Anyone here like to catch crawfish?

[wannabe]

Does anyone here like to catch crawfish? I think I missed it already, but I was reading that a bunch of people like to go up to the rice fields in Williams when they drain the fields. The mud bugs just congregate looking for water. Supposedly, you can get a gazillion buckets of them and have a rip roaring crawfish boil. That sounds like fun!

Do you have any good spots or good recipies that you can recommend?

 

[Kornholio]

Sometimes I swear you're a southerner, Aris.

 

[wannabe]

Sometimes I swear you're a southerner, Aris.

I'm hoping to attract a nice Southern Belle with an accent.

But, seriously, I'm on a weird kick right now. I want to get good at catching my own food. It feels a lot more manly than just buying it at the store. It only reinforces it when I catch something that I later find costs $30 per lb at the store.

 

[DucatiHoney]

Crawfish (or craw-daddies, like us hayseeds call them) are easy. Basically, any place there's water and a nice, icky place for them to hide and feed, you'll find them. They're the flies of the fresh water world. I take the old fish heads that I've had sitting in the sun from my earlier catch or some bacon (something stinky) and tie a piece of string to it long enough that it'll hit bottom. Make it a nice big piece. Hold it there and then wait for a little tug. Pull up crawdaddy. Profit. This is also hella fun at night with a flashlight strapped to your cap and a PBR in your hand. They come out more at night. They taste like lobster, only better IMO.

 

[auntiebling]

You need pemssion from owners i suspect. I have heard the same rumor from family friends when I was a kid visiting grandprents in yuba city but I never saw it myself.

I have seen them in the creeks behind Stevens creek mud puddle, I assume they are in others as well... Lotta work catching g enough of them to bother cooking

 

[rodr]

I used to catch 'em in the creek when I was a kid. Tie a piece of hot dog to a string, drop it in the water, crawfish grabs on and is too stupid to let go. Just pull it up and shake it off into the bucket.

Wouldn't dream of eating them though.

 

[Silence]

Depends on how hands on you want to be about it but a funnel entrance type trap with aromatic bait (dried squid) should work really well. I've only done the squid & string method as a small child in Japan (super easy).

That being said, are you planning to keep them alive in a holding tank to de-mud and clear their GI tract?

 

[DucatiHoney]

I've eaten tons of them. Life's short, eat crawdaddies. I've also eaten a rattlesnake that I've run over and cooked on top of my engine block too. (always used to keep tin foil and salt/pepper in the trunk) Not bad...

 

[ScorpioVI]

I had crawfish once and they were nasty/funky. And it's way too much work to get a scant amount of meat out.

When we go floating/rafting on the American river I like to grab the crawfish I find on the bottom and chuck them into other people's rafts. It's like throwing a live grenade in there with everybody bailing out.

 

[oobus]

Yep, bunch of guys up here have rice fields and have mudbug feeds - I think the local Casino had one last weekend.

Sure I could find you a place if you are really interested, just let me know how many tons you think you may need. Rice harvest is around the corner so you should get going soon. Sounds like you should bring DHoney the crawdad queen.

 

[Bay Arean]

Crawfish (or craw-daddies, like us hayseeds call them) are easy. Basically, any place there's water and a nice, icky place for them to hide and feed, you'll find them. They're the flies of the fresh water world. I take the old fish heads that I've had sitting in the sun from my earlier catch or some bacon (something stinky) and tie a piece of string to it long enough that it'll hit bottom. Make it a nice big piece. Hold it there and then wait for a little tug. Pull up crawdaddy. Profit. This is also hella fun at night with a flashlight strapped to your cap and a PBR in your hand. They come out more at night. They taste like lobster, only better IMO.

(thinks: why am I not married to this wonderful woman? Lordy, that's what I'm tawkin' about)

I just like to eat them. My son who spent two years in New Orleans told me stuff I didn't know about them. Such as that they have a season down there, because their shells are softer, I think in the spring. I don't know how this relates to our Calif. version. Bonus points to OP for wanting to be hands-on. That's great!

 

[Kornholio]

(thinks: why am I not married to this wonderful woman?)

Because she's already married.

 

[Yakoo752]

I take the old fish heads that I've had sitting in the sun from my earlier catch or some bacon (something stinky) and tie a piece of string to it long enough that it'll hit bottom. Make it a nice big piece. Hold it there and then wait for a little tug. Pull up crawdaddy. Profit.

Tie a piece of hot dog to a string, drop it in the water, crawfish grabs on and is too stupid to let go. Just pull it up and shake it off into the bucket.

aromatic bait (dried squid) should work really well. I've only done the squid & string method as a small child in Japan (super easy).

That being said, are you planning to keep them alive in a holding tank to de-mud and clear their GI tract?

we used offal (deer liver, chicken kidneys, fish heads) on a rope

and yes, we breadcrumbed em in fresh water

 

[DucatiHoney]

Because she's already married.

My husband does not appreciate some of the talents that I received through my backwoods education. ...And then he wants me to do stuff, like camping. God created Serta mattresses for a reason.

 

[Bay Arean]

Because she's already married.

Hey, it was a rhetorical question, but worth saying to encourage such behavior!!!! Such a great contrast to the boneless, skinless, tasteless Costco chicken breast culture so prevalent around here. Refreshing.

Just saw ‘honey's comment: coming from a ranching family, I had to be convinced to go camping/backpacking at the outset. We used to "camp" when we had to gather cattle from remote locations. Usually it involved old hunting cabins with those wire frame beds, kerosene lanterns and such. Country people don't tend to do recreational camping, they're already there! But I do love it now. Those air-mattress thingies help.

 

[DucatiHoney]

Does anyone here like to catch crawfish? I think I missed it already, but I was reading that a bunch of people like to go up to the rice fields in Williams when they drain the fields. The mud bugs just congregate looking for water. Supposedly, you can get a gazillion buckets of them and have a rip roaring crawfish boil. That sounds like fun!

Do you have any good spots or good recipies that you can recommend?

You might also look into frogging in the canals in the Central Valley at night--just keep a heads up though. You go at night when the canal empties. They fill it up very quickly and without notice! I used to go with my grandfather--take a broomhandle and affix a spike to the end. Poke the frog and put them in a gunny sack. They taste like chicken when you boil them up.

 

[asthmodeus]

catching crabs is more fun.

 

[Kornholio]

My husband does not appreciate some of the talents that I received through my backwoods education. ...And then he wants me to do stuff, like camping. God created Serta mattresses for a reason.

It greatly disappoints me that Kelly has virtually the same attitude about camping.

 

[Kornholio]

catching crabs is more fun.

 

[wannabe]

Yep, bunch of guys up here have rice fields and have mudbug feeds - I think the local Casino had one last weekend.

Sure I could find you a place if you are really interested, just let me know how many tons you think you may need. Rice harvest is around the corner so you should get going soon. Sounds like you should bring DHoney the crawdad queen.

Oh, sweet! Everything I read said that the rice harvest is usually in early September. Did the drought push the harvest back a bit?

But, I'm definitely really interested if you're serious about finding a spot for me. I just want to fill up a couple coolers. I'll settle for just enough to fill up my turkey frier.