There is a good thread on the Jennie's board about catching and cooking crawdads. I have never done it before, but I sure love shellfish!

So where are some good lakes, streams, or rivers to put out traps around here? Preferably around the Sound since I am in Puyallup and would rather not go all the way to the Peninsula (unless I combine it with a fishing trip!).

And what type of bait do you guys use? Anything that is pretty nasty and smelly?

Thanks ahead of time for any posts!

Oh, one more question. What are the regs on catching these guys? Any limit, size, season limitations? I will read my regs tonight, but I don't ever recall seeing anything about crawdads.

Thanks again!

Spanaway lake got some crawdads, but if you have to find rocky bottom to get'em outta there. I hear mineral lake's pretty good. Lot of people use chicken, cat food, and all kinds weird stuff, but i found using the leftovers after cleaning fish works the best, i usually put it old panty hose and freeze it, then tie it to the bottom of my trap. As it thaws under water the blood and scent milk out.

Try using bacon fat. Works like a champ!

I can't believe they have a season and size limit on crawdad's now.

If you don't want to put out traps just shine a flashlight in the water at night and you can usually pick them up.

Never tried to catch them but I have seen a lot of them diving in lake Washington, near Magnuson Park.

I new a fella that commercial fished Lake Wash.
and he used Fred Meyer's brand of cat food.

Cigar

Thanks for the info guys. I am going to get some traps and give this a try. I hear that they taste pretty good. Are there any pollution issues for the crawdads in Lake Washington? Bottom feeders tend to get a concentration of any pollutants present.

Thanks again!

PSC;
I didn't see LW on the list of polluted beaches. There were problems long ago, but Metro has pretty much cleaned things up.

The season is listed May 1 - Oct 31(I think thats what it said) 3 1/4 inch minimum, 10pounds in the shell limit. Sounds pretty fair to me!

Where's the butter!?!

PowerStroke,
Where I saw all the crayfish diving were just south(about 50 yards, just before the private property) of the boat launch @ Magnuson and about 30 yards out. There are big rock beds and they are just crawling all over. You might have good luck catching "Golf Balls" too, we got about a dozen. they are not good eating but great for whackin.

Watch out when 'dadin the Kirkland area. Seems like every year there is a sewer leak in Juanita Bay that closes the beach for a week or two. I would imagine alot of that stuff ends up on the bottom and becomes part of the permanent environment there.

Just to save you the trip Mineral hasn't been very good for crawdaddies for a few years now. Back when they did the crawdad feast here they pretty much wiped them out. some high lakes have crawdads if you don't mine hiking.

Have caught and eaten many crawdads, they are delicious!

You can also find them in the Sammamish slough and in Cranberry lake up at deception pass.

If you're going to go after crawdads anywhere around here though, be sure you do everything you can to place your traps without being seen, and don't leave a trace of where your trap is either, unless you don't mind having them stolen one after another!

ANYBODY HERE MAKE THERE OWN TRAPS? AND DOES ANYONE HAVE A DRAWING ON HOW TO MAKE THEM, THIS SOUNDS KINDA FUN, ONE YEAR I WAS FISHING THE SNAKE, I FOUND A CLAW FROM A CRAWDAD THAT ALMOST JUST AS BIG AS MY HAND, IF HELD IN A CLAW TYPE FASHION.. **BERKLEY BOy**

this sounds funny, shocked me too, but the cheapest place I found my crawdad trap was the Elbe chevron gas station.
Seemed like everything else in there was expensive as hell but their traps.

Place your pots/traps out at night. These critters are much more active after dark.

Beezer