# Crawdads 2013



## stevo1 (Sep 13, 2007)

Any body been out after the mini lobsters this year? Lemon and butter at the ready, all ineed is some mud bugs!


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## silverkitten73 (Sep 20, 2007)

I watched as a group of people sat in the boat launch at Renegade Bay at Strawberry yesterday - and harvested a couple hundred large crawdads in about 45 minutes. They were thick yesterday. Wish the trout were as numerous....... Still caught several of them though ;-)


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## jadahle (Jul 14, 2013)

I caught a hand full of them on the north shore on the 20th. They were decent sized. I got about 10 of them in 20 minutes just walking in the water about mid thigh deep. 

How do you prepare yours stevo? The 20th was my first time catching/eating crawdads and most of the information I could find online on how to prepare them said you should always cook them live? But its illegal to transport them live in Utah.... Also they were pretty crusted oven with dirt. How do you clean them off on the outside? I scrubbed with a kitchen scrubber and still had a hard time getting all the dirt off them.


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## stevo1 (Sep 13, 2007)

Utah DWR came out with a booklet "crayfishing for fun and food" several years back. I think they may still produce it, if not I can photo copy my copy and send it to you.....let me know stevo>>O


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

http://wildlife.utah.gov/fishing/crayfish.php


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## jadahle (Jul 14, 2013)

Thank you for posting that Fishrmn


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## xxxxxxBirdDogger (Mar 7, 2008)

We weren't fishing for them, but my son reeled in a bunch while fishing with worms from the shore at Hyrum Res.


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## Skullanchor (Jul 29, 2008)

*Willard*

I am new at this. I've tried Willard bay 3 times in a few weeks with 3 traps each time. Tried hot dogs the first two times and put chicken wings in the traps the last time. Those were the first times I've ever tried crawfishing. I didn't get a single one. Twice in the south marina and once off the south dike. I am just using the round 2-ended traps and heaving them out as far as I can. One of my south marina trips was at sun down and one in early morning. My south dike trip was mid day.


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## ram2h2o (Sep 11, 2007)

If you can get to a slaughter house and get a beef spleen you will be catching crawfish for sure.Back home in Louisiana it is called "Beef Melt" They love the bloody melt and it gives of a blood trail that they follow to the bait. Cut off a piece and put it in your trap or tie it on a string or fish line and use a dip net to catch them. Great fun for the kids.


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## Oblivion5888 (Sep 12, 2011)

I am new to this whole crawfishing thing as well. Earlier this year, about early july, a couple friends and myself decided to go try strawberry for crawfish. We went and bought three small cages, bought the necessary items for camping overnight and headed to strawberry bay. We had brought some rotisserie chickens with us for dinner, so after we polished those off we put the bones and a little bit of the leftover meat in each of the cages. We paddled out into the bay and set our three cages good distances from each other. We let them soak overnight, about 10 hours, and we went and checked them in the morning.

It was a huge success! We caught enough that all 3 of us could eat our fill i think it ended up being about 75 crawfish. Not bad for just 3 cages on a 3 hour soak i would think.

I would post the pictures but i keep getting a server error every time i try to post them. Oh well i guess.


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## solocam (Jul 26, 2013)

Went fishing at Strawberry last Sunday and seen some kids fill up 2 five gallon buckets in less than 2 hours using chicken legs tied on a string a foot off the bank by the marina boat docks.


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## Mtnbeer (Jul 15, 2012)

I've been catching and eating UT crawdads for several years now. When I go out, I usually use two methods simultaneously. The first one uses traps. I usually bait the traps with tuna cans in oil (just poke some holes in the can and set it in the trap). My second method is by mask and snorkel. While my traps are out soaking, I go to another nearby shoreline, tie a mesh bag around my waist, and dive down and grab 'em. Depending on water and shoreline conditions, about half the time, I'll get more crawdads snorkeling than the traps. In my best outing, I've had over 300 mudbugs, worst outing, over 100.

As for cleaning them, unless you're making a bisque, no need to clean the shells. We usually soak them in ice water for a few hours to "clean out their system" and then throw them in boiling water with some corn, potatoes, and sausage (for the non-mudbug eaters). MMMMmmmm, delicious!


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## Glaucus_Almighty (Aug 2, 2013)

Making me salivate. For anyone that enjoys sea food, but has never tried craw dads, they are seriously missing out. Extremely tasty.


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## Oblivion5888 (Sep 12, 2011)

Just curious, do most of you eat that vein that is in the tail or do you try and peel it out?


