i fish on a small river with lots of swamp land most of the fish i catch have crawfish inside them was curious of where you think the bets places are to set out a small crawfish trap? id like to harvest them for food and to put in ponds to help fishing populations grow

would it be better to put in the river creek itself or in the small ox bow lakes thats about 3 foot deep?

I'd bet the Ox Bows are a good place.. Maybe near an "In or out" flow but in slow or non flowing water.
Everybody uses different types of bait in the trap but several of us out here use garter snakes in the traps..haven't found anything that works as good or lasts as long.

They like shallow mudflats in a cove and are mostly active at night. At least that is when and where we caught them for a crawfish boil in river fed lakes in the Ozarks.

I trap streams where there is lots of appropriate crawfish cover like lots of larger rocks on the bottom. I use the remains of fish from when I've cleaned some for bait and place the trap just upstream of the rocks. The current will take the smell downstream over where the craws are sheltering in the rocks and attract them upstream to the trap. Best to set the trap in the evening and leave it over night.

theres 2 small streams that run into the big creek pretty small but flowing water im sure it contains them and it has a oxbow lake about half an acre mayb 3 t 4 foot deep atm very dark water

id think it would have a good bit of crawfish in them ill try each places for an hour then ill try the river not sure where i should go for the river idk if theres rocks i know parts have good sandy bottoms near cover i guess ill try there

i went to buy crawfish yesterday place tried t charge 5.99 a pound can u believe that lol in missisisppi so i said screw it ill buy a 12 dollar trap and catch them myself and use the small ones as flathead bait

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Meridian+Regional+Airport/@32.2912366,-88.7540282,334m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8884808a72105c97:0xe89fd8e6a477b166!8m2!3d32.333547!4d-88.7451526

heres the area i fish i walk down the railroad tracks to hit this spot but i just noticed the oxbow lake to the left of the tracks there id think it would be full of bluegill and crawfish yeah? from looking at the creek n area where do you think i should set out my traps?

Never tried a river. But my creek used to have them. I generally used the traps in still, rocky areas away from current.

have caught them in creeks and now in lakes. Chicken bones or chicken necks work great. Even take 12 cut pieces of butcher twine 10 to 15 feet in length and tie chicken nets in cheese cloth to the lines. Throw them out and start doing a line check and use a kids butterfly net to scoop them up. Usually fill a 5 gallon bucket in half and hour to and hour. Poor mans lobster and taste better than lobster or shrimp in my opinion. Deep fried or boiled in chicken broth and pour on butter and cayenne and black pepper and salt. Makes me hungry just thinking about those tasty little critters.

well this is some pics of the creek im fishing

https://imgur.com/a/HDKMMTU

https://imgur.com/a/UFrWXDu

https://imgur.com/a/cPHfl62

https://imgur.com/a/EHaMZPo


the last 2 are tiny oxbow lakes/lil swamps which out of the 4 pics do you think id have the most success with

Set your traps in amongst those trees Matt. Use the bloodiest/oiliest bait you can get your hands on. We use Pogy shad (saltwater) normally, but ive also used beef liver and even spoiled bacon with some success.

Most of the crawfish farms down here use Pogy or pellet bait, or a combination of both.

so you think id have much better success in the swamp overflow than the creek

Definitely. Looks a lot like where the guys who commercially trap for wild crawfish down in the Atchafalaya basin. Crawfish prefer areas with less current. It's also been my experience that the higher the water, the better luck you'll have. Crawfish dig a "J" shaped den underground under the water and the end of it is actually an air bubble where they live and hatch their young. The higher water creates pressure and fills the hole, forcing them out of their dens. They dont actually stay in the water constantly, which is why you tend to see their mounds in yards, where they've dug their dens.

ahh well thank god its gonna be raining the next 4 days the creeks been getting lower i hope i can at least catch 3 pounds over a 3 hour period im gonna buy 2 cages maybe even 3 there are a bunch of places like that in the pic

You'd be much better served to set your traps and let them soak overnight. A 3 hour soak wont likely result in 3# of mud bugs, even if the area is absolutely loaded with them. It takes a while for the scent to disperse enough for them to pick up on it, then follow the scent to the trap, then find their way inside. Depending on the type of trap, once their in, they'll not get out. Let your traps work for you.

i have big bag of dry cat food but no pantyhose toput it in to makeit stay so i guess ill get a can of sardines and halfway open so they go inside or even frozen cut bait i have n freezergot some spotted bass chunks


also moneys a bit tight atm so instead of buying rope for the traps can i use nylon rope that i use for my ban poles when fishing for catfish? its about 80 pound testline id think it would be ok for a small 12 dollar eagle claw trap

Matt,

IMO I would go with the cut bait. It should work fine. The nylon rope is also ok if it is really 80lb test. I use paracord on mine. It only needs to be able to pull in the weight of the trap and withstand any current.

