Crawfishin 2022

[dilleytech]

Nothing on a couple of sets in 20'-30' yesterday evening, rocky bottom. Soaked for 2 1/2 hours or so. Cat food for bait...if I was better at Kokanee fishing I might have better bait for next time but no luck on that front either!

I think next week I'll start setting some overnight in spots I can reach from shore. Check em in the morning on the way to work.

I don’t think signal crawfish like cat food.  Oily fish works best.

I have used cat food with minimal success. Fish carcass works much better. Except small mouth carcs. They don’t seem to like those..

[pickardjw]

Set three pots today to soak between 6:30 and 1, used a Kokanee carcass cut up from Wednesday. One pot in the rocks off a point, two in the weeds. All about 10’ of water. Zero takers…might had to dedicate to some overnight soaks. Also think I need to weight the traps down with rocks inside. Make sure they’re not moving around on the bottom at all.

[AL WORRELLS KID]

If Unlike crab and shrimp, no colored buoys are required by sport fishers, (but they need to be marked on the surface by some type of flotation device.)
 Then how is it that a Commercial Fisher from Lake Forest Park who has been crawfishing in Lake Washington for the past 12 years hides his floats underwater and dredges them to the surface using an Anchor? Are the rules different if you Fish Commercial?

Setting 120 pots in three locations around the north end of Lake Washington. (In order to keep others from poaching his pots, he sets them under water with no markers and uses an anchor to dredge up his chain of pots. It took him less than two hours to pull, clean and reset the pots using an electric winch.
His day’s work equals about 70 pounds of crawfish, destined to his client, the Pike Place Fish Market.
“We give out about 12 permits per year for commercial crawfish fishing,” said Jon Anderson, a state Fish and Wildlife fish program manager. “The few on Lake Washington are the only ones who do it regularly during the season. About five others do it a few times a year and the rest didn’t even put a pot in the water.
Seattle Times (Originally published October 10, 2006)

[trophyhunt]

How bout catching them with a fishing pole?! My kids were fishing and one of their friends caught this craw. Monster!!

thats how we'd catch them as kids.  In a local small creek we'd tie hot dogs to our fishing line on our pole, with some pinch on weights.  We'd lower them in, wait till we saw them on the dog and pull them up, shake them in a bucket and go for more.  We would always get our bucket full.

[Jake Dogfish]

If Unlike crab and shrimp, no colored buoys are required by sport fishers, (but they need to be marked on the surface by some type of flotation device.)
 Then how is it that a Commercial Fisher from Lake Forest Park who has been crawfishing in Lake Washington for the past 12 years hides his floats underwater and dredges them to the surface using an Anchor? Are the rules different if you Fish Commercial?

Setting 120 pots in three locations around the north end of Lake Washington. (In order to keep others from poaching his pots, he sets them under water with no markers and uses an anchor to dredge up his chain of pots. It took him less than two hours to pull, clean and reset the pots using an electric winch.
His day’s work equals about 70 pounds of crawfish, destined to his client, the Pike Place Fish Market.
“We give out about 12 permits per year for commercial crawfish fishing,” said Jon Anderson, a state Fish and Wildlife fish program manager. “The few on Lake Washington are the only ones who do it regularly during the season. About five others do it a few times a year and the rest didn’t even put a pot in the water.
Seattle Times (Originally published October 10, 2006)

Yes sport fishers are required to have a float.  Commercial does not.
As for bait, different species of crawfish eat different baits.  Signal crawfish like fish.

[mcrawfordaf]

Set three pots today to soak between 6:30 and 1, used a Kokanee carcass cut up from Wednesday. One pot in the rocks off a point, two in the weeds. All about 10’ of water. Zero takers…might had to dedicate to some overnight soaks. Also think I need to weight the traps down with rocks inside. Make sure they’re not moving around on the bottom at all.

You see a lot hiding under rocks and I think that makes it misleading as to where they are hangin gout in abundance. Near the mouth of the Columbia we always had really good results with a trap line along a muddy bank and salmon heads. They burrow into the soft mud of the bank to nest. I think they can also survive in the mud if water levels drop as well.

[KFhunter]

Amazon had Frabil traps for $8.99, limit 3



I see it jumped up a couple bux, still a good deal

[KFhunter]

different species of crawfish eat different baits.  Signal crawfish like fish.

I save my perch heads and carcasses from ice fishing and freeze them up for crawfishin

[Phillip.beaudry]

where do you find traps that are compliant with Washington laws? or do you?

[KFhunter]

don't use the clip to close the trap, instead tie the trap together at the top with a piece of rot line


the bottom of the trap is solid and hooks in prongs, the top clam shells together and you secure it with the clip (normally) but in WA what you do is replace the clip with sisal twine (rot line) then if the trap is lost the line rots and the trap falls apart

[KFhunter]

on my terry bullard traps I remove the door hinges and replace with rot line, so the whole door would fall off if the trap goes derelict

[Phillip.beaudry]

ah oh, that makes sense. I have one like the black one, guess my thinking outside the box ability isnt working very well.

[LayMdown]

I've always had really good luck in an area with a  lot of wood debris in the out fall of a lake using bacon tied to a rock with a piece of paracord so it don't float and wait until you have 4 or 5 on it and pull them straight up slowly and shake them off into your bucket, if 1 or 2 fall off they come back as soon as you drop it back in, the kids and I used to do this when they were young and they thought it was the coolest thing ever.

[Jake Dogfish]

on my terry bullard traps I remove the door hinges and replace with rot line, so the whole door would fall off if the trap goes derelict

That’s a good way to do it, a lot better than how I rigged my Bullard trap. 
I think he passed away a couple years ago and they don’t make them anymore.

[KFhunter]

Went out today to a new spot, had in chopped perch, not a single craw!

I thought I'd have a bunch of Rustys, maybe they don't like perch?