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## Mtnbeer (Jul 15, 2012)

Oblivion5888 said:


> Just curious, do most of you eat that vein that is in the tail or do you try and peel it out?


Most of the time, I peel out the vein.


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## jadahle (Jul 14, 2013)

Mtnbeer said:


> As for cleaning them, unless you're making a bisque, no need to clean the shells. We usually soak them in ice water for a few hours to "clean out their system" and then throw them in boiling water with some corn, potatoes, and sausage (for the non-mudbug eaters). MMMMmmmm, delicious!


I've only tried them once, and I scrubbed the shells because they were really crusted over with dirt and stuff. I didn't do the greatest job and some of them were really gritty after boiling them.

Does anyone else not scrub the shells before cooking them?


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## Glaucus_Almighty (Aug 2, 2013)

The best way to do it would be to scrub them and then let them soak in fresh, clean water for a few days (alive) but since you have to kill them before you leave the area you caught them in, I'd give them a good scrub before boiling.


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## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

Since our fish & game authorities have deemed it improper and illegal to transport living organisms away from the body of water from which they came, we are very limited in the options open to us with regard to the cleaning and care of crayfish. Here is a quote from the 2013 Fishing Guidebook: 



> Because it is illegal to transport live crayfish in Utah, you'll either need to cook them before leaving the reservoir or kill them and immediately put them on ice. For additional details on how to catch, clean and cook your crayfish, visit http://wildlife.utah.gov/fishing/crayfish.php.


My method of processing goes something like this. I set my square shaped traps (2 of them) in the vicinity of the boat launch upon arrival at the body of water. Each trap will have a chicken wing firmly tied to the inside of the bottom. I then go fishing for an hour or so. I return to the launch, empty the traps into a plastic bucket, return the traps to the water, and head back out fishing.


While I'm happily trolling around the lake, I take the crayfish out of the bucket one at a time using a hand that is wearing a mesh fish cleaning glove (which prevents getting pinched by a claw). With the other hand I grab the tail section and twist it off the head section. I then toss the head section back into the lake. I then flare out the tail fins and grab the two middle fins between thumb and finger and give them a 90 degree twist to break them loose. Then I gently pull them off the tail section which pulls the mud/sand/poop vein out of the tail section. Then I toss the fins and vein back into the water and put the tail section in a small cooler half filled with ice.

I repeat this procedure several times until I have enough tails to make some jambalaya when I get home. When I get home, I rinse off the tail sections and put them in a pot and boil them following the directions on a package of Zatarain's Crab & Shrimp boil. When the tails are fully cooked I remove them and let them cool down and then use my plastic shrimp peeler to remove the shell. The shrimp peeler works by inserting the small pointed end into the vein channel from the fin end of the tail. Run it all the way through until the shell is split open from end to end. Then separate the meat from the shell and discard the shell.

At this point you can either eat the meat as is or add it to any recipe that suits your desire. My wife makes a microwave jambalaya that is perfect with crayfish and waterfowl sausage (making that is another story) added. Take care and good luck.


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## Cranier (Aug 11, 2013)

*Causey Reservoir*

Left four traps on the bottom of Causey Reservoir, thrown from the shore with about 50 feet of line attached, on the north inlet. Hot dogs in two, and partiality opened cans of mackerel in the other two. Eight hours of soak time from morning until afternoon. Ended up with a single two inch crawfish in one hot dog trap, and nothing in anything else. Any suggestions for trapping on Causey?


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

Probably too deep.


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## Cranier (Aug 11, 2013)

Fishrmn said:


> Probably too deep.


Any suggestions for a better depth on the steep sides at Causey?


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## HunterDavid (Sep 10, 2007)

Today, 8-10-13, my neighborhood had its annual crawfish boil. The people who head it up said they go out to Strawberry and catch about 150 lbs of them in a couple of days of camping there. 
I know last year my family went up there and caught a few pounds in an hour or so by hand and with two traps. (More by hand than by traps) I am allergic to shellfish, but it sure is fun going out with the kids and catching those buggers. It is a little different here than back in Louisiana where I grew up and you would use square net traps to catch them. I have a few of them too, but they are for more shallow water.


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## 4pointmuley (Sep 18, 2007)

How long do you boil the crawdads? I boiled some for about 5 minutes and the meat was a little mushy. Even after they had cooled.


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## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

4pointmuley said:


> How long do you boil the crawdads? I boiled some for about 5 minutes and the meat was a little mushy. Even after they had cooled.


I boil them until they have all turned a nice red color and they begin to float on the top of the water. I never timed it, but would guess it was between 10 and 15 minutes.


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