Too many crawdads?

[Rooger]

I've been fishing Lake Hennessey in Napa County for years and I've noticed an infestation of maroon/purple crawdads for about the last 4-5 years, which seems to coincide with the fall off in fishing.

Hennessey is not managed, other than the trout they plant periodically, but it used to hold some awesome bass (I caught my personal best 10.5# from a float tube there). I also used to occasionally catch crappie when fishing for bass and they were always good size. I haven't even seen a crappie in at least 5-6 years nor heard of anyone else catching any. I've also seen boaters come in with what they call Sacramento perch (which look like green sunfish to me) and it seems there's always a couple of people catfishing in the evenings.

When fishing from shore, you can see the crawdads everywhere. I fished from a canoe a week ago and even in deeper water, I had to go to drop-shotting so they wouldn't keep chopping up the plastics fished on the bottom.

What do you think? Has the lake finally gotten overrun due to poor (non-existent) management? Are these crawdads toxic to bass (like certain leeches)? It would seem like the bass would be gorging on them, getting fat, and keeping the population in check. Is this just a cycle that all lakes go through?

Hennessey is a drinking water supply reservoir for Napa County. The water levels are down from full, but not as bad this year as they have been in the previous 3-4 years.

[BassManDan]

First of all I've never heard of "Too many crawdads" let alone an "infestation", and baring any actual physical limitations of a given body of water, I can't see how there can be too many, then again, if your baits are getting all snipped up, that's is alot of crawdads!

Color wise, nothing terribly unusual, crawdads have some chameleon-like ability and can be all sorts of colors.

Honestly, management of the fishery probably doesn't have any bearing on the craw population, perhaps the trout had an effect on the population, but I would expect the bass to be the primary regulators of the craw population.

Personally, I think it is just a cyclical thing, though not a cycle that occurs very often (and less often noticed or reported).

My suggestion is tie on something that DOESN'T imitate a crawdad, and hopefully the bass will take a liking to the change in the menu

[Greg_Cornish]

I'm guessing but I bet the bucket grabbers and maybe bass down cycle has allowed crawdads to over run the place. Need more bass to eat em.

[Lancer]

CAN YOU SAY CRAW FEST ? no i am not talking about red lobster ok just sayin can't someone throw some traps and have a good old fashioned crw feed hey make it a bass clubs fundraiser then you can help the restoration in more than one way. Well im just thinking off on a tangent good idea or not ?? them mud bugs are good eatin' !!!

good luck hopefully the lake will recover and be great for bass again soon.

[Greg_Cornish]

CAN YOU SAY CRAW FEST ? no i am not talking about red lobster ok just sayin can't someone throw some traps and have a good old fashioned crw feed hey make it a bass clubs fundraiser then you can help the restoration in more than one way. Well im just thinking off on a tangent good idea or not ?? them mud bugs are good eatin' !!!

good luck hopefully the lake will recover and be great for bass again soon.

Great idea!

[L Dub]

I know exactly what Rooger means. I was up there 3-4 weeks ago with a couple buddies and ended up with 2 bites (1 caught) and about 3lbs of Crawdads in 2 hours. Those craws were huge too! We had a couple that ended up being bigger than my hand!

I have pics but can't figure out how to include on this post.

Tight lines![/img]

[adman]

Please send them to Lake Casitas.

[mac (Doyle McEwen)]

It is time for some crawdad traps..If they are as thick as you say, it shouldn't take long to have enough for one hell of a feed..Do you need a liscense to trap dads..

mac

[Greg_Cornish]

It is time for some crawdad traps..If they are as thick as you say, it shouldn't take long to have enough for one hell of a feed..Do you need a liscense to trap dads..

mac

Appears to be legal.

[bass smacker]

It is time for some crawdad traps..If they are as thick as you say, it shouldn't take long to have enough for one hell of a feed..Do you need a liscense to trap dads..

mac

Just a fishing liscense i beleve

[Greg_Cornish]

Thought I'd post these up for L Dub. He sent em to me.

[Jason C.]

Just a tip to some of you who are thinking CRAWDAD FEED!! Get your self a fish tank, and some lettus. Keep them in there for about a week and feed them nothing but the lettus. If you dont do this they will just taste like mud. It will make them taste a LOT better!

[BassManDan]

If you guys are doing a craw boil, please invite me

Them fellers look tasty!

[L Dub]

Thanks Greg for posting those pics. I swear those things were HUGE. I have a new appreciation for Cooch's wadda bomb.

In theory I would agree with the lettuce in a tank but we were able to 'flush' them by soaking them in water for 30 mins, drain, soak another 30 and done. Just keep changing the water until it's clear.

Somebody get up there and catch some!

Tight lines,

L