2014 hunt wa crawdad mania.. round 2..

[SkookumHntr]

Hellyeah im in!!

[Brad Harshman]

I do the same and I set late in the evening and pull them early in the morning.  People dont respect your right to leave traps unattended (its illegal to pull other people's traps).

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk

[ouchfoss]

I had someone tell me a couple years ago that you will get far more crawdads if you leave your traps in all night and pick them up at first light rather than checking them at any other time of day. Reason being that when the sun comes up it makes the crawdads far more visible to predators and so they tend not be as active. Any truth to that?

[h20hunter]

Yes

[ouchfoss]

Whoops! Sorry, I didnt read all the posts. 

[Alchase]

I had someone tell me a couple years ago that you will get far more crawdads if you leave your traps in all night and pick them up at first light rather than checking them at any other time of day. Reason being that when the sun comes up it makes the crawdads far more visible to predators and so they tend not be as active. Any truth to that?

I am by no means an expert on Crawdads, but while fishing Pearrigen Lake in Winthrop, I was putting my pots out a couple hours before dusk then pulling them in the morning. I was getting 10 -15 a pull, but all my bait was gone each time. I talked to a local who fishes there regularly he said to check you pot at about the 4 hour mark. He said the crawdads will climb in in mass, eat, then find the exit. I could not believe him at first, he said they will find the exit soon after your bait is gone. I tried it that afternoon. I set the pot at 4:00 PM and checked it at 8:00, it was loaded with crawdads! I caught more in that one 4 hour pot then I had in two pots over 4 days soaking all night.
It may be that Pearrigen is just loaded, or I just was not using enough bait to keep them in the pot all night.

I have a question about deep lakes, is it better to set pots in the shallower areas?
Or go deep over 200 ft?

After seeing the pics in this thread and the other, I have a serious craving for a crawdad binge 

[Mtn.Ghost]

There is a huge population of craws in that lake, it used to be a major destination for craws they even had a derby back in the day.   

[Mtn.Ghost]

Homer hungry.......

[Bigshooter]

I haven't tried to catch a crawdad in 20 years, but I am in this year.  I ordered up a couple traps last night.

[Bigshooter]

Anyone tried to catch any yet?

[Southpole]

I'm going to try some small lakes close to home this weekend. I don't have a lot of confidence in getting anything but I've got to try. You guys will be the first to know if I'm successful. Crossing fingers and toes.

[h20hunter]

Yep...some folks are out. As one of the very unofficiating members of the 2014 Mudbug derby I'll post up on behalf of....


BKMFR!

He has been the first I've seen that has posted a catch. I think with the claws stretched out we can give his entry a measurment of 4 1/2 inches.

[Southpole]

Yeah, I agree 4 1/2 inches would be fair. I'm glad he jumped in the game. Also, if I post a picture of my first catch and then catch a bigger craw down the road, can I replace the first picture with the bigger picture? Or maybe a compilation of pictures?

[h20hunter]

Sure....keep fishing, keep catching, and keep updating anytime you best your own or anothers.

[Southpole]

Excellent...