# Crawdaddin'



## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

I took the fam out crawdaddin' today because my daughter has been wanting a lobster ever since we ate at Red Lobster. So I told her we could catch a whole bunch of smaller ones and she could eat them to her heart's content. 

I think I have created two monsters as a result. My wife and daughter ate them faster than I could get my hands on them! 

We didn't do anything fancy to cook em. But just boiled them in some Cajun Old Bay seasoning and tipped their tails in garlic butter. But they sure were tasty!

I think my wife may want to go crawdaddin' next time we go fishing!

Win for me!!!!


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## mtnrunner260 (Feb 15, 2010)

Awesome. I've been wanting to take my boys out. What was your set-up? Traps or poles?
Thanks


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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

Love dem dads


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

mtnrunner260 said:


> Awesome. I've been wanting to take my boys out. What was your set-up? Traps or poles?
> Thanks


I have used traps with very limited success. I've never seen a trap filled to the brim with crawfish like you see in Louisiana. Mine usually have 2-3 crawfish and thats it.

So I usually run a couple of lines with a raw chicken leg tied to the end and let them soak for 10-15 min and slowly pull them in. Just before the chicken leg breaks out of the water, I set my net below the chicken because the crawdad will let go as soon as he hits the air. Generally there are 2-3 latched on so I catch just as many without needing to buy a trap.

I didn't go to the Berry so the dads weren't super awesome. But when I went with Chaser a couple of summers ago, we couldn't keep up with how many crawdads were hitting our bait.

Most of the ones we caught today weren't keepers, so there was a lot of throw backs but it was still a lot of fun.

So far in this post I have called them crawfish, crawdads, and dads. Confused yet?


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## Mr Muleskinner (Feb 14, 2012)

forgot crayfish and mudbugs


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## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

Bax* said:


> I have used traps with very limited success. I've never seen a trap filled to the brim with crawfish like you see in Louisiana. Mine usually have 2-3 crawfish and thats it.


Bax,

You're doing it in the wrong place then. When I go to the Berry (SC side), I always set out 2 square traps (Sportsmans Warehouse) attached to the courtesy dock at the launch. Each has a chiken wing wired to the bottom center. I then go fish for an hour or so. Then back to the dock to empty the traps into a bucket. THE TRAPS ARE ALWAYS FULL TO OVERFLOWING!

I put the traps back in the water and go fishing again. While fishing, I remove the heads and the vein in the tail and put the tails in an ice chest on ice. I repeat this process 3 or 4 times and usually have at least 100 tails if not 150 or more.

I boil them up when I get home with some Zatarain's Crab & Shrimp Boil and then peel 'em. Some get eaten right away and some get saved for use in some Cajun Jambalaya. Booyah!

The DWR claims that East Canyon is overcrowded with 'dads so next trip up I'm going to set my traps in some rock slide areas and see what develops.

Love dem 'dads!


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## Mavis13 (Oct 29, 2007)

Is there a list of what waters have crayfish in them? This has always sounded fun but I don't know of any in the Cache area.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

I think that if it has water in Utah it has them in it anymore. If you do a search on the DOW web site it will give you a lot of information about them.


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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

I have the same experience at the Berry. I sink 5 tube traps at the mouth of the narrows in about 25-30 feet of water. Wal-Mart chicken is the bait. I will fill a large ice chest completely full in 2-3 hours. ---------SS


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

I wonder if I'm not sinking my traps deep enough?

I do it the same as you dubob and SS, but have caught very few with my traps. 

Raw chicken seems to be the best bait as it holds up for a long time and isn't easily shredded by their claws so you don't have to worry about losing your bait quickly.


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## Idratherbehunting (Jul 17, 2013)

So are you guys sinking the traps from a boat, or from shore?


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## Mr Muleskinner (Feb 14, 2012)

We have scuba dived East Canyon, Grantsville and Strawberry for crayfish. We can fill 50 lb potato sacks in about 30 minutes. The most I have seen is out at Grantsville but I think that ever water we have is chocked full of them.


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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

Idratherbehunting said:


> So are you guys sinking the traps from a boat, or from shore?


I sink them for my boat with a milk jug for a float.-------SS


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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

Bax* said:


> I wonder if I'm not sinking my traps deep enough?
> 
> I do it the same as you dubob and SS, but have caught very few with my traps.
> 
> Raw chicken seems to be the best bait as it holds up for a long time and isn't easily shredded by their claws so you don't have to worry about losing your bait quickly.


