# Home Made crawfish Traps.



## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

***EDIT: Oops, this probably should be in the equiptment forum... sorry, a mod can move it if they want***

I've been asked by a couple people to repost my home made crawfish traps. They will stay in the trap as long as the food exists, I've had over 40 in a single trap. These are cheap and easy to use.

1/2" square, 36" wide Wire is from home depot, and costs $15. You can make 3 traps easy out of a single small roll of wire.

Lay out wire flat so its easy to work with









Measure 3" and set a straight edge to bend the wire against.









Measure 12" and make second bend









Measure another 3" and make another bend.


















Cut the wire 4" from the last bend, this extra 1" will be used to hook the edges together


















Hook the 2 ends together, wrap wire ends around adjacent edges. It should resemble a box now









On each side of the open end, measure 4" and cut back along the bend, then around to remove 4" of mesh on all but one of the 12" wide sides. 


















Bend the 4" piece back and into the trap, forming a ramp. Wire the sides so it makes a 1.5 to 1-3/4" gap between the edge of the ramp to the top of the trap.


















Repeat for other side. You can choose to close off the other side completely, but I find making a ramp on both sides allows more crawfish in the trap.









In the bottom of the trap in the center, cut out a 4x4" hole and make a hindged door to allow placement of bait.


















Spray trap with a non-reflective paint. Tie a braided string to the center of the top to allow placement / recovery of the trap. Use whatever you want for a float marker (twist top pop bottle works fine).









Building these is a good fun weekend project with the kids.

-DallanC


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## MeanGene (Nov 18, 2008)

What works best for baiting them and when is the best times of year and day to catch them. Tried some chicken and stuff on fishing line while fishing but never caught more than a couple in a day. Looks like fun.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

MeanGene said:


> What works best for baiting them and when is the best times of year and day to catch them. Tried some chicken and stuff on fishing line while fishing but never caught more than a couple in a day. Looks like fun.


My experience has been that chicken is the best; the more rotten the better, leave the trap for a few hours in a good spot like nearly anywhere at the Berry and they will be packed in there like sardines.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Yea I like a piece of chicken wired to the bottom "door" of the trap. I'll use whatever is handy but its usually a thigh or something. As long as there is still food in the trap they wont try and leave. 


-DallanC


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## gunplay (Apr 28, 2008)

Dallan is right about the bait, once it is gone they will find the way out. We had several traps at Strawberry this week and they would fill up in about 4 hrs but if you left it over night, they would only have a few left and no bait. The crawdads are deeper than they were just a couple of weeks ago also.


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

Thanks for the info Dallan. I've never crayfished in my life, but it's hard to ignore all the bottom crawlers in my home waters of Hyrum Reservoir. I think I'll follow your pattern and give it a try.


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