|
Forums36
Topics40,947
Posts557,814
Members18,486
| |
Most Online3,612
Jan 10th, 2023
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 10
Lunker
|
OP
Lunker
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 10 |
I am just wondering if anyone stocks there pond with Crawdad's for the bass and catfish? If not, why?
Mike
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 16,051 Likes: 277
Moderator Lunker
|
Moderator Lunker
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 16,051 Likes: 277 |
Welcome to PB Mike. Lots of us have tried. They just don't seem to work out to be self sustaining.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 13,966 Likes: 276
Moderator Lunker
|
|
Moderator Lunker
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 13,966 Likes: 276 |
Hard to find commercially in some parts of the country.
"Live like you'll die tomorrow, but manage your grass like you'll live forever." -S. M. Stirling ![[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ed/b5/e7/edb5e7f935843b996cf52be593c9ebd2--smoothie-smooth-collie.jpg)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 21,490 Likes: 265
Moderator Hall of Fame 2014  Lunker
|
Moderator Hall of Fame 2014 Lunker
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 21,490 Likes: 265 |
Welcome Mike. Glad to have you posting. FWIW the recent AFS mag has an article on crawfish. It contains a 4 pg grid of craw species - there must be 150 in the US . This confirms what Bill Cody has said about craws - lots of types so " it all depends". Here is the major reason they disappear in ponds with LMB. Abstract.—We attempted to control a population of papershell crayfish (Orconectes immunis) in an 11-hectare fish-rearing impoundment in Jackson County, Wisconsin, by using traps and by stocking largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). Crayfish were harvested with traps during the summer of 1985, and the pond was stocked with 386 largemouth bass (mean weight, 1.1 kg) in spring 1986. The pond was drained in the fall of 1985 and 1986, and crayfish burrow counts were made to estimate the population. In 1985, we trapped more than 18,000 crayfish, of which 72% were adult males. Trapping had minor effect on the young-of-the-year crayfish. In 1986, the crayfish population was reduced by 98%, predation by largemouth bass being the probable major cause of the reduction. _________________________ Here is a very good thread on crawfish as forage. http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=25597&fpart=1
.gif) 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 15,141 Likes: 488
Moderator
Ambassador
Field Correspondent Lunker
|
|
Moderator
Ambassador
Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 15,141 Likes: 488 |
It takes lots of cover refuge areas for crayfish for them to thrive in ponds with LMB. It can be done one just needs the proper cover - weed beds and rocks. The species of crayfish probably has a lot to do also with survival. Some species will be more vulnerable to predation than others.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 10/05/07 08:07 PM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine -
America's Journal of Pond Management
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 10
Lunker
|
|
OP
Lunker
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 10 |
Tks for the welcome to the form. I am a trans-plant from Oklahoma to NC. You cant find water in Okla that doest have Crawdad's in it. It really puts on the weight on the bass and catfish. Here in NC I not sure if I can find them here. If I was back in Okla I would just get some bacon and string. Tie the bacon to the sting and throw it in a creek. Wait for couple mins and pull it up. Shake off three or four crawdad's. I guess I will check around here. We have a pond in our neighborhood. We just put some more brush in it. This year we have caught two 8lb bass and five 4lb bass. Many perch and tons of minnows. I just would like to find some crawdad's and see if the bass and catfish pick up some weight. The bass seem long but not much weight to them. Tks for this form. It is great! Mike Welcome Mike. Glad to have you posting. FWIW the recent AFS mag has an article on crawfish. It contains a 4 pg grid of craw species - there must be 150 in the US . This confirms what Bill Cody has said about craws - lots of types so " it all depends". Here is the major reason they disappear in ponds with LMB. Abstract.—We attempted to control a population of papershell crayfish (Orconectes immunis) in an 11-hectare fish-rearing impoundment in Jackson County, Wisconsin, by using traps and by stocking largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). Crayfish were harvested with traps during the summer of 1985, and the pond was stocked with 386 largemouth bass (mean weight, 1.1 kg) in spring 1986. The pond was drained in the fall of 1985 and 1986, and crayfish burrow counts were made to estimate the population. In 1985, we trapped more than 18,000 crayfish, of which 72% were adult males. Trapping had minor effect on the young-of-the-year crayfish. In 1986, the crayfish population was reduced by 98%, predation by largemouth bass being the probable major cause of the reduction. _________________________ Here is a very good thread on crawfish as forage. http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=25597&fpart=1
Last edited by Mike28nc; 10/06/07 07:05 PM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 165
Lunker
|
|
Lunker
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 165 |
Welcome to PBF Mike.
What part of OK are you from? I grew up half way between Ardmore and Duncan. Finished college in Lawton.
I dont know why but it used to be easy to get crawfish from bait shops but I couldnt find any this year.
I got some stocker fish today and the guy caught me 4 huge red swamp crawfish. Not even a small fraction of what I need to do what I want to do but I am keeping these in a tub in the house just to watch them. In the spring going to order several pounds from a farm in La.
I live in east Texas now. And we had them every where too but we went through a bad drought and I think shallow ponds without fish to eat them and ditches went dry so long it killed out a lot of them. My pond used to have burrows all long steep drop off areas of the pond but the last two or three years it went down so low that they couldnt keep making burrows far enough out to keep moist and probably while trying to got gobbled up by fish. Anyway I havent seen one burrow this year.
Hope you find some and let us know how they do.
I wish I had the tenacity of GSF!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 2,365
Lunker
|
|
Lunker
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 2,365 |
Here on the Gulf Coast, crawfish are a great spring supplement to LMB, CC, and RES forage. Starting in about Feb and running through April, many ponds have large numbers of baby crawfish clinging to plants and algae near the shore. Larger crawfish are seldom seen out in the open. They are quickly eaten if they stay far from their burrows.
Crawfish population can't be accurately judged by sighting them. When under pressure they become nocturnal. The best way to judge population is by dip netting babies around the shore in early spring, and by counting burrows near the water line.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 10
Lunker
|
|
OP
Lunker
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 10 |
I am from Stillwater Okla. I come home to visit and to do some hunting / fishing when time permits. I have heard there is some crawdad's in this one creek. I am going to check it and if that is true. I will try to catch me a 5 gallon bucket full. Maybe get my son and his friends to go with me.
I dont have to worry about drought in our pond. the spring feed pond never dropps water.
Mike
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 165
Lunker
|
|
Lunker
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 165 |
Good luck. You're right there is not better bait for bass or catfish. And the big red ones are tasty as well.
I wish I had the tenacity of GSF!
|
|
|
Moderated by Bill Cody, Bruce Condello, catmandoo, Chris Steelman, Dave Davidson1, esshup, ewest, FireIsHot, Omaha, Sunil, teehjaeh57 |
|
