Catching crawfish

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By Ryan Rhodes

Let’s not kid ourselves. Crawfish are getting expensive. Who would have thought that something you can find in a ditch on the side of the road would cost so much? But, thankfully, there is a way to beat the system. Catch your own.

As I said before, crawfish literally live in ditches on the side of the road. However, that isn’t the best place to catch a full sack of crawfish. The best place to catch a bundle of them is a swampy, freshwater area with plenty of vegetation, i.e. most of the state. Finding that kind of habitat isn’t really the problem; it’s finding one that’s isolated enough from urban areas that can sustain a high population of crawfish, preferably with water about knee- to waist-high.

The weather right now is pretty perfect for catching the little buggers, too. That was my British line for the day, I hope you enjoyed it. Spring time temperatures are ideal, and light rain makes it better, but it isn’t necessary. Also, check the water color. Normally fishermen want clean water for their best chance at hooking the big one. With crawfish, it’s just the opposite. Crawfish like murky water since it makes them hard to see, and pretty much everything eats them.

There’s the where and the when; now you need to know the how. Well, you can use either traps or nets. If you’ve never caught crawfish before, I would recommend nets since traps require leaving them out for extended periods of times. For shallow water (about a foot deep) use a dip net. It’s basically a square foot of mesh netting attached to two metal rods. It sits flat on the bottom with bait clipped in the center.

Crawfish crowd around the base and when you pick the net up they get trapped in the net by their own weight. When you pick it up, use your walking stick so you wont scare the crawfish away by walking to close to the net. Oh yeah, use a walking stick. If you’re wading in the water it will help you keep your balance and whack at snakes if they get to close. No, that is not a euphemism.

For deeper water, deeper meaning needing chest waters or a pirogue, use a deep net. These are designed for catching crabs, but they work just as well with catching crawfish in deeper water. The bait is clipped in the same as the dip nets, and the net sets flat on the bottom too. These nets are attached to a long piece of twine tied to a floating marker, usually white or orange colored. You grab the float in a similar way you pick up the dip nets, use a walking stick to pull the float over to you then grab and pull up quickly.

You can find both of these nets at Academy, some Wal-Marts and other outdoors stores. They should be set in areas near trees or vegetation. Once you set them, let them set for at least as long as it takes to set up the other ones and come back around, but the longer the sit the better.

Finding something to use for bait couldn’t be simpler. Anything stinky would work really. If you know of a good butcher shop, ask them for “melt” which is essentially cow spleen. It’s very cheap since no body wants it, and crawfish go wild over it. If you can’t get that, chicken, hot dogs, dog food, dead fish, severed limbs, anything like that would work as bait. If you’re lucky enough, you may just be able to catch a sack of crawfish for the cost of bait.

Originally Published: Issue 601 - March 26, 2008

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