Last spring, my grandson and I caught somewhere around 1200+ baby crawfish in the bogs around the bottom land @ my place. Using a fine mesh fish net on the end of a 5' pole. Trapped in or around 4" of water in and amongst the flooded bog. These 1200 craws were in the 1/4" size with maybe 10 that were in the 2" size. At the time I had no idea of the type of crawfish were living in these bogs. Thinking these were native craws and thinking @ the time, was they would make a taste treat for my RES and CNBG. I had no lmb @ the time of the crawfish stocking. Since that time I have seen some of the crawfish have grown to approx. 5" and see them walking on the bottom of the pond along the or near the waters edge. I have decided these are Procambarus Clarkii or Red Swamp also known as Louisiana Crawfish. They do burrow along the waters edge but from what I can find out, is if water is constant level, the burrows will be shallow. The biggest problem I have seen with the burrows is, the Coons dig the burrows looking for an easy meal. And as I watch over the pond, I see a few 5" craws around and a few burrows, so I am pretty sure the CNBG and the RES put a hurt on those baby craws when they were first stocked. I now have Overtons legacy CBLMB and I am sure they will help to control excess crawfish in the pond. And I think these same crawfish would have come to the pond naturally, I just helped it along. So would I do it again, and I would. I don't think you can keep them out of a pond here in the E. Texas or N. Louisiana areas. And my thanks goes out to Mr. Bill Cody and Ewest for helping me through there posting here of crawfish and etc,etc .

Tracy

Sounds like a success story to me! Good deal...

TGW1 - Since the crayfish are established do you notice less FA and weed growth; or maybe little if any plant type growth in the forage pond? Since forage ponds are normally shallow they are prove to nuisance amounts of plant growth. Abundant numbers of crayfish will also increase the sediment/detritus turbidity in proportion to the number of crayfish per acre. Any notice of cloudy water in the forage pond? Cloudy water will reduce sunlight penetration and results in less plant growth.

All great questions. I am stocking several hundred PSC this spring for FA and muck control as well as for forage. If successful at getting the PSC established, I will post my observations as well.

Since my pond is close to Tracy's, I know that it will eventually hold crawfish. And, truth to tell, I'm glad to have more forage for the large BG and decent LMB.

My question is this: Is there a real difference between papershell CS and Red Swamp? I don't mind ordering the papershell if it is better for the fish and/or the dam, just wondering.

Tracy, my nephew and I used to catch small crawfish out of roadside ditches near Baton Rouge. We'd use them for bait on the flats on False River.

Anything would hit a small craw, but RES absolutely went crazy over them. I'm guessing the RES capacity to crush shells made crustaceans easier to eat than for other types of BG.

Also noticed that crawfish tended to be a big fish bait when it came to BG. Glass shrimp and crickets got even faster action, but were not so selective re size.

I have a big, big crawfish issue in my pond in Ky. I have 1 maybe 2 inch visibility. I have muck 4-6 inches deep all around the pond. How would you recommend getting rid of the crawfish if the pond is so muddy the LMB or RES can't see to eat them?

Bill Cody, I watched the crawfish denude any or all of the vegetation along one bank of the pond. Clean as can be. And as far a water clarity, I see no evidence of turbid water caused by the crawdads. I don't believe I have enough crawfish in the pond to cloudy the water. After adding all 1200+ of those little 1/4 " baby craws, I see just a few big ones around the pond. I do see skeletal remains of some along the shore. Eaten and enjoyed by others around the pond. Anthropic, when trying to identify these crawfish as native, I had to wait for them to grow to adult size and while doing so, I was reading all I could find on the crawdads in our area of E. Texas. I found out the Red Swamps have taken over this area of Texas and I am thinking if you add the paper shells, they will be killed or moved out by our native RSC. So I might be a waste of time and money stocking the PSC. But I am no expert like Bill Cody or Ewest. And to FortheFamily, everything I have read says the lmb will remove 98% of the craws in a pond. Here in Louisiana, they trap the craws for the food table so you might give that a try but again the stocking of lmb works best, this is based on all I have read and my experience is the 1200+ I added is down to maybe 50 or so holes around a 3.5 acre pond with only a few larger ones seen in or around the pond bottom.

