2023 crayfish: Let’s talk crayfish/mud bugs

[KFhunter]

I made it so my lids open with rot cord hinges and ties

[Shrimper]

Do you guys think a 1.5" fixed opening is big enough to let all crayfish in? Or does it need to be bigger?

Trying to decide if I should do a pivoting door like the crayster, or just a fixed opening.

All my traps have 3" openings, the biggest crawdads we catch would not fit in a 1.5" door.

[carpsniperg2]

Good deal. I built one today with a little down time between projects.

It has a 1.5” opening but flap doors like the crayster guys square traps.
They open to around 4” if needed then drop back down.

Going to give a cylinder trap a go next.

[dilleytech]

The crayster guys gear is really easy and cheap to make. The key is the barbs on the entry points that keep them from crawling out. This is What makes them so much better then the minis traps you can buy.

[dilleytech]

I heard you want to steer clear of smallmouth for bait because they avoid the smell. Cat food cans with holes poked in worked very well for me when I used to trap the stream by Perry tech. The round trap worked well there.

The only time I ever put out craw traps without getting some was with smallmouth carcs. But I did catch some catfish.. salmon and shad is probably the best. Canned food works but not very well.

[dilleytech]

Do you guys think a 1.5" fixed opening is big enough to let all crayfish in? Or does it need to be bigger?

Trying to decide if I should do a pivoting door like the crayster, or just a fixed opening.

Our craws get huge I don’t think that’s big enough. More like 2.5”

[carpsniperg2]

I played with the design a little and got it pretty dang good "I think" with a 1.5" opening that has the flap doors with barbs.That will open to 4" if bigger ones need to push in.

I got about 75% done with 2 cylinder traps today. Spent some time coming up with a bait container that is suspended in the middle so the little thieves can't eat without going in. Like shrimper was talking about.

[carpsniperg2]

Pics

[Norman89]

Gotta be some boils going on by now....

[pickardjw]

Still haven't got my pots out yet. Going to try a different area than Lake Wa, just need the right week where I'm not so busy and have some evenings to set and check pots!

[Norman89]

[Jake Dogfish]

Cool vid!