If you really want some used panty hose, PM Bob O. I'm sure he has several used pairs lying around.

lolz XD

just hope the cut bait has some sent left i have 2 bass heads in it i got 3 traps coming my way now not sure if you have to use a lot of bait t get them coming or if like 1 fishhead would be enough dif vids had guys using just 1 handfun of dog food and another had a whole catfish in it

im dying for these traps to come to start catching crawfish its suppose to rain the next 3 days so hopefully that will make it better for my traps

now ill have a good purpose for when i catch bowfin on my limb lines they shall make good bait for my crawfish

Dang near anything works for crawdad bait.

I used a short sock to bait my crawdad traps with dry dog food. Bread-tied the sock shut and then to the inside of the trap and caught several hundred virile crawdads over the course of two seasons to stock into my pond.

My most successful trappings where over night in the slightly flowing creek holes.

dang they must have some crazy smelling to be able to find dry dog food tied into a sock

Diamond brand Performance dog food stinks about like any other dog food. It also works in the pond for bull tads and FHM's. I didn't used to use the sock, but the craws would sit on the outside of the cage and eat the loose dog food through the mesh. The sock stops that and makes the bait last alot longer.

I guess the oily stink really gets out into the water to attrack them. If I trap much in the pond with dogfood, you can see a sheen on the surface from the animal fats that are in it. I have switched to using fish food in the pond for that reason.

In your case QA, the dog food oily sheen may actually be coming from the salmon by product. There also is fish meal so the crayfish may be detecting a truly fishy oily scent that is the key to the 'dogfood' success as bait!!

I used to buy turkey necks and let them sit in the sun for a day and cut them up and tie them in the net. Worked well.

i have dry catfood which is basically dog food but smaller pieces i might try a handful and also throw in a small bass head in each trap t see which works best buying cans of sardines is a little expensive for my taste being dollar a can with 3 traps so ill try t use fish i catch if i catch bowfin or gar ill hack them up with a machette or if a catfish swallows a hook ill keep him since hes gonna die anyways and use pieces of it for my traps

The only thing I've found they wont eat is squid, believe it or not. I set traps in our duck lease baited with squid and never caught a single bug. I know they're there, because the launch area at our camp was constantly littered with shells from the raccoon feasts.

yeha i didnt catch a single crawfish in my 3 traps today i went n checked them nothing even got inside of them to eat the bait i guess due to the major flood that where i put them there wasnt anything guess i have to wait till the water goes back down to normal levels right now the woods are completely flooded

That really surprises me Matt. I live in the Sabine River swamp basin and a lot of guys trap the swamps for wild crawfish. Before he passed, my brother trapped the swamp religiously every spring and would catch up to several hundred pounds daily, but his catches were always better during high water events. As the water dropped, so did his weights. Do you find any sign of crawfish (towers, shells, etc) around the area you set your traps? I assume you're setting them from the water's edge.

well i didnt put it in the swamp part as is aid the whole woods were under water lolz soi just tossed them in the woods hoping he crawfish wouldgo outside of there normal swampy parts and explore the new areas idk when the water will go back down hopefully in a week n half maybe?then ill go try again

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.2932945,-88.7673477,3a,75y,196.53h,73.78t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sYwGAUk2LNNZybpasR0kijg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656


this is down the road some what do you think of this area?im thinking thats a perfect crawfish area but cars drive by sadly n could see me putting them out n steal them id have t walk on tracks a bit n throw when nobodys watching

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.286354,-88.7440213,3a,60y,123.03h,87.76t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s5ItQciQRozCdzd-uzeJU8w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656


this part looks good too i got about 10 feet of length on my crawfish traps next time i think i should put about 20 so can toss it a bit further hoping these parts will produce well

Neither of your links are accessible

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Meridian+Regional+Airport/@32.2941416,-88.7664435,127a,35y,222.06h,45t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8884808a72105c97:0xe89fd8e6a477b166!8m2!3d32.333547!4d-88.7451526


hopefully this works in that area up a bit further is where i planned t put some of the traps


you have to highlight it and copy and paste into the browswer