I've never previously seen a live crawfish in Florida outside an aquarium.
Well I found one this morning. Well, my son did. In my garage. I am so very confused. Unless it escaped from a neighbor's aquarium and went for a stroll and got lost. Seriously I'm quite curious. There's no way he came from our retention pond, and it's about a quarter mile to the closest creek
I hear they're great bait. What's the best way to hook one of these?
Hook em through the tail .Get about 50 of em and boil em with some Cajun Spices .MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Dat's GOOOOOOD!!!
Look around your pond for mounds of Wet Mud and you got a Den of Mud Bugs there somewhere I betcha.
A tiny dark colored rubber band. Rather than casting it'ed be a long, sweeping, gentle "loft'.
Quote from: Wompus Cat on September 23, 2021, 06:47:54 PM
Look around your pond for mounds of Wet Mud and you got a Den of Mud Bugs there somewhere I betcha.
This. In some situations (like a rice or taro patch) they are a nuisence that wreck havoc with pond embankments as they tunnel about. They are like fire ants and are nearly impossible to eliminate. They're bait for big fish and predators of small fish.
Ya gotta be careful not to cast em out and Fall asleep as they will crawl back up the line and Bite you on the Nose !
I always hook them in the second joint from the tail fins. This lets them swim as naturally as possible. Make sure to not run the hook through the center into the intestine, it kills them right off.
The Man
put a chicken leg in a trap & chuck it in the pond -- in a day or so, you'll know if thar be craws, thar
(round minnow trap is fine if you have one already; sq. craw version is actually easier DIY build)
Quote from: philaroman on September 24, 2021, 03:17:11 AM
put a chicken leg in a trap & chuck it in the pond -- in a day or so, you'll know if thar be craws, thar
(round minnow trap is fine if you have one already; sq. craw version is actually easier DIY build)
I've found beef liver works the best. Lots of blood, it's tougher and lasts longer. You can also tie it to a minnow seine, lay the seine out flat on the bottom for a little while. Pick it up & if they're in the pond they'll be all around that liver.
Crawfish are great bait,,,here,,,, :-\ but i don't know down there,,,,, ;) im sure someone has been trying them and you got one,,,,,,,,,, ;D
This is Free mini lobster !
Some of my best childhood memories are from 5 gallon buckets full of Mud Bugs and a bottle of Valentino's .
And some beer .....
I "hook" them in a pot of boiling water and eat them. Not so good with only 1.
I think I've figured this one out. Mud bugs are uncommon on the east coast where I grew up. And they are non-existent within the city of Tampa, probably due to pollution. But Pasco County where I now live is mostly rural still. Turns out some of the natural bodies of water have plenty of them (I got a list of examples). So maybe the lil fella just got lost, and wandered into the least safe garage possible. I tried him as bait Friday night with no takers. Gave up after an hour. Ya win some ya lose some.
But I remember learning (on here) that crawfish are entirely intolerant of man made pollution. So if they have them in lakes nearby, I can potentially eat the fish from that lake. But with regard to this individual I assume he came from the semi-nearby creek and successfully crossed the roads in between. I will not make the assumption that this find means I can eat fish from our fairly gross retention ponds.
Or maybe I'll just catch a bunch of em and get my stock pot ready. I do love a crawfish boil.
Maybe just a hitch hiker { bug in the garage }
if you collect them manually, by flipping shallow rocks, sometimes you get softshells
completely irresistible if you can keep it on the hook
Maybe i can ship you some more,,,,,, ;D
They farm crawfish on a huge scale. The techniques are readily available. Maybe you can turn that retention pond into a small bait garden.