Pa fly fish home page crayfish pic

[Mike]

Where was that crayfish photo taken? It is a rusty crayfish and may be a new location.

 

[Fishidiot]

I too noticed it was a rusty. I don't know where the photo came from. A good indicator that it is a rusty is the small, circular, rust colored spot visible at mid body where one's fingertips would typically grasp the cray's body behind the head and claws. The spot is very obvious in this pic.

(If one looks closely, there is also a cress bug on the top of the tail.)

The net looks like mine so it may be a photo taken by DKile and is most likely in Susky watershed.

 

[DaveKile]

I will have to dig deep into the photo archives, but I'm pretty certain I was with Fishidiot. Is that your net Dave?

 

[afishinado]

Illegal invasive crustacean taken from an undisclosed location on PAFF! :-o

 

[pro4mance]

Cajun seasoning and suck the head juices out,

 

[Maurice]

I am willing to wager it came from one of TWO locations in the Cumberland Valley.

 

[FarmerDave]

Have any of you ever harvested your own crayfish for a meal?

I wanna try that some day.

Using fish as bait to catch crayfish seems bass ackwards.;-)

 

[BrookieChaser]

To answer your question, FD, yes. We caught them all by hand using a lantern.

 

[pcray1231]

Never for a meal. But many times for bait. Plenty of youthful trips started by spending an hour or so catching bait.

Softshells are awesome!

 

[pabrookie94]

by FarmerDave on 2015/4/21 10:36:39

Have any of you ever harvested your own crayfish for a meal?

I wanna try that some day.

Using fish as bait to catch crayfish seems bass ackwards.

We did it in the Boy Scouts one time. Caught them all by flipping rocks and it took us the better part of the day. Boy they were good though.

 

[FarmerDave]

pcray1231 wrote:
Never for a meal. But many times for bait. Plenty of youthful trips started by spending an hour or so catching bait.

Softshells are awesome!

Me too.

I'm sure you are thinking bass bait, but one Spring day we cleaned up on catfish at the Nebraska bridge while they were lowering the level on the dam. Did I just spot burn your back yard? We went there to fish for perch and crappie, but with the high current, muddy, and lots of leaves and debris floating by, that was out. So we went and caught some crayfish nearby, tied on some heavy weight and cleaned up on catfish. All bullheads, but they were huge. We would cast upstream from the bridge and leave it sit on the bottom. Eventually the leaves would gather on the line and pull it loose. We would then real it in and about half the time a catfish would be on it. With the heavy sinkers and all the debris, you couldn't tell what was debris and what was a bite.

Also used them once on a hot summer day on the Allegheny. We were fishing from the bank, and catching carp (when were weren't swimming). I then caught a very large sheephead (freshwater drum). Biggest one I ever seen. I (we) didn't even know they were in there.

I have a small creek that has crayfish, and they are likely in one or both ponds, too. I think I will bait the minnow trap and see what I can catch in the pond in the woods. It's very close to the creek, and is somewhat connected to it during high water.

 

[pcray1231]

Yeah, mostly bass, though I have done it for trout as well, and it works.

I'm sure they work in the river too as you say, but they're hard to catch in the river down our way! It just gets too deep too quick. In streams, though, you find a nice rocky shallow area, and start picking up rocks upstream and towards shore. When you find them, you try to catch them, which always takes a few tries. But they always scoot directly away from your approach, so as long as you keep scooting them towards shore you get em in shallower water and then you can get them.

Nebraska bridge is pretty well known perch and crappie spot, even trout in the early (pre) season, lol.

 

[FarmerDave]

pcray1231 wrote:
Yeah, mostly bass, though I have done it for trout as well, and it works.

I'm sure they work in the river too as you say, but they're hard to catch in the river down our way! It just gets too deep too quick. In streams, though, you find a nice rocky shallow area, and start picking up rocks upstream and towards shore.

Wait... Your rivers don't have creeks flowing into them, or are you really that lazy.

Nebraska bridge is pretty well known perch and crappie spot, even trout in the early (pre) season, lol.

The spot burn comment was a joke.

But you notice I didn't mention the little creek that flows into it right there where we caught the pcrayfish?

 

[Chaz]

FarmerDave wrote:
Have any of you ever harvested your own crayfish for a meal?

I wanna try that some day.

Using fish as bait to catch crayfish seems bass ackwards.;-)

Cut the head off a carp and put it in the trap overnight. You'll have a bushel of crayfish the next day.

 

[DaveKile]

Well that took a long time, but I found the set of pictures from that crayfish shot. It was taken on Spring Creek on 11/14/10 somewhere near the Fishermans Paradise.

Yep I was with Dave Weaver.