one thing I was struck by was the jumble of small ferocious monsters all feeding on one another at the bottom of the food chain. Things like dragonfly nymphs, hellgrammites, crayfish, water bugs and more. It's not like higher mammals where, "Okay its a wolf, it eats deer". Instead it's a matter of bigger guy eats smaller guy no matter what the species. And a bigger version of what you ate five minutes ago might come along and eat you. Then you throw in all the fish predators and it's incredible what a violent kill or be killed place the average riffle is. Somewhere on that riffle life and death struggles are going on every minute twenty four seven. It only looks peaceful out there...


..Ya know, Im kinda surprised that one of your overnight trips with catfish dinners never included a small pot with some boiled craws yet OSG.....that'd be pretty cool to see....thanks for your time in posting all the info..pretty interesting..


----------



## Crawdude

Thanks making this forum awesome OSG. Great information!




oldstinkyguy said:


> This is turning out to be a pretty cool thread. I guess the ultimate local feast would be some morel mushrooms along with a channel cat and some craws all fixed on a rock bar out on the river one day...


You forgot ramps! (which I learned about in one of your old threads)


----------



## CPK

Lots of excellent knowledge in the thread. Thank you all!


----------



## co-angler

Found this a few years ago. Seemed fitting and echoes what you are saying:

For 60 days, 450 largemouth bass, plucked from the same environment, were tested using a robotic arm and a strike counter. Each group of bass was presented a crawfish bait at the same speed and angle of attack. The bass tested had never seen the bait that was presented (it was a prototype). The test then continued, with one pincer removed, then a second pincer removed, and finally, the legs. The soft bait that had no appendages (no legs or pincers, just a body and tail) had the greatest number of strikes.

"The final bait looked almost like a large shrimp," said Proctnov. The research was incorporated into the BerkleyFlippin Tube. "We wanted to market a craw with no appendages, but our market research said no one would buy it," Proctnov added.


----------



## Tom 513

etheostoma said:


> Naw, you have to at least try some Tom. There will be plenty left for the bass. Don't take a whole meal out of one hole, if that makes you feel better.


 Soon after this thread started, I mentioned harvesting some for the crawdads to my wife, she quickly gave the squishy face Oh No! reply, and I ask why not? she said She had eaten them when she was young and didnt like them at all. Now this is the same woman that can make a decent meal when We are totally out of grocerys, so I am gonna go with what she said. I ll save my money for Red Lobster, lol.


----------



## nitsud

Live crawdaddies, shipped! Also, very expensive!!

The only issue around here is finding creeks that are clean enough to eat from! Curious how long they live and have time to pick up nasty from the water and bottom, I found an OSU study, maximum lifespan was found to be 37 months, just over 3 years, in a nearby flow. So not all that long, and they come to maturity pretty quickly. I've heard that most of the nasty goes to the front end of them, so you might be alright eating the tails. You're probably much more likely to die due to the effects of the beer you will drink while eating crawdads than die from eating crawdads.

When I was a kid, me and my brother or random neighbor kid would hunt them with nets in a creek near my house. Sometimes, we'd grab some bacon and string and try to pull the big boys out of their holes. Good times, for sure.


----------



## Bronzeback60

I use to eat crawdads when I lived down in Alabama and Florida

I have plenty of pots for this if you are up to it
Remember I am a homebrewer
Just have to wait til they start being active
I also have an outside burner to cook them outside

Give me a call when you are ready to start looking.


----------



## etheostoma

nitsud said:


> Live crawdaddies, shipped! Also, very expensive!!
> 
> The only issue around here is finding creeks that are clean enough to eat from! Curious how long they live and have time to pick up nasty from the water and bottom, I found an OSU study, maximum lifespan was found to be 37 months, just over 3 years, in a nearby flow. So not all that long, and they come to maturity pretty quickly. I've heard that most of the nasty goes to the front end of them, so you might be alright eating the tails. You're probably much more likely to die due to the effects of the beer you will drink while eating crawdads than die from eating crawdads.
> 
> When I was a kid, me and my brother or random neighbor kid would hunt them with nets in a creek near my house. Sometimes, we'd grab some bacon and string and try to pull the big boys out of their holes. Good times, for sure.


