Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Who has tried Crawfish?

Since its so hard to get threadfins right now and I cant move but a few hundred at a time from my other pond. I was thinking of getting about 150 lbs of crawfish to supplement the bass until I get the threadfins restablished. I found a crawfish farm in La. that will ship them to the airport near my house for 2.50 a lbs. Thats the best price I could find. I wonder how long those 150 lbs will last before the bass have eaten all of them? Who all has tried them and what was you results?

I live in an area where there are thousands of acres of rice fields. When they drain them you can walk along and fill a 5 gal bucket in minutes, if you are fairly experienced at it. We either boil them bad boys or feed them to the fishes. It's amazing as the LMB have not seen them for months, but boy do they remember them. They hit them as soon as they hit the water and comeback for more. A very good meal, been in many LMB natural diet forever. I swear by them, plus, they are free.

I am going with the baitfish cocktail plan in a new pond now. And once the rice fields drain, annually, here comes the mud bugs. That will make the baitfish last a little longer. i

I put a couple hunderd in my pond a few years ago, and when I renovated the pond I didn't find a one. Now, I didn't have any habitat for them to hide in either, so that could be a reason. I caught CC that had them in their stomach, hard shell and all.

After renovation, there are 2 different piles of rip-rap and cement blocks/pieces of broken concrete, and I added 10# last Fall. We'll see if any will make it. So far I haven't seen any this Spring, but they are hard to find unless I really go looking for them and turn over rocks.

Just make sure that the species that you are getting will won't cause more damage than good. I know of at least one lake in Wi. that was denuded of submerged plants in a few years of having Rusty Crayfish introduced by some well meaning bucket stocker.

Are rusty crawfish the kind that they sell to eat? These are those red ones that you always see in restaurants. I was just wanting to divert there attention away from the shad long enough for them to spawn.

I wish I could find loads of them for free. I tried seeting some traps in local creeks but when you only catch 10 or so per trap it doesn't do much good.

Heres the link to the place where I was thinking of getting them from.
http://www.lacrawfish.com/Airport-PickupbrSelect-Live-Crawfishbrstrong90-100-lbsstrongb-P260.aspx

Typically it is red swamp crayfish you see for sale for eating. However, there are a few other important species. Be very careful what species you get. Ask the place you are buying them from what species they are and I would also check with your DNR to make sure you are legally allowed to import them and what species are allowed. Virginia has banned the import of live red swamp, northern(viril) and rusty crayfish because they have all caused issues. I have been trapping crayfish from a local lake and moved them to my pond. Several were egg(larvae) laden females so I am hoping they drop lots of babies this spring and help take hold in the pond.

That is what I primarily do. I trap locals, hope for berried up females and relocate them. We have a big crawdad festival near us and I think that is the type I am catching. But in the river we have another species, that is bigger and has way bigger claws. Most of those are exported to Sweden and Norway. I do not relocate them. Sometimes I actually fish for them when I am bored. They will clamp right on to a dead bg or other small dead fish. If you pull them up slowly they will hang on when the break the water surface, then I lower them into a 5 gal bucket and they let go. Most I have ever got to hang on is 6. My kids love that. We set up little cage matches but eventually we put them on the ground and let them walk into thier new home. Crawdads are entertaining if nothing else.

Better be careful Pond Frog... If PETA gets word of you having crayfish fights, they may petition the nutty politicians in Cali to ban that practice as well! HAHA No dog fighting, no cock fighting and definitely no crayfish fighting!

Jes we sell a good many and selliong quite a bit more this year due to lack of shad. THey do well with cover and godo hardness. Our price is $3.25/lb. for 200 lb orders. I think these folks are great and at $2.59/lb delivered that close Very fair. We wil have some friday out in Greene county if you want to meet Josh and grab a few bags- give us a holler.