PS, I started this thread so others might learn from what I am seeing.

Tracy

You could trap them and eat them. I personally do not care for seafood, but my wife does. Fresh crawdads to her taste similar to Lobster. They do to me also, but I don't like Lobster.

The crayfish sold in the grocery store that looks kind of nasty or crayfish on a food bar wife will not eat. She says tastes nasty.

But get some fresh ones, especially if they have been dining full feed on fish food, get a pot of boiling water, some crab/lobster boil seasoning mix, and dump the crays in boiling water.

Scuba diving club I belonged to for many years had an annual crawdad hunt. Would go to the lake and have a night snorkel/scuba dive and give prizes for "largest", "most", etc. Then right immediately after the hunt dump them all, big and small, in a big old cast iron pot of boiling water with some lobster spice in it. The crays would come out bright red looking like tiny lobsters. There were never any leftovers.

I know they eat them in the south regularly. But for the mid-west, it was kind of a novelty because crays are not raised commercially in our area. So the crawdad boil was more like a wild game feast with the wild game being local crawdads.

TGW1, the skeletal remains you see might be from them moulting and growing larger. Their exoskeleton doesn't stretch, so to get bigger they shed it. A young crawfish could moult almost once a month for their first year of life, then 3-5 times their 2nd and usually last year of life.

Bam! Delicious!

Those on the plate look very much like red swamp crayfish. Papershell crayfish do not get real large and are not very aggressive compared to some of the other common species, thus the papershell will likely get crowded out or "do" poorly with other pond dwelling crayfish present. The more aggressive, larger species will occupy the preferred habitat competing strongly with papershells. Survival of papershells in a pond will depend on who papershells have to compete with. IF the competing specie grows larger then generally the papershell will struggle to maintain a pond dwelling population.

esshup, There you go again. helping us (me) who never thought of them molting, and leaving their skeletal remains along the shore line. Yep, I have seen that, along with sometimes seeing just a big claw where I thought the birds or coons had a good meal. esshup thanks for expanding my small thinking.

Tracy

Just a claw probably DOES mean that a coon had a good meal!

Bill C or anyone else with experience with PSC,

I don't have any other crawfish in my puddle so I'm hoping the PSC will work for me. I'm also hoping their small size will keep them within the mouth gap of the YP, SMB and WE. I know PSC are known to burrow. How big a problem should I expect that to be? I'm ok with a smokestack here and there but don't want bank undercutting, etc.

I have papershells in my forage fish pond that has lots of discarded broken sidewalk cement pieces along most of the shoreline. I do not see any evidence of crayfish burrowing in the pond on the slopes except for the few Cambarus crayfish that invaded from the creek. I am pretty sure the abundant crayfish reside under the pieces of broken. When occasionally moving the cement pieces I see crayfish move out. This pond periodically gets drawn down 2-4 ft for various reasons so burrows / holes in the basin would be apparent. The Cambarus/Procambarus spp. move out of the pond and make burrows often the burrows have chimneys.

Tracy, or anybody else with crawfish,

One of my concerns in stocking crawfish is it might upset the pond balance. Specifically, in my situation, it will distract the predators from my SF forage and create potential over population issues there. Have you noticed that your predators are moving away from fish for dinner in favor of "lobster?" Just wondering whether we need to spend a little more time thinking about the impact on the pond balance before we stock additional forage for our predators. I am not a pro but it seems every change made to the pond community has impact, sometimes, despite our best intentions, with a downside.

I also have backed away from adding crawfish to my pond for fear of upsetting the balance.

