Crawdads @ Strawberry this weekend.

[JONBOYLEMON]

Last year we went up on the West side and just used chicken on a string and we caught enough for a couple of families. We are having a huge neighborhood party on the 24th and we need to catch a TON of Yabbies.....

Any suggestions on location, or tricks you want to share?????

Looking forward to spending 4 hours of non stop eating Saturday night!!!!!!

[DOSS]

Well I don't know where you live but you could always come to the Tooele Res Dam in the late evenings with lanterns and get tons :)

[JONBOYLEMON]

I was just reading an article about a Grantsville yabby lake online, is that the same??? They did not make it clear where they were getting them.

Explain what you mean by come to the lake with lanterns. You just sit next to the shore with a lantern and they come up????

I would bet its 6's from AF to Strawberry or Tooele, Strawberry will hopefully be much cooler weather.

[DOSS]

Strawberry would be much cooler for sure..
Grantsville Reservoir is just south of Grantsville, Tooele Reservoir is on the south east side of tooele up Settlement canyon - both are a good source for the crayfish :)

The trick we always used to do to catch em was to go out once it was dark with Lanterns and High power flashlights.. you wade out and use small screened fish nets or your hands and caught them, many would be right on top of the rocks but you could always scare out a few by turning over a rock or 2. - I have tried traps a few times with little success.. or there is the chicken bone method you already know

[ilanimaka]

My preferred method has always been to wade out with 2 people holding a seining net. Walk along the shores and bring the net up. Always caught me a good number of them, but not as fun as catching them with a rod & liver. May have to try the chicken bone thing though.

[JONBOYLEMON]

Well the Crawdad harvest was a hoot. We ended up with about 125 pounds.
It got embarrasing for the crawdads. We basically chummed the banks with chicken and bacon and sardines and then just walked along and picked them up. There were a few chicken on a strings we forgot about and then when we found them there were dozens of dads on the string and a pile about 6" tall on the bone. It was a killing.

We fed 40 people easily with the Zattarans enhanced corn and red potatoes mix.

So if you go, wait until 1 hour before dark and just chum the banks and then grab a rake. If we had a rake we could have really put the hurt on them.

Kids had a blast!!!!!

Good times.

[Scott Card]

This sounds fun. Mind sharing your recipe?

[accadacca]

How long does the harvest last? My boys would love it.

[DOSS]

How long does the harvest last? My boys would love it.

harvest lasts until the snow falls :)

[accadacca]

So if you go, wait until 1 hour before dark and just chum the banks and then grab a rake. If we had a rake we could have really put the hurt on them.

Good advice.

[accadacca]

Well the Crawdad harvest was a hoot. We ended up with about 125 pounds.
It got embarrasing for the crawdads. We basically chummed the banks with chicken and bacon and sardines and then just walked along and picked them up. There were a few chicken on a strings we forgot about and then when we found them there were dozens of dads on the string and a pile about 6" tall on the bone. It was a killing.

We fed 40 people easily with the Zattarans enhanced corn and red potatoes mix.

So if you go, wait until 1 hour before dark and just chum the banks and then grab a rake. If we had a rake we could have really put the hurt on them.

Kids had a blast!!!!!

Good times.

What part of the lake was this?

[JONBOYLEMON]

Haws point. Take a couple of leaf rakes, seriously!!!!!

It has since been brought to my attention that chumming the banks may be illegal. I question if this is correct. Basically we put slabs of meat on a line and threw them just a foot or so from the shore. This kept them going nuts and all we had to do was rake the water. I almost think w/o any bait one could rake them in.

I am bummed as we were going to go there again next weekend but plans changed.... Bummer.

[accadacca]

We caught a mess of them near Strawberry Bay. Good times!

[JONBOYLEMON]

Glad to hear it. We got skunked Saturday night. We only got 20 # total. I think most of them were caught by hand. We got maybe 12 in the traps total!!!!!
How did you catch them??? Did you take kids???

A guy came as we were leaving and said some guys were there last night with 6' traps and got tons of them in a few hours. Apperently.......

We still had enough to enjoy. ALSO....... I would strongly suggest throwing in some spicy sausage, & shrimp to the boil. Also a few bay leaves and lots of Cayenne pepper!!!!!! Mmmmmmmmm Mmmmmmmm good.

[JONBOYLEMON]

PS #2. My friend had a halogen lamp running off a generator we used to light up the shore. We used it for about 5 minutes until we had the thought that artificial light might be illegal for harvesting. If its not, that would be the way to do it as we set the light on the bank and we could clearly see 6' out into the water 3' deep for about 40' of bank.

[Pelon1]

[ibenick]

Amen.

[ilanimaka]

I'm thinkin about heading out to the berry for some crawdad harvesting this Saturday. Anybody wanna come along? We're thinkin about going fishing first and then hittin the 'dads closer to dusk.

[JONBOYLEMON]

As for the pics, you will have to wait till next year as we are done for the year I think. I sure does look pretty good dumped all over a table full of people though. The yabbies, corn, red potatoes, sausage, shrimp and mushrooms look nice all together.

[LOAH]

From the book:


"Use of live crayfish for bait is legal only on the water where the crayfish is captured. It is unlawful to transport live crayfish away from the water where they were captured."


Restrictions on taking fish and crayfish
Utah Admin. Rule R657-13-11

"You can use artificial light while fishing, unless you’re underwater spearfishing. Use of artificial light is unlawful while engaged in underwater spearfishing, unless you are fishing for burbot at Flaming Gorge.
You may not obstruct a waterway or use any chemical, explosive, electricity, poison, crossbow, firearm, pellet gun or archery equipment to take fish or crayfish.
Chumming is prohibited on all waters except Lake Powell. (Chumming means to dislodge or deposit into the water any substance, not attached to a hook, line or trap, which may attract fish.)"


I think you're good to go.

Here's a link to download the proclamation, just in case you're ever wondering if something is legal or not.


Fishing Guide 2010