Crawdad's

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not4un
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Crawdad's

Post by not4un »

Ok I just got a crawdad trap and was gonna attempt to catch some crawdads to use for bait. Was wondering if anyone has ever tried this and how and what do you use to catch them.
fishfan
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Re: Crawdad's

Post by fishfan »

I've herd an open can of catfood or tuna fish works the best! Just open the can, put it in the trap and your done! Just what I herd!

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g-man
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Re: Crawdad's

Post by g-man »

get a can of wet dog food, and poke a bunch of holes in the can. that outta load the trap.
Shawn
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Re: Crawdad's

Post by Shawn »

KFC chicken bones with a little skin works great!Are you using the dads for bait?
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Re: Crawdad's

Post by Cooch »

Crawdads will be tough to find in shallow areas right now with the cold water. We always used raw bacon with a split shot on a small snoopy like rod. This works exceptionally well in ditches and ponds. I've got a trap out back in the river at all times. Typically, once a week I replenish with a few new strips. Hadn't caught one fer about three weeks, found an 8" dandy in there today munchin away on that three week old piece of bacon. Any fatty, greasy meat will work, I've even used striper inards back in October.

But by far, the bacon holds up best. Pork, crawdads and bass, what do I know! LOL
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Re: Crawdad's Hey Cooch

Post by mark poulson »

Before it leaked and ruined my hardwood floors, I had a 50 gallon freshwater tank in my livingroom, with a couple of crawdads that my friend had left over in it.
I used it to check out the actions of different soft plastic rigs from time to time.
One day I dropped a fat Ika in that I had tied on from the previous days fishing. It was still slimey from the Megastrike I usually coat them with. Well, the crawdads attacked the Ika, and the bigger one took it back behind a rock, and wouldn't let it go, even when I lifted it up out of the water.
I don't know if it was the Megastrike, or if they thought it was a dead crawdad, and they were cannibals, but it was an hour before I could sneak it away from them.
I'd sure try Megastrike on any trap baits I set out.
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Jim Conlow Sr.
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Theoretically crawdads hibernate when the water gets

Post by Jim Conlow Sr. »

When the water gets down to 52 degrees but I have caught bass that spit up crawdads in 47 degree water. I Do think the get pretty inactive as the water gets cold.
When I was a kid, my sister and used to catch enough out of small creeks to feed our family on the tails in about a half hour by rolling up a slice of bacon rind with the fat side out and tieing a string around it and dabbling it in the creek. You could see the craw fish coming from several feet a way. You should watch them take one bite when they take the second bite you slowly lift them out of the water. Once they have had that first taste they will not turn loose as long as you do it slowly. A slice of bacon will work just as good but when I was a kid we always bought slab bacon so we had the rind
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not4un
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Re: Crawdad's

Post by not4un »

Shawn yes using crawdads for bait if you have never tried them it works great. I use them when I take my daughter out fishing I have never gone w/out catching bass on crawdads no matter how cold it is out.
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Re: Crawdad's

Post by shifterpilot2001 »

When I was growing up in Tahoe.... my sister and I too would go to the beach out on the rocky peninsula of Burnt Cedar and use bacon and hot dogs to catch them.... man, Tahoe produced some big craws.....we would catch buckets full and take em home and cook em....
Shawn
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Re: Crawdad's

Post by Shawn »

I do use dads and sometimes its absolutely awsome!I use 6lb test and most fights take a while.I don't really see people using them and that's kinda cool.I think my boys like to play with the dads more than anything and the catfish are a fun bonus as well.What's your best limit? Biggest bass? biggest catfish?
Vince Lazzeroni
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Re: Crawdad's

Post by Vince Lazzeroni »

Can I ask how you fish crawdad's? I saw someone mention 6lb test. What size hook and how do you hook them? Any added weight needed? Just toss 'em out there and let them do the work? Thanks for any info.
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Andy Giannini
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Re: Crawdad's

Post by Andy Giannini »

When I fished for them, there are no hooks. They clamp on with claws, and refuse to let go, just reel them in slow, and in the bucket they go.