Bill, the only downside I have seen is where the coons have dug into the crawfish holes along the bank when looking for a meal. It makes the crawfish holes much larger. In my researching, it told how the craws will borrow shallow when water levels remain fairly constant. And I am guessing it might make an easy meal for a determined coon. As far as offsetting any balance in my pond, I would say I have seen nothing to indicate an out of balance pond. I have or should have quite a few RES from my heavy stocking of them into the pond. And I know that RES love to eat small crawfish. In the first early spring I stocked a lot of very small craws and after that I would see them in the really shallow water and they would scoot into deeper as I walked the shore. I think that is where the lmb might take a meal. Also after stocking so many, I now see a few 5"ers, so I am guessing the pond has balanced. And Bill, you ever herd the saying "verity is the spice of life"?

Tracy

Thanks for the inputs guys!

My situation is this. The SMB, YP and couple LMB kept BG recruitment to little or none last summer. Pretty much all gone at less than 2 inch size. The 2 to 3 inch PS I stocked fall of 2014 did not spawn but I expect the survivors to be old/large enough to spawn this spring. No sign of YP spawn last spring either (mostly male stocked I think) but stocked 25 mostly 7 inch ones (mostly female I was told) last fall so hope to get a spawn from them this spring as well. In anticipation of adding the forage of new spawn PS and YP to the BG spawn this spring, I stocked 10 WE last fall as additional predators.

With that said, I only saw "OK" growth for the YP and SMB last summer. I know crawfish is a preferred forage for them and the WE so stocking craws should help with growth. From Tracy's input, it sounds like I could get an initial feeding frenzy if I stock the crawfish but that the population will reduce quickly. I also know that there are always traps if the SF start to over populate but I hate wasting fish by throwing them on the bank to die. I think I will stock the craws (PSC). Hopefully, they will help control the FA as well as improve the growth of my predators. So many interactions to consider!

Bill, here in Louisiana, I have learned they don't throw anything away or on the bank here. Everything is eatable here. They just give it a Cajun name and so you might never know what is in it. There is a name for fish soup but not sure what it is, just cook up some rice and blend it all together with some spice seasoning and some Louisiana Red Sauce.

Tracy

Tracy,
Sounds like a fish Court Boullion (Cajuns mis-pronounce it as couvillion). I'd eat that stuff with canned tuna fish in it......and, I don't even like canned tuna fish...
Charlie

My swag would be to add the crawfish to help the fish grow faster. I don't think that they will take away from your Sunfish predation issue. If the predatory fish are not growing that fast (hood RW) then I don't think having more food for them will be bad - including YOY sunfish.

Look at it from an engineering/math standpoint. How many predators do you have in there? How much weight do you expect them to put on this coming year? How many pounds of YOY fish will that take? Will there be enough YOY fish??

There obviously wasn't enough for them in 2015.

Once you do that drill, then make a decision on the crawfish.

I like the math approach.

Using the numbers for desired yearly growth of 1 pound growth for SMB and LMB, 6 oz growth for YP and 8 oz for WE and assuming 8 pounds of forage per pound of growth, I need 450 pounds of YOY SF. I don't know if these number assumptions are realistic so if somebody has better ones I would like to hear them.

If the numbers are close, I am way short on forage, especially since a very large percentage of my YOY are consumed by YP when they are around the 1 inch size, or smaller, so they don't weigh very much! Even if the PS spawn, it won't help that much. I will definitely stock the craws. I'm also hoping to get some other forage going like, scuds, grass shrimp and a hearty minnow species.

What do you guys think about this idea? My BG population seems to be heavily skewed towards males. I say this because a good 80% of the nests built during spawn end up uninhabited. How about I stock a few adult female BG (maybe 5 to 10)?

I'd give some thought to stocking feed trained YP and getting a good feeding program going. My concern with BG is them getting ahead of the predators if you are wanting to keep it a more SMB/WE pond vs a LMB pond.

If that's not the case, then stock the female BG.

I think you are even lighter on forage fish than you think in your YOY poundage requirements. Remember, the fish have to be of the optimal size to minimize caloric exchange. (expend as much energy as that mouthful of food provides)

Thanks for the input. The only fish I really feed pellets to are the CC as they are put and take although I admit I am interested in supplemental feeding the other species if Optima comes out with a muti-size pellet.

What do you guys think of this idea...

