central Ab crayfish?

[thrude1]

I heard alot about theses little critters lately I never knew that Alberta had them at all. Does anyone know of any lakes in central Ab that has them and what is the technique for catching them

[AppleJax]

I heard alot about theses little critters lately I never knew that Alberta had them at all. Does anyone know of any lakes in central Ab that has them and what is the technique for catching them
Can't point you to any lakes but maybe a few rivers. Remember you have to kill them immediately they cannot be kept live. Anyone have any experience eating them here in AB?

[winger7mm]

Its a total BS rule/law if you ask me but "In all waters
other than the Beaver River, people may catch crayfish for consumption.
Legal capture methods include angling (sportfishing regulations apply) or
catching them by hand. No licence is required to capture crayfish by hand.
The retention and transport of live crayfish is illegal and all retained
crayfish must be immediately killed to prevent the spread of this
species. Please help prevent the spread of invasive species (see page 20)."

Cant use traps :( a guy can use a net though. Iv rigged up a coathanger with a netting around it. Tied a rope to one end, and have wire in the middle to put a peice of hotdog or smelt. Drop it to the bottom (using white netting makes it easier to see em) and when one crawls on pull the rope and net up.

[Ronbill]

McLeod Lake (Carson-Pegasus Prov Park north of Whitecourt) is full of them.

[AppleJax]

Its a total BS rule/law if you ask me but "In all waters
other than the Beaver River, people may catch crayfish for consumption.
Legal capture methods include angling (sportfishing regulations apply) or
catching them by hand. No licence is required to capture crayfish by hand.
The retention and transport of live crayfish is illegal and all retained
crayfish must be immediately killed to prevent the spread of this
species. Please help prevent the spread of invasive species (see page 20)."

Cant use traps :( a guy can use a net though. Iv rigged up a coathanger with a netting around it. Tied a rope to one end, and have wire in the middle to put a peice of hotdog or smelt. Drop it to the bottom (using white netting makes it easier to see em) and when one crawls on pull the rope and net up.

So what if a guy was trying to catch minnows and a crayfish entered his trap.... Silly

[Alexey]

Minnow traps are OK. See the reply from SRD which I got last year.

Thank you for contacting the Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development Information Centre.

It is legal to catch crayfish by hand or by using hook and line, except in the Beaver River and it's tributaries, as explained on page 22 of the Alberta Guide to Sportfishing under the heading "Crayfish". Crayfish may also be captured by the use of a trap provided the trap does not capture fish (including bait fish); if the trap resembles a minnow trap and could capture bait fish also, it must