the fresh-water lobsterette - crawfish lakes *UPDATE*

[Dave]

I guess I could set the pots right before dark and return at first light to pull them.

[sharpshooter223]

a buoy for crab or shrimp traps just seems overkill for the places i'll be setting traps around here, plus i don't really want to spend that much for one. i think somebody from the game department when i sent an email was talking about foam "doughnuts" from the craft store so i guess ill look into those. by the way, guess what the theme of the newest good eats is.

[YellowBear]

Aaron,
Some of the biggest Crawdads I have ever seen are in Long lake.
We used to catch them just below the 9 mile dam. Between the dam and the WDFW launch.
Another good spot is across from Tum Tum. There is a stretch of rock just below the island that has produced some good ones in the past.

[fishingboy]

i know there is banks lake in grant county
lake ballinger snohomish county
lake. WA. DADS
LAke sam.

silver lake
martha lake
all in snohmoish the last two :compress: :compress: :compress:

[Aaron]

Aaron,
Some of the biggest Crawdads I have ever seen are in Long lake.
We used to catch them just below the 9 mile dam. Between the dam and the WDFW launch.
Another good spot is across from Tum Tum. There is a stretch of rock just below the island that has produced some good ones in the past.

Can you eat anything that comes out of that water?

[Blackmouth]

Big thanks to fishnislife for compiling this list. Very impressive!

[curado]

i might try to catch a few this year and fish some of them for steelhead

[YellowBear]

Aaron,
The water quality of Long lake has been in question for many years.
I have eaten the Fish and Crawdads as well as Ducks and Geese with no ill effects.
If the water is safe to swim in, it is safe to harvest from,(IMHO).

[Rich McVey]

Something I have been thinking about as far as a float is a water bottle that has been modified. I dont see many people "Picking Up Trash" while they are boating so a water bottle seems a good bet that it wont get pulled.

I drill a hole in the cap and run the rope thru the hole. Tie a knot in the rope. Add Hot Glue to the cap and pull the rope so that the knot is up in the cap.

Print a lable with your information on it, on plastic transperancy, roll it up and slip it into the bottle. The transperrency with unravel and your info will be visible from the outside of the bottle. Last, use non toxic expanding spray foam to partially fill the bottle and let it sit until the foam has fully expanded.

By using different sized bottles and by changing the amount of water inside (if you didnt use the expanding foam), you can vary the flotation of your buoy.

Just dont use a bottle that ever contained any hazardous materials. See Page 133 of the 2009 Regs Pamphlet.

Any thoughts on that?

[urbanangler]

I saw crawdads getting caught in Lake Wapato last weekend, probably on worms. Norwest part of the lake.

[curado]

use a gatorade bottle RaMcVey

[sharpshooter223]

i have thought about the water bottle idea but i don't know if it counts as a "durable" material

[eustace]

Hey I just noticed this topic. While Sturgeon fishing on the Snake last weekend we throughout two pots and did prety good this time. After about ten hrs in the water we ended up getting over forty dads no monsters. Tasty apitiser for the steaks on barbi.

:cyclopsan

[sharpshooter223]

the crawfish season hasn't opened yet, it opens this coming monday, last weekend was out of season.

[sharpshooter223]

well i just got two of the round frabill type traps. instead of cutting three of them up to make two, what i will do to make them legal, i take two split rings and on the side of them that fits the pegs into the loops, on each half i put a split ring between the peg and loop. then i put the two halves together and used the clip to hold the two split rings together. when i am out on the water i will bait it and then tie together the two loops that are normally clipped together. yea, i will have to cut the string each time to empty them but i would want to be replacing a string that is meant to be able to rot often anyway. re-tying the string each time wont be that hard anyway, just three loops and a knot. my rope will be attached to the loops in the clip and i will use a pop bottle for a buoy if the game department replies to my email saying its ok, otherwise i will use one of the floats that are at joes right now called steelhead stalkers.

[Rollin with Rolland]

So, since there are so many new members out there, does anyone know if shrimp pots will actually work for crayfish. I ask because that is what I have.

YES! That is what I tried last year Dave. The 7/8" mesh is to large though. 1/2" works great. I use the rectangular folding shrimp pots, and those worked ok for the crayfish. Only went once, but it worked just fine. Plus, you already got the sinking line and buoy!! (I actually "covered" my 7/8" shrimp pot with 1/2" mesh, which is nicely removeable for shrimping )

[eustace]

Personally I don't any lake on the east side that dosn't have them in it. I'm sure there are though. Deer lake in Stevens co has the most and Lake Spokane (long Lake) has the largest I have seen. I have been told Eloika dos not have them but I bet it does near the inlet atleast. I could see a low oxygen level lake not hving any. I have even caught them in a muddy bottom creek they just burrow tunnels.

[fish_4_all]

I have yet to find a lake, river, stream, pond, canal, ditch or anything else that has moving that doesn't have them.
My best bait, trout guts and heads, fresxh or freshly frozen. Not spoiled or rotten. Chicken works okay with liver coming in second to fish parts.

Oh and BTW, from what I have found and been told, crawdads are mostly herbivors eating weeds and other vegetative matter as their primary food source. I have yet to find a resource or a biologist that says otherwise.

Season of course is first Monday in May to October 31st and there is not such thing as "closed waters" for crawdads. You can throw a pot in anywhere you want even where it is not legal to fish.

Don't forget the size limit either, it is important on water systems that have very few in it. Most of the time all that are caught are taken and then you have very little in the way of breeing stock to keep the populations going. 3.25 inches from nose to tail is not too hard to get but does mean you have to fish a little harder for them.

Water I have caught them in Grays Harbor:
Satsop, Humptulips, Wynoochie rivers
Aberdeen, Stump, Duck, Failor, Vance Creek Ponds, Nahwhatzel, Satsop lakes
Creeks and streams: sylvia, stump, Aberdeen and failor lakes creek outflows and some inflows, side creeks of all the main rivers, Wynoochie reservoir creeks and inlets, Satsop lakes inlets and outflows.

I have caught some of the biggest crawdads in the some of the smallest creeks you can find. Largest one was over 7 inches long, huge across the body and so brightly colored it looked like it belonged in an aquarium. Biggest crawdad I have ever seen. Like I said, if it has moving water you can find them.

I will have to find out if a rubber band qualifies for an escape part for holding down the doors on my traps. I know they degrade quickly especially in sunlight but not sure if that counts.

And no, soda bottles do not count as durable material for floats, I tried a couple years ago and even though filled with foam they were not allowed. Might be different in your areas though so ask WDFW in your local area. But remember you only need to use a float if you leave them unattended.

[SAPIplate]

I'm glad I just found this thread, I have a trap, line, buoy and three year old dead perch in the freezer. I may have to give it another go. I might try the Pilchuck River, since it's close to home and not a mad house like Lake Stevens is, not to mention the relativly small Crayfish population. The water should be warm enough now in the Pilchuck to get some.


What are your guys favorite kinds of bait? I like using fish parts from native fish of the waters I'm trapping. Never had much luck with catfood or the like.

[sharpshooter223]

Next time I set them I will be using spam. Last time I had used year old frozen muddy tasting trout and only caught three.