Stock GSH and/or BNM along with the craws (PSC)? Take some of the pressure off the SF spawn so I can get a little recruitment from them and provide extra forage for the predators at the same time. I would still try to get scuds and/or grass shrimp going as well.

Stocking GSH is easy but BNM are not available for sale here, as far as I know, so it will require me buying breed stock and raising some stockers on my own.

Bill D. From my casual reading of the latter part of this thread, it appears to me your pond fish growth problem is mainly due to an improper initial fish stocking primarily in terms of balanced numbers, thus a food shortage occurred in 2015. Maybe I am missing some information for your pond history? Too few fish stocked can at times result in poor or not enough recruitment to feed the predators. Thus you are now "scrambling" to boost the forage fish base?. If this is the case, for other new members reading this, this is why we first suggest to first build a very strong diverse forage fish community before stocking most of the predators.

You might very well be correct. A quick history. Pond was originally built fall of 2013. Pond was roughly 1/4 acre at the time. Now about 1/2 acre do to renovation in 2015 which probably disrupted BG spawning. Roughly, here is how it was initially stocked. In April 2014 FHM were stocked. By midsummer there were lots of FHM swimming around and 50 adult 5 to 6 inch BG and 25 BG 2 to 3 inch were stocked. They spawned maybe late August. In September or so, 8 SMB and 1 LMB, all around 8 inches, were stocked. In November 50 YP at 5 to 7 inches were stocked along with 100 PS 2 to 3 inch.

All thoughts are appreciated so others can learn and don't repeat my mistakes.(kinda late for me! )

Edit: Was looking at my notes, I also stocked an additional 10 lbs of FHM fall of 2014.

You mean like this?

Bill D. -

I'm no expert in fish or pond management so remember that as you read on.

It definitely seems that your forage base was way under recommended numbers for predatory fish. The 9 bass around 8 inches would have devoured FHMs and BG fry quickly. So it then was a game of how fast could the BG reproduce? And is there structure/cover to let those fry grow to small and then medium edible size for the bass?

It seems like you are missing or may be missing forage fish of correct size for the bass to grow - because you had adults, 2-3 inchers, and then the fry. The 2-3 inchers were fair game for the 8" LMB. That bass would have dined on those 25 fish easily. Provided they were found by the LMB of course.

Interesting discussion and I appreciate everyone's input. I find it interesting that the predominately YP and SMB predator base with 1 LMB controlled the BG population. When this stocking plan and rate were discussed a year or so ago on the forum, most folks thought the YP and SMB could not control the 75 BG and cautioned me that I would need to help by seining/trapping to keep them under control. Perhaps that will happen next summer now that pond renovations will no longer be disrupting spawning activity and creating turbid conditions. One other wild card was thrown into the mix late last summer when a well intentioned neighbor added a couple more 8 to 10 inch LMB.

At any rate, the PSC will be stocked when they become available in June. The habitat of rip rap and broken concrete are in place. Any thoughts on how many I should stock? I am currently thinking of stocking 400.

With 3 LMB you no doubt now have a male and female LMB. This fishery will be very interesting to watch its progress as it ages. I am very interested in population of YP & SMB in 3 - 4 years - 2020.

Bill C.,

I was hoping to get the LMB out early spring. The original plan was to only have one and remove it when it reached 14 inches but the deed is done. If you, or others, think there is valuable knowledge to be gained, I will leave them in and see what happens.

The pond is small. If it turns into a real mess, starting over doesn't cost near as much as it would with a bigger pond and I am all for moving the pond science forward.

With 3 fish, there is a 25% chance that they are all one gender if they are a random sample from a population that has a 1:1 gender ratio.

That is only if you want them to be all one gender. It is little known in statistical analysis, but Murphy's law changes the outcome potential to 90% for the undesired outcome.

Bill, as far as the numbers of crawfish to stock, I am not sure but if I had a smb and yp pond, I would want to stock the craws prior to their spawning. my thinking is yoy crawfish or small craws would feed the smb and yp. so, would the psc you order be to large to feed the yp and smb?

Tracy

For me that is 99%!

Tracy,

From the Missouri Dept of Conservation

Size: Adult length: about 1¾ to 3½ inches.

Papershell Crayfish Life Cycle

"This species excavates burrows as deep as the water table as the habitat dries or winter approaches. Mating can occur at almost any time of year but apparently peaks in late summer or early fall. Eggs hatch in spring. The young remain with the female for a week or more, until they complete two molts, usually dispersing by June. The young molt frequently, and some mate their first year. Most males die after the mating season, and most females die after producing their first brood. "

Based on this, if I stock in June, they will either be females, with berry or young attached, but more likely, last years spawn so they will not have young until 2017.

Assuming scenario two is most likely to occur, if I stock the craws in June, some will have to survive predation a full year before I will see little ones. Another option would be to wait and stock late August or early September. Thoughts?

Expect the panfish to prey heavily on the newly hatched crayfish. Abundant shallow cover is imperative for YOY crayfish survival. If you don't see evidence of crayfish spawn in mid summer you obviously did not stock enough or habitat for them was inadequate. If you want a crayfish spawn this year you will have to get them Mar-April. In my experience most papershells are done carrying eggs in NW Ohio by sometime in early to mid-May. Locations further south will have an earlier spawn cycle. I would buy more crayfish than you need. The current bass and larger YP will 'target' your stocker crayfish.

Unfortunately, the only place I have found to buy PSC is Smith Creek and they don't start shipping until June. They stop shipping late September. Sounds like my best chance of establishing a population would be to stock heavy in September. I would think the Sept. stockers will be primarily 2016 YOY and mature females with berry. Agree?

See this for info on Craws.


https://srac.tamu.edu/index.cfm/getFactSheet/whichfactsheet/195/

Interesting read. Any thoughts on how a crawfish compares to fat head minnows as far as surviving in low oxygen environments?

Keep in mind that the papershell crayfish is not a Procambarid crayfish, although the papershell crayfish (Orconectes or Orconectid crayfish) and Procambarid crayfishes do have numerous similar habits.

Smith Creek no doubt doesn't ship crayfish until June because they want breeders to produce a large crop of young for the new season before breeders are sold. Those purchased in June will be primarily adults and many of those in the fall will mostly be Young Of Year crayfish. I doubt that you will see any papershell females in 'berry' of those received in September -October.

Thanks for your patience Bill!

Here is my confusion. The Missouri Dept of Conservation except from above stated, "Most males die after the mating season, and most females die after producing their first brood." Considering a June 2016 stocking...So if the male breeders died in the late summer of 2015 and the female breeders died in the spring after they raised the brood, how can the crawfish being provided for June stocking be mature breeders? Are you saying, they will be mature females getting ready to die?

When would you stock them if you were in my shoes given the time slot of June thru September? How many for about a .4 acre pond? I won't hold you to your answers but I sure could use your thoughts!

FH have good low O2 tolerance. Craws have better low O2 tolerance.

Procambarid crawfish
are generally tolerant of low oxygen
levels, but persistent exposure to
extremely low oxygen concentrations
can reduce production. Juveniles are
most susceptible to chronically low
levels. When dissolved oxygen
remains consistently below 1 ppm
throughout the day for several
weeks, crawfish become sufficiently
stressed that they may stop feeding.
Levels consistently below 0.5 ppm
may affect molting and reduce crawfish
survival. Other important water
quality variables are pH, total hardness,
total alkalinity, iron, hydrogen
sulfide content, ammonia, nitrite and
salinity (salt content). Desirable values
are between 6.5 and 8.5 for pH,
more than 50 ppm as CaCO3 for
total hardness, more than 50 ppm as
CaCO3 for total alkalinity, less than
0.1 ppm for ferrous iron, less than
0.002 ppm for hydrogen sulfide, less
than 0.06 ppm for un-ionized ammonia,
less than 0.6 ppm for nitrite, and
less than 6 ppt for salinity.