Don't know........I use the cooked chicken as it puts off an oil slick that I think attracts more 'dads. I like the spot by the narrows because I've never seen anyone else getting 'dads there and I get some really nice ones. My bro and I found the spot while diving. There is a shelf there that drops off from 7-8 ft to 18-20'. The area at the bottom of the shelf was teeming with craw dads almost to the point of being disgusting. I've probably trapped there 5 times and filled up easily each time. If anyone wants to borrow my traps, shoot me a PM.------SS


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## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

I have dropped my square traps off the end of the dock in the middle of the launch at Soldier Creek and at the courtesy tie up dock off to the side. Depth has very little to do with it. However, as my experience at East Canyon last week would seem to indicate, you will not find them in areas where the bottom is sand or mud. They will be wherever there are lots of rocks on the bottom. However, they don't seem to have any problem crossing the concrete launch ramp from the rocks to get to my traps. The courtesy dock at EC is over sand and I got zero dads in 4 hours.

If you can walk to a rocky point and toss the trap out from shore or boat there and do the same shouldn't matter. I use raw chicken and don't have any problem filling up, but can't argue with using cooked chicken either.

Just remember that it is against the law to transport them alive. You MUST kill them at the body of water from which you take them if you plan on taking them home.


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## Fishracer (Mar 2, 2009)

I have always wanted to try this. I have noticed other people catching them from the docks of a few lakes. One question i have is i noticed that after a crawdad is caught they would look at the belly of the crawdad and sometimes throw them back in the water? What are they looking for/at? Are all crawdads good to eat? What makes a good one?


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## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

Probably throwing back the ones loaded up with eggs...


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## utahtim (Aug 29, 2012)

If they are soft they don't taste as good


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## Fishracer (Mar 2, 2009)

utahtim said:


> If they are soft they don't taste as good


What do you mean soft? The tail?


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## utahtim (Aug 29, 2012)

the entire carpace and tail will be soft, it means they are still finishing a molt. They taste funny at that stage


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

utahtim said:


> the entire carpace and tail will be soft, it means they are still finishing a molt. They taste funny at that stage


Actually in Louisiana they created a dish just for them. They fry the crawfish whole and eat the whole thing. Fried softshell crawfish...yummm yummmmmmmmm


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## MtnRunner (Oct 21, 2013)

What exactly do you have to do to make them safe to eat . I've always heard you have to pull out a vein or something?


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

MtnRunner said:


> What exactly do you have to do to make them safe to eat . I've always heard you have to pull out a vein or something?


I don't think you would get sick by eating the vein but it sure looks gross and I think it's actually poop.

The center fin on the tail needs to be rocked to the left and right til you feel it pop in both directions. Then you simply pull the center fun and the poo comes along with it.

Some people go all out on cooking these things but I personally like to boil their tails in Old Bay Cajun seasoning for 5ish minutes. Then I crack the tail open with a knife or kitchen scissors and pull the meat out. Then I simply dip it in garlic butter and eat.

Just like little lobster bites. Yum!


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## MtnRunner (Oct 21, 2013)

So do you devein them while still Alive before cooking?


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

MtnRunner said:


> So do you devein them while still Alive before cooking?


Correct. I remove their tail from the body and then devein the tail


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

You can do what we call "purge them". Put your live crawfish in a tub of water just covering them a couple of inches over the top. Pour a 1 pound box of salt in there and stir it up. Leave them in there about 30 min to 1 hour and it will flush them out. Also there is an easy way to peel them with using tools such as knives, hammers, machete's or chainsaws.


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## Bow hunter mojo (Oct 12, 2013)

WOW! That is so fun. I need to get out and do some Crawdads this year. Probably around east canyon or lost creek.


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## Narient (Jan 9, 2011)

@Mojo: Lemme know if/when you go. I just need an excuse to head out. I used to go all the time when I lived in Kansas. Utah's foreign soil to me when it comes to daddin'.


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## 4pointmuley (Sep 18, 2007)

I went crawdaddin on Strawberry last Saturday. I brought home over 200 tails in about 2 hours. I found the best thing to do is to use FRESH chicken leg tied to a string. I also applied some crawfish scent to the chicken leg. This really seemed to attract the crawfish. I would leave it out for like 5 minutes and 15-20 crawfish would be attached to the leg. I took a butterfly net and just put it under the crawfish as I slowly lift the leg from the bottom. I was only out about 10-15' from the shore over at Haws Point. Just look for a rocky area and they will be there!


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

We went to Grantsville last weekend and got skunked. Crawfished for almost 2 hours with about a dozen nets and not a single crawfish. I usually do have good luck at Strawberry.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Nom nom nom


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