I am planning to stack concrete pavers (leaving "caves" or placing riprap to make an artificial reef to act as habitat for crayfish. In what depth of water would a 1-2' high "reef" be most beneficial to crayfish?

I have lots of crayfish in my forage pond.

it just so happens I have been out the last few nights with flash light checking things out. I have also snorkled in the pond to evaluate whats going on.

What I have seen of the behavior is the smaller ones are in very shallow gravel and the larger ones are in the deeper water.

The gravel along the shore has lots of tiny ones the pallet towers I made out deeper are full of larger ones.

I would say run your structure right from the shoreline out to 6-8 feet deep or so and you will have cover for the size classes.

I also snorkle a lot in a the natural lakes in Wisconsin that have lots of cray fish. I see this same patern, tiny ones up very shallow and the big daddy ones out in deeper cover.
Litteraly, as I turn over logs and rocks from shallow to deep they get bigger as I go.

I had not considered running the "reef perpendicular to the shore line. This would not only vary the depth at full pool, but would also accommodate water level fluctuations. The pond is full, so I will likely not dive to put in the structure -- 3 feet of depth might be my maximum depth for me. Thank you!

another thought ...
use the smaller pieces in the shallow water and the larger ones as deep as you are confortable going. The smaller crays and utilize the smalle cracks etc better than the larger ones.

I litterally see tiny tiny crays in inches of water under very small pieces.

Do crayfish go deeper when winter is here? If so, then they might be easy pickings for the predators in the pond during winter if they have no place to hide.

good point!
I have never watched winter behavior my self , however I surely would think they utilize the deeper cover in the winter.

RAH:
I know you said you are thinking of adding to a depth up to about three feet. If you can get some in deeper it probably would be beneficial

My quick web checking indicates that pepershells burrow in the pond bottom to overwinter, but maybe someone can confirm?.

I would suspect if they had somethng to borrow or hide under they would have a better chance of survival as to be able to make lots of babies in the spring.

This is exactly what I have seen with our crays. The deeper I put the trap the larger ones we catch. I do agree from the waters surface to 8 feet of water is the best design if your going to spend the time doing it.

Cheers Don.

I plan on starting at the waters edge, but I will not be diving to place the stones - Any volunteers:)

diving might not be required, Im sure you could drop on top of each other in an area out a little deeper to make some habbitate out deeper.

Just ordered 14 tons of riprap. Now all I have to do is place it when it gets delivered! If the weather holds and I work fast enough, perhaps I will order the crayfish yet this fall.

FWIW I just dropped 120 tons of rip rap in my waterways and around the shore. The stuff I got is limestone so I ordered washed stone. I was afraid I might affect the PH of the pond if I suddenly dropped a bunch of stone covered in limestone dust in it. Even with the washed stone, I still got milky water next to the shore and the BF tadpoles immediately started gulping air off the surface.

I'll be placing stones for these jetties by hand, so I thought that I would start with just one truckload.

Did anyone else feel that twinge in their lower back after reading this?? Post some photos, please!

Need the exercise. Down 35 lbs since late July, but have 17 more lbs to reach target. As far as pictures, I'll post pics of the jetty, but not my sorry excuse for a stone mover:) You'll need to take a trip north to get those!

yep Sparkie, I always think ahead when it come to anything involving my back and lifting. And then I don't do it

Tracy

I think that I will wear a weight belt to protect my back since bow season is almost upon us.

RAH, I just received injection into my shoulder a few weeks back, I am hoping it gets better before season in a couple weeks.

Sucks
Tracy

Up until the last 6 weeks, I never had shoulder problems, but my bow shoulder has been giving me rotator-cuff pain lately. I can still shoot fine since my string shoulder is OK. The weather is fantastic right now. I hope it holds.

13.5 tons of riprap delivered yesterday. I placed 3 loader buckets full in the pond to begin the first crayfish jetty (after finishing another tractor project). After placing the first 3 loads, the rock pile seemed to look bigger than before I removed the 3 loads. It definitely gets harder to place the rocks as the water gets deeper, especially walking in the mud bottom carrying rocks! I am happy about the results so far. It looks like lots of hiding places for the crayfish are being created. Perhaps my son will "visit" this weekend, and we can bond over a rock "bucket brigade":)

Nice to hear. Pictures of your progress would be nice.

