How to find Crawdads?

[TheSickdrift]

like the guy above said, turn them rocks over man! they should be there.

[IwillChooseFreeWill]

Anybody know anything about crayfish in Central Florida lakes? I used to see them in lakes up in Georgia, Texas and Louisiana but I have never seen any in Florida. They have to be here if they live way up in the Louisiana swamps.

here in FL, they dig into the sand and muck and small branches and logs in the water so they are much harder to find

[lightsout]

A simple minnow trap in any branch that has craws  is all you need. We put a peice of bread in for the minnows and the craws follow em in. I usually pull them out by the dozen, once in a while there will even be the occasional water snake. It's really neat to see how many diffrent types of fish can be in a branch thats 4' wide. You pull some WEIRD lookin' critters out.

[airborne_angler]

On a pond I used to fish as a kid,the water dropped and all along the bank(out of the water) would be quarter size holes that still had water in them. You could always find some good size ones in those holes.

A couple of years ago on another body of water I fish,the water level went way up flooding the trees along the bank. I pitched Baby Brush Hogs for the first time at the base of that timber and about every bass I caught was puking up remnants of crawdads.

So it seems to me the crawdads had taken to hanging out at the base of the trees and and the bass were having a feast.

My point ? Maybe try at the base of flooded trees with a trap.

Id also like to add that from my experience,Crawdads are mostly active at night.Ive gone catfishing at night with chicken livers and had all sorts of "Tugs" on my line,only to find its about 3 very large crawdads fighting over my bait when I reel it up.

Another good bait to use is Raw Chicken Hearts and Gizzards(VERY CHEAP) The meat is tough and will stay on a hook very well,if you decide to fish close to the bank in a rocky area for them.

The idea isnt to "hook" the crawdads,but to drag em up to the bank while they are still working on getting your bait off the hook.. At night be careful with white lights,as the crawdads tend to spook really easily in the dark when light is shone on them.

If you are walking the bank during the day,look under other things in the water. They do like rocks(boulders) but will hang out under boards/pallets,Large tree limbs,and any other place they can hide.Never really hurts to turn things over,there maybe more than 1 Craw living under the item.

If you find any submerged items that have been there awhile like Beer Bottles,Soda cans,Tin cans,even car tires.Pull the items out of the water carefully,not allowing the water to dump out. Pour the water out in your "bait bucket" and see what may be inside. Sometimes small Bluegill like to hide inside thise type things.

Ive pulled a car tire out of a creek and the water was very muddy inside,all I could see was a pair of antennae moving around,I dumped the tire on the bank and there was a HUGE Crawdad living inside that tire.

[Catt]

When using traps or net you must first add food 

[WRB]

Cajun stew, lots of spicy crawdads.

WRB

[yendor]

my son gets most of our 'zarigani' from rice paddies here in the neighborhood

sleepmanOO 8-)

might cut the bottom, slide 2 bottles together, tops in both ends, fix a line, punch holes, bait it!

years ago we rolled chicken wire, rolled cones for the ends, cut a door on the top

FishChris had a lot of good information on his site.

[Nitro 882]

I usually find a bunch of them at the end of the day in the bottom of my live-well>

[Bassnajr]

First you need to buy a Crawfish whistle........

[flyboy]

First you need to buy a Crawfish whistle........

I have a crawfish whistle around somewhere, but I can't find it.  Wife says it's probably out in the shed with my snipe hunting gear.

[ROCbass]

Usually I just turn over rocks and pick them up with my hands. If I need a lot or am in a hurry though, I have a wire mesh basket mounted on a handle that is probably 10-12 feet long. Throwing the basket out and dragging it back along the stream bottom usually will get 5-6 per throw in a good area.

[airborne_angler]

First you need to buy a Crawfish whistle........

I have a crawfish whistle around somewhere, but I can't find it. Wife says it's probably out in the shed with my snipe hunting gear.

Not to Hijack this thread,but Snipe can be hunted...Its a bird

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snipe

[mudkart]

Buy the book "In pursuit of Giant Bass" by Bill Murphy.

Bill explains how to find and catch crawdads and how and where to fish them. You can also Google "how to make a crayfish trap".

WRB

This was going to be my suggestion.  You'll also learn alot more from this book than crawdad behavior, etc.

To illustrate the level of Murphy's dedication (obsession?), he also describes how to prepare your very own crawdad garden in your backyard so as to eliminate the need to buy or catch craws for bait.