Crawdad Mania - 2018

[benhuntin]

When does the crawdad rut start? That’s when the big ones are out.


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[Shrimper]

When does the crawdad rut start? That’s when the big ones are out.

Not real sure but it does not matter because I did not get drawn for the rut tag.

In all seriousness, have you had any luck hunting crawdads yet Ben?

[benhuntin]

Water is to cold


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[merkaba93]

Finally found some good ones, its been slow so far this year for us, untill....

That is a beast!
I bet the claw meat was great! One thing I noticed after making that paella. I had like 50 pieces of tail meat (kept all the shells for stock) and left a few 7 inches whole as a garnish. But I think the claw meat tastes better than the tail meat. I mean we are splitting hairs here, both taste great. But my personal vote would go to the claw meat.

Which is surprising because if I'm eating dungeness, I think the legs taste best, then the honeycomb body meat, then last is the claw meat. The muscle fibers go the opposite way in claw meat in dungeness compared to the leg meat.

Am I just crazy? Anyone else notice this?

[Shrimper]

Finally found some good ones, its been slow so far this year for us, untill....

That is a beast!
I bet the claw meat was great! One thing I noticed after making that paella. I had like 50 pieces of tail meat (kept all the shells for stock) and left a few 7 inches whole as a garnish. But I think the claw meat tastes better than the tail meat. I mean we are splitting hairs here, both taste great. But my personal vote would go to the claw meat.

Which is surprising because if I'm eating dungeness, I think the legs taste best, then the honeycomb body meat, then last is the claw meat. The muscle fibers go the opposite way in claw meat in dungeness compared to the leg meat.

Am I just crazy? Anyone else notice this?

I actually prefer the tail meat texture wise over the claw meat but my son thinks otherwise, he is the big claw eater in our family.  Taste is really hard to discern between the two but I do think the claw meat is a bit sweeter.  I have noticed the tail size between the 7 inchers and 9 inchers are not that different proportion wise but the claws can be three times the size on the nine incher.

My son spotted a huge claw sticking out of a hollow log while we were scouting and I dove in pulled it out but it was just the claw, it was 4 1/2" on the ruler, regret not getting a picture. I set a trap at the entrance of that log for three days and never caught that one.  Probably got eaten by something is why we found the claw.

Agree with you on the Dungeness meat I prefer the big leg sections the best, then claw meat and body meat after that.  Although, the first section of claw meat is comparable to the leg meat IMO.

[merkaba93]

Interesting observation about tail/claw proportion size.
Some of us haven't had the opportunity to catch 9 inchers yet. Ha.
Super Jealous.
Keep up the good work!

[scotsman]

I spend quite a bit of time in the Chelan / Manson area. Without disclosing any honey holes, are there any places around here where a newbie bug hunter could find a few?
Thanks!

[Shrimper]

I spend quite a bit of time in the Chelan / Manson area. Without disclosing any honey holes, are there any places around here where a newbie bug hunter could find a few?
Thanks!

I have not fished those areas before but I do know East of the Cascades is better for Crawdad numbers and size, so you have that going for ya.  This is just my personal experience.

Good Luck...

[klickman]

Anybody have success in lake Roosevelt?  Above the Spokane confluence?


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[jagermiester]

Camping last weekend

[Shrimper]

Looks great, jagermiester!

[jagermiester]

My daughter helped me do the boil.

[merkaba93]

nice looking boil jagermiester!

[merkaba93]

Crawfish recipe experimentation. Crawfish Andouille sausage corn dog. And crawfish Vietnamese salad roll.
Both were good.

[merkaba93]

Caught a few.