Remember they are low on the food chain. Toxins accumulate. So a smallmouth eats say 2000 crayfish by the time it reaches two pounds. These are arbitrary numbers, But in eating that two pound smallmouth you have just ingested the PCB's and other toxins of those two thousand crayfish. In reality, the formula is not quite so simple, but you get the gist. So one fish higher on the food chain is actually more toxic than several big pots of crayfish.


----------



## bdawg

I love when the chinese buffet near us has crayfish! My wife and kids are grossed out by it though. She thinks they look like bugs, and she doesn't eat bugs. She love lobster and shrimp though. They taste like lobster to me! 

Do you use regular minnow traps to catch them? Seems to me like the hole is too small. I've considered trying to trap them a few times.

Largest one I ever saw, was 10-12". I was only a teenager playing around with a fishing pole on the dock. I saw it under the dock, caught it with a hook and a worm and dragged it onto shore. Then, it got off the hook and raised those huge claws at me and backed off into the water! No way I was going to try and grab that thing by hand!


----------



## etheostoma

I use the regular minnow traps. State law basically mandates that type of trap.


----------



## firelands

Sometimes they have them pre-cooked at Wal Mart. The one that I have seem them at the most frequently is at Wooster. You just warm them up and eat.


----------



## etheostoma

firelands said:


> Sometimes they have them pre-cooked at Wal Mart. The one that I have seem them at the most frequently is at Wooster. You just warm them up and eat.


I don't think those taste very good at all, and I could see why people who had tried these would be turned off by crayfish. Fresh caught crayfish taste much different to me. Not just much better, but very different. More like lobster. This is really making me look forward to getting the traps out this spring.


----------



## EStrong

firelands said:


> Sometimes they have them pre-cooked at Wal Mart.


Oh Man! I just threw up in my mouth a bit. YUCK! Pre-cooked at Walmart is about as appetizing as vending machine Sushi.

If anyone has a chance to get some real Cajun Mudbugs while visiting Louisiana, do so! You won't be disappointed.


----------



## heron153

I had often thought the Ohio crayfish species would be tasty. The ones in the south that are commonly eaten are a brackish water species, often found in mud ("mudbugs"), that actually have some red hue to them before being cooked. For whoever asked about whether the tail is the only edible part - I would say definitely not! My mom and dad lived in New Orleans before I was born - the technique is to pop off the head and suck out the contents. Sounds gross, but so commonplace it's expected down that way. Very tasty. I will have to try some Ohio specimens this year!
For those of you who have trapped them . .. 
Are the crawdads catchable in winter and early spring? I thought they were dormant or hibernating?


----------



## etheostoma

The red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) is the most commonly used species.It is not a brackish species, but can tolerate brackish water. The reason the species is used is not that it tastes any better, but because it is well suited to aquaculture. 

Crayfish in Ohio are sluggish this time of year, and are not apt to move far to find food, so if you want to catch them you will do better kick seining riffles or flipping rocks. Once spring comes, they are more likely to find their way to your trap. Like most fish, they taste better out of cool clear water than they do coming from warm turbid water. So spring is the best time of year to collect them. I always keep the in clean water about one half inch deep for a couple of days to allow them to empty their digestive tracts.


----------



## heron153

Caution - you need a bait dealer's license to possess 500 or more. 
As far as the no appendages thing - did berkley ever make that bait? I would love to get some to try! I bet there are pros quietly winning money by snipping appendages off of lures! I know I have taken a claw off of a live craw when fishing once in a while, but don't recall if I noticed a difference. I haven't been buying craws for bait for a long time (pricey!), plus, until circle hooks came widely available for freshwater, I didn't like the increased mortality with live bait on a j hook.


----------



## canoe carp killer

What are the best traps for them? Pics and names would be appreciated. I had bought one at a dicks that said crawdad trap and used it, but it didn't work at all, they could get instantly back out when they were done.


----------



## etheostoma

heron153 said:


> Caution - you need a bait dealer's license to possess 500 or more.
> As far as the no appendages thing - did berkley ever make that bait? I would love to get some to try! I bet there are pros quietly winning money by snipping appendages off of lures! I know I have taken a claw off of a live craw when fishing once in a while, but don't recall if I noticed a difference. I haven't been buying craws for bait for a long time (pricey!), plus, until circle hooks came widely available for freshwater, I didn't like the increased mortality with live bait on a j hook.


 Actually you need a bait dealers license to possess more than 100.


----------

