Catching crawfish is one of the funnest past times for a great many in the South. Some folks hunt crawfish for fun and others hunt them for food. Few things are better than boiled crawfish tails after all. Here is a guide on how to find the best crawfish and how to safely catch them.
The first thing to remember when searching a creek for crawdads is to understand the real dangers involved. Around the creek, you have snakes and poison ivy or oak. These are dangerous…crawdads are not. Do not be afraid of the crawdads. The worst thing that can happen is they will give you a little pinch with their claws. Even the larger ones do not really hurt all that bad, so there is nothing to fear. Okay, they hurt like a bugger when they get really big but you need not worry about that.
Once you are over your fear of crawfish and you know to be aware of the other real dangers, then you are ready to go hunting crawfish. Start out by finding an area of the creek that is easily straddled, and that has running water. This is because a crawfish loves to be in the parts of the streams that are running. This makes for easy escape and also makes it easier for them to find food. Once you find this area, check for snakes and poison oak and step across.
Crawfish like to burrow into the ground and into any hiding place. Common spots for this include under rocks, plants and various other things. They will hide anywhere they can and are often not seen until the rock or hiding spot is uncovered. What you need to do is reach into the water and slowly remove the rocks in the water. If you do not move them slowly, you will have no chance of catching the crawfish. This is because the mud will cloud the water and the crawfish will escape. If done correctly, the crawfish will often freeze in place when revealed.
Now take a tall plastic cup and put it in the water a ways back from the crawfish. Slowly bring the cup up about four to six inches behind the crawfish. Patience is key here. Next, you will the bring a stick or something in front of the crawfish. You do not have to poke the crawfish at all. They will scoot backwards and right into your cup. If you have a large pail, that works well for the bigger crawfish.
Before you keep a crawfish for a pet or food, first make certain it is not a pregnant female. You can tell by looking under their tail for eggs. If you have one with eggs, please return it to the water. It is against the law in most places to keep a pregnant female and it is poor form. Keep the species alive and put back the pregnant crawfish.
Many people keep crawfish as pets. They work quite well as pets for the most part, but they are quick to kill other fish. Keep them in an aquarium by themselves if you want them to last for a while. They also tend to eat whatever plants are in the aquarium so if you have valued plants, remove them first.
