Northwest Fishing Reports

I am new to the forum. Found this site while looking for information on local crawdad lakes and tips. Found the post with the list of washington lakes and figured I could add something to the site in general. I am new to the whole crawdad thing and I have one store bought trap but decided i should build a few more. I am compiling a list of materials and taking pictures as I go... Was wondering if anyone would be interested in this writeup or not? I will be done in a day or two, so if anyone would appreciate this info let me know and I will share what I have come up with. The method is a cheap way to get a couple of traps with supplies from a local feedstore and hardware store and put together with a little bit of spare time.

I would be really interested. I tried the other day and only got a few crawdads in my store bought frabill traps. I have seen the traps at terrybullard.com and they look a little better. In one trap I only got half of it back so I am in the market for a new one.

Absolutely:cheers: post it up.

i make my own out of wire and zipties and they are good, i have 3 of them. please show how you make them i might find a way to fix my problem with the funnel shape.

Being a big crawdad eater with plenty of tabasco I'd love to see your set up.I did same as you did.I bought one then made them out of chicken wire.Please post your trap ideas.

I got into a crawdad phase a few years back and made a few traps out of fine chicken wire they worked great.

Hmmmmmm I'll take a trap to Campbell Lake ..Why not try it out there.I could really have a good cajun crawfish feed. Pass the Tabasco please...

i would appreciate the information. i have been thinking about making one, just never had the time to do so.

Jake Dogfish wrote:I would be really interested. I tried the other day and only got a few crawdads in my store bought frabill traps. I have seen the traps at terrybullard.com and they look a little better. In one trap I only got half of it back so I am in the market for a new one.

I have two of Terry Bullards traps with 35' of leaded line/float that I no longer use...Anyone want to buy em? Make an offer....

PM sent to ya A9

Interested in making my own traps as well, Please post info. Thanks.

I used to trap river crawdads in Oregon daily, I never really thought of them as a lake creature! I made my own setup, I was about 8-10 years old so it's probably a bit silly now but I pulled them out of the river by the dozen!

I used chicken wire and coat hanger, my design was just a long rectangular cage with the ends pushed inward at an angle. Imagine a cardboard box on its side with the lids locked (weaved) into place, if you push on the lids to create a an opening into the box. So the little creatures would walk up the ramp and drop to the bottom.

Chicken, trout, and hamburger worked well. Once I caught a 14 inch rainbow in it

Im gonna take a trap to Campbell lake on Sat to try out.Im not real up to date on the Crawdad rules. Do I need to mark my clorox bottle with my name and addy on it?

I believe that you would not be adhering to the rules if you used a Clorox bottle as a float/marker. I do know you need your name and address on a buoy made of "durable material" and they specifically call out bleach/antifreeze bottles as not acceptable. For crayfish you can use any color, shape or size buoy as long as it stays visible. I use a small yellow float that looks like the markers on a water ski course, helps with the theft problem.

Yeah the rules specifically state no bleach bottles. I bought some of the big styrofoam float bobbers that are orange and white wrote my name and address on them, I hope thats good enough. It doesn't make sense to force everyone to spend a fortune to fish for crawfish when so little people are doing it.

I'm guessing that the only reason for the buoy requirements is to prevent derelict gear, which I'm sure we've all hung up on at one time or another. If you run over a bleach bottle it may sink, not so with a solid foam buoy/float.

Thanks guys I got my crab bouys all ready to take.I rinse them out but I see there point. Good call Thanks

my homemade traps were made out of 3/8in galvanized mesh.

the body of the trap is a cylindrical tube about 20inches long and maybe 6-8in wide. the ends are a bit complicated first you make 2 cone shaped pieces and then you cut a 2in or so hole in the end. I wired these pieces in the ends and then cut off the excess mesh. for a hole to bait the trap and empty it i cut an 6in by 6in hole in the side and made a door witch I could zip tie on. forgot to mention it helps to wire a 8oz wieght to the bottom.

I have started a new crawdad site to house the information I have collected. There is a simple plan mostly completed and more to come. Send me any info you think should be included.

http://crawdadfishing.webs.com/


Todd

maddogandnoriko wrote:I have started a new crawdad site to house the information I have collected. There is a simple plan mostly completed and more to come. Send me any info you think should be included.

http://crawdadfishing.webs.com/


Todd

Bump!! This guy has set up an awesome site that anybody who is into crawfish must check out.:chef: