Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Show off your catch Fish Trap Catch- NW Ohio Pond- A lobster?

For starters a bit of background: I moved into a new home September 2013 and the home had an existing pond, but the pond was not well taken care of. Condition upon purchase was a pond inside of an entire perimeter of 8' thick cattail. Slowly, I have been making good progress on getting the pond back to healthy. Cattails have been getting killed off (Rodeo) and I just built an aeration system with Bill Cody's help after seeing multiple dead fish after ice cover the past two winters. The pond is approx. 0.4 surface acres and up to 9 feet deep. After the fish kills Bill suggested I build a fish trap to see what was even left, and maybe learn what was in the pond to begin with since it was already stocked when I moved in (he did say it was just bluegill, but I have seen two LMB dead). I have so far caught two small BG (3"), but yesterday I went out and checked and found what looked to be a lobster in the trap! This is freshwater and I guess freshwater lobster do exist. Was looking for some feedback or help with identification though, maybe I am just crazy. My realistic side thought thats just a crawdad or crawfish. However; I have never seen to be even remotely close to this size. The overall length tail to end of claw was over 8" on this catch yesterday. The claws opened up to approximately 2" wide and the body was 3-4" in circumference. Any help would be appreciated.

Also, if there is one what are the chances there are more? Ideally I would like to not only fish the pond, but also do some light swimming in it for my family when the weather warms up in northwestern Ohio. I don't know how comfortable I would be swimming with the guys around since they could easily latch on to toes walking on the bottom of the pond.

Side note: I just brought my aerator on line 04/03/15. Could the new aeration be the reason these guys are surfacing? Are they traditionally buried in the muck? I strongly believe this is the first time this pond has ever seen aeration since it was dug back in 2001.

Again your help is greatly appreciated.

Crayfish are freshwater and I believe lobster by definition are salt water dwellers. All the crayfish I've seen have more slender claws and your guy has the slender claws of a crayfish. But that is a very large specimen. They say up to 6" for a crayfish, and you have that.

That is a big crawdad! Get a dozen or so like that and I'll bring the taters and corn and we'll have us a boil!!

I am pretty sure that you have one of the infamous red swamp crayfish. They are known for their large size and culture as human food. They are not native to Ohio and are transplants and hitchhikers from south central US. As of 2000 there were five known locations for them in OH. They are evidently spreading their distribution.

That crawdaddy is ....MASSIVE....!!!!

Feasting on fish kills and growing large !

Hey Bill, are those Red Swamp crawfish known as heavy burrowers or otherwise seen as harmful to a pond?

Thank you everyone for the help! I'm assuming if there is one, there are likely more. Should I be worried about going for a swim in the pond with these guys present?

My son had a crawfish boil last night and I swear the craws would have passed as twins to the pictured one here. It was like eating baby lobsters with a spicy kick of sliced Oranges, Brussels sprouts, Potatoes, Onions and Corn on the cobb were all added to the mix. I would see how many more of those things u can catch

Tracy

I doubt you have to worry about going swimming.

Sunil is correct. When swimmers are present the crayfish are doing their best to avoid them; getting as far away as possible.

Bill I agree with your Red Swamp call - what do you know about them? Burrowers? Out compete native crays? Are they potentially negative influence?

I think red swamp crays are primarily a pond species that does not do a lot of tunneling or making deep burrows because they are raised and harvested in ponds. If they burrowed a lot it would be harder to harvest them. I know nothing about their competitive nature with other crayfish, but since they get big I suspect they bully other crayfish.