Fatheads In OH lab study, females exposed to dissolved oxygen of 2.0 mg/l for 11 months produced fewer eggs, those exposed to dissolved oxygen 1.0 mg/l for 11 months did not spawn . In MO study, mean critical dissolved oxygen .73 mg/l . Tolerates low dissolved oxygen. An OH lab study found fry survival reduced at dissolved oxygen less than 4.0 mg/l, and growth reduced significantly at dissolved oxygen less than 7.0 mg/l . In an OH lab study, incubation was significantly increased at successively lower dissolved oxygen concentration .

BillD. I don't believe the statement of ""Most males die after the mating season, and most females die after producing their first brood."". Don't fully believe everything you read. In reality, it probably depends. I know some of my papershell crayfish are 3 yrs old. I more likely believe a longer life span than two years as info in this next link especially if predators are few to none and habitat including food source is good:
http://crayfishblue.weebly.com/life-cycle.html
says: A crayfish reaches adult size in 3-4 months & its life span is 3-8 years long.

Lifespan: about 2-3 years, but varies with species. Some live longer.
http://www.anapsid.org/crayfish.html

Orconectes sanborni Growth and life span - 37 months. from OSU study:
https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/1811/22357/V076N2_073.pdf;jsessionid=8381253119CC757A5005AAD57BBD4008?sequence=1

Papershell crayfish are similar to rusty crayfish which have a typical life span of 3-4 yrs.
http://www.in.gov/dnr/files/RUSTY_CRAYFISH.pdf

I would stock them whenever you can get them. If predators will be present then stock more the longer they have to be in the pond before they "spawn". Every day they live they have a chance of being eaten by a bass. How many for a 0.4 acre pond? Good question. For me it would depend on how many predators were present and how much habitat was present. For starters, if you want to be sure you have some survive to lay eggs, I would assume that each predator would eat 1 crayfish per day forever how many days before the crayfish laid eggs. I caught a 9" YP one time with 2 two adult crayfish in its stomach.

Wow! Thanks so much!

Thanks Bill!

I have broken concrete piles, a boulder pile and lots of rip rap on the shoreline (if the water level is not too low) for habitat. I have some 2 inch PVC so I will cut some short sections of it and add a couple areas with that for refuge before I stock the PSC (Orconectes immunis). Only other thing I can think of doing is to stock 5 pounds of FHM right before I stock the PSC to distract the predators some and maybe reduce PSC stocking predation losses by giving them time to scurry to find refuge.

ewest, thank you for posting the information on the Red Swamp and white river craws. I believe both species are common to my area of E. Texas where I border Louisiana. I followed these crawfish from 1/4" size originally stocked in my pond to the larger Red, orange colored ones that have matured in the pond. I have seen schools of small 1" crawfish scoot as I walked into view. I watched them denude one shoreline of all plants, and have found some with only one claw, I think the other clay was lost in battle with fish or other crawfish. it's been interesting watching what all goes on with them in the pond. And I am happy they make shallow vertical burrows. The only downside I have seen is where the coons will dig them up, not sure how successful the coons are in getting a meal.

Tracy

The main problem for crayfish survival occurs when the crayfish leave their secure hiding places to forage in the 'open' for food. Then they become very vulnerable to predation. Crayfish do not swim nearly as fast nor are they as agile as fish which makes them a fairly easy catch. Some crayfish species are more aggressive and defensive against predators than other crayfish species.

I have found if you stack pallets neatly as done when they are empty and In storage. the space between each pallet is about 4 inches and the crayfish will congregate in between each layer. I snorkeled in my pond this past weekend and looked in between and saw bunches of them.

Bobby excellent idea and resulting observation. The stacked pallets were a very good idea - discovery. They provide crayfish 'secretive' protective cover from larger perdators and allow enough light to penetrate inside the pallet stack to grow food (periphyton) for the crayfish.

Cool idea Bobby. Thanks! I suspect my YP can swim into a conventional pallet 4 inch gap but I have a whole bunch of 1 x 1 inch hardwood strips. I think I will make some mini-pallets and give them a try!