I'll try. The job is kinda messy with the mud and such, so it does not mix well with a camera. I'll definitely take a picture of the first jetty when its complete. I am building in an area that has a gradual slope, so we'll see how deep I am able to go. I am keeping the top about a foot out of the water which will be about 6" underwater when the pond reaches the "future" full pool. The pond is currently 6" under full pool, but I will be raising the pond full-pool level 12" over the next few years using a water control box. This will start once the marginal plants have become well established.

It is getting old (as am I) carrying rocks further out as the jetty is getting longer (now at 12 feet long). I am thinking of placing a piece of plywood in the bottom of an inflatable raft to float the rocks out to the end before placing them. Any experience with that from anyone?

What about a hay elevator for small square bails. One with a bottom in it? Or even a bean elevator?

I used a canoe when I stacked my rock piles out deeper..
loaded it down at the bank then unloaded it out in place .

I am placing each rock while standing in the water, rather than dumping them. Just trying to make the best use of the available rocks.

Those are some lucky crayfish all right. Nice job RAH.

Use a jon boat. Put rocks in and float them out to location. You can also do it with you riding in the boat .It is much easier to dump the rocks and move them than to try and place each one.

I do not have a jon boat to use. I am still in shallow water, so its not hard to lift rocks from a raft. I also find it hard to find rocks in the muddy water.

Done! 3 pics of jetty and 1 pic of trash guard.

Awesome job man!

That looks great RAH! Job well done.

Thanks. I will pay for all the rock moving with my back, but at least the water was not too cold. I ended up carrying them all out to place them. I will order papershell crayfish as soon as I hear back on the shipping cost. I bet that you can hardly wait for rain to fill your new pond!

RAH, nice job on the rock levy. I was thinking it is hard to add structure to a pond with water in it, but u did it

Tracy

Once that thing is 6 inches or so belosw the surface it will be a crayfish and bug magnet....Looks great...!

Now just about 4 more of them and your all set...LOL

Very nice RAH. All your work looks worth it.

Thanks to all that appreciate the work. Waiting for Smith Creek to answer my request for shipping cost for the crayfish. Any help identifying a grass shrimp supplier that ships to Indiana is appreciated.

Heard back from Smith Creek. Shipping is twice the cost of 100 crayfish, but I will hopefully order today.

Wow, I just noticed this. Looks great!

Thank you. My wife just ordered the crayfish but had trouble getting through the online ordering form. Don't know when they will be shipped but we got confirmation email on the order. Now I just need a source for PK shrimp.

let see, the crayfish grow quickly, reproduce avidly, and are highly sought after. They don't cost much but cost a lot to ship? I sense some entrepreneur with a grow out pond could joint this lucrative business.

Sounds like you could improve on the big fish farm shipping rates if you did USPS priority mail in a standard box with insulated foam panels in it (like the fattig shrimp arrived or the Zimmerman fish arrived) You could use the breathable bags, (kordon?) no water, just cool pack and 'mulch' to maintain moisture Flat rate boxes keep shipping around $20 max regardless where you go in the US.

I too tried ordering using online order forms and couldn't get through, couldn't get a real time email in reply, couldn't get a live person on the phone and gave up. I also was tempted by a free shipping quote but found out later it didn't apply to crayfish (never found out why)

Went out looking for my PK shrimp last night and none to be seen. For some reason they headed into deeper waters. Maybe with the cold front that came through something changed...

I might consider that in retirement if I can team up with someone to handle the business side. I have an area where a few small forage pond could work.

Jeff try sampling shrimp on warmer days of autumn - they should be very shallow in as little as 1" water anywhere vegetation is present. Sweeping the net is a great collection method. I think your hunch on the front is probably right on.

Crayfish arrived in good shape today and have been released. they headed for the dense plant mat rather than the rocks (both were within a foot of where they were released. Guess the trip make them hungry.

Nice!

Now all I need is a source of PK shrimp!

RAH if ya dont mind me asking how much did it cost you for a truck load of rock? and are we talking pickup truck load?

14.5 tons in a tandem dump truck. I cannot recall the price, but think a couple hundred bucks delivered. Local prices can vary widely depending how close you are to a quarry.