Often anglers mistake a crawdad bite for a Bass bite. They will attack your jig trailers or plastics at times. When the craw has it in its claws, he tries to fend off the other dads by escaping with the goods. The tail gets pumped for a quick retreat with the treat.

And that feels just like a "THump!" when you get bit by a Bass.

Tell tale signs on the bait are no fish teeth marks, but nice slices in your plastic trailer for example. Or pieces of your bait neatly sliced off upon hookset.

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not4un
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Re: Crawdad's

Post by not4un »

The only catfish I have caught on them was about 2lbs. The biggest bass was just over 3lb but at Mc Clure there have been many days of catching 50 fish or more. I use a small live bait hook and hook them thru the tail from underneath so the the hook is facing to the back of the tail and I put a split shot about 18in up above the hook. The key to fishing them is to try to keep the boat as still as possible lot of times I will anchor in 1 place. Just let it sink to the bottom when the fish are real active they will grab it on the way down. If not once it gets to the bottom just lift ur rod every once in a while to keep the dad from going under a rock.
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Re: Crawdad's

Post by Shawn »

I use cheap $1.97 6lb mono line with no weight on a spinning rod .They sink better with the light line{if they don't hold air :x ].I tail hook them with a #1 gami offset worm hook and I work them sorta fast on and near the bottom{ if they reach the bottom! :D ] I have lost a few good fish but its a chance worth taking :) I've read where people nose hook them and stitch them in.I just don't have the patience fer that and prefer to kinda fish it like a jig and it works fine and I do well.PLEASE practice C and R as this can be unbeatable technique at times.I've cought 25fish off one spot between 3.5 and 10 on almost every cast! I've got videos for the family that seem boring to everone that watches.That particular spot is about the size of a kitchen :D :D . No I don't eat bass over 3lbs .Great luck to all who try.

Shawn
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Re: Crawdad's

Post by Fish Chris »

Crawdads are a blast to fish with. I just wish their were more places closer to me,where they were the "best choice" for big bass. I really only know of one lake in Nor Cal where they are in fact, better than a trout patterned swimbait, for the biggest bass..... and that place is such a horrendous drive, it just kills me :-(

They used to work great at Clear Lk. too..... but that was for big numbers of nice 3 to 8 lb bass, not the double digit fish that I'm ususally after. Also, admittedly, this was during the time period of 98' to 01', "before" the massive Shad boom Clear Lk. is going through nowadays. It's entirely possible that the bass have somewhat shifted away from dads, to the super-abundant Shad.

Anyway, here's an article I wrote several years back, for catching / fishing with dads: http://www.trophybassonly.com/id47.htm

Hope this helps,
Peace,
Fish

PS, I honestly believe that fishing live dads "correctly", or should I say, to their greatest potential, takes more skill, effort, and concentration, than fishing a swimbait, or most other artificial lures, for that matter. Personally, I also find fishing dads to be more enjoyable.
But with that said, I end up fishing with swimbaits 95+% of the time nowadays, as they are just SOOO much more effective, for sticking the biggest bass. Gotta' do, whatcha' gotta' do.
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Smile_n_Jax
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Re: Crawdad's

Post by Smile_n_Jax »

Great article, Chris. Think I'll give it a try. I live near Putah Creek here in Davis and I know there are dads in there. Good source for supply. I also have some fish tanks to keep them in. Maybe they'll work at Berryessa. Will find out.
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Hey Smile_n....

Post by Fish Chris »

Thank you. Yes, they do work at Berry, but mostly for smaller fish. The Spots and the Smallies love them. But IMPO, the big, double digit bass only seem to eat them in the pre-spawn (and even then, not always), or maybe when trout are tough to catch.

Good fishing to you,
Fish
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Re: Hey Smile_n....

Post by Smile_n_Jax »

Thanx for the info, Chris. Seems then that working them up in the Narrows for Smallies would be good.
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