One could use narrow strips between pallets of the stack to produce areas where adult perch could not enter nor prey on the smaller crayfish. Narrow separating strips could have different thicknesses to provide an optimum spacing between layers for refuge.

Bill, I have some pallet 'doublestackers' and hoped that this would indeed provide good hiding places. Come spring I may have to wade in and try to see how much they have settled down into the sediment. I want the bottom pallet opening between top and bottom of the bottom pallet layers to be open for 'hideouts'. If it is silted in I'll want to mount the pallet stack on something to try to keep it from settling or silting.

When I made them I lined the horizontal planks of the bottom pallet the same orientation as the horizontal planks of the top pallet. Is there an advantage to crisscrossing the top pallet 90 degrees orientation to the bottom one?

Experimentation and observation will be your best answer.

Bobby,

Just to be clear, so the crayfish will climb into the upper levels of your pallets, kind of like a crayfish hotel?

yes like a crayfish condo...

I have about 3 stacks 4 high. I used long wood screws to secure them together in place them cinder blocks to sink them. My thoughts are if you went higher they would inhabit all the tunnel as they can go from level to level.

In fact while snorkeling last Sunday I tried to grab a few big ones and they just slid down to the next level to avoid my hand on the level I was reaching in on.

Oh, BTW....No wetsuit either...water had slight chill but refreshing....

Awesome! I will put together a few and get them in before I try stocking craws. I want all the habitat I can get to protect the stockers until a population is established. I can always remove the "condos" later if the craws get out of control to make them easier "lobster nuggets" for the predators! A lot easier to remove the "condos" than concrete slabs!

I think I'll pass on taking a dip in my puddle right now, even with a wet suit! Forecast is high of 6 for Monday with subzero for lows next week.

When is the best time to try and see crayfish? I stocked 50 back before I had put in any YP, but haven't seen any since. I also stocked 400 grass shrimp and haven't seen one since. It's a newer pond with zero plant growth. I dumped in a lot of 8" rock in several places around the pond. Shine a light down in the rock at night?
I'm iced over right now with very cold temps coming, so no swimming for a few days.

Spring and summer sightings for me. Sometimes I will see a large one walking the pond bottom or I will see them sticking their head out of a burrow that lays in the pond bottom along the waters edge. As the lmb grow larger, I wonder if I will continue to see a craw walking the pond bottom in the daylight? Do u see any crawfish burrows? I am waiting to get more vegetation before I trap and stock grass shrimp. it will be some work to get them and I don't want to feed the fishies one snack.

Tracy

Bobby if you want to catch them by hand go out at night snorkeling with a dive light. Shine the light on them and slip your other hand around behind them. Lot easier to catch by hand at night. I think the light kind of blinds them and they do not see your hand slipping behind them.

Might want to put a shortie wet suit on though. Will feel even cooler at night.

I saw this video on how this guy prepares his crayfish for the cooking. Is this how you folks prepare them before a crawfish boil? He pulls their guts out their rear (alimentary canal he calls it...)?

See this video and fastforward to about the 1:30 mark:

CC,
We saturate the crawfish live in salty water for about 15 mins. in order for them to evacuate mud and (whatever) is in their system. Then we dump the crawfish live into a pot of seasoned boiling water...let the water come back up to a vigorous boil for ~2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat source and let them soak for approx. 45 mins to an hour. We don't pull the heads off until we are eating them.

This thread just keeps getting better! Covers stocking, catching, cooking and eating! What more can you ask for?!!

Here, we figure 4 to 5 lbs per person when cooking them up. We also suck the heads for the spices and the fat. There are a few T shirts around that have comments about the sucking of the heads lol

Tracy

A couple of years back, a buddy of mine and I went to a local seafood restaurant here in Houston for "all you can eat Lobster". I think I ate 6 and brought 2 home (as it was the last night offered for the season). Being from Louisiana, I'm no stranger to a crawfish. I had the heads of these lobsters pulled back like an open hood of a car and was getting some of the fat out of the head....I don't think the wait staff was prepared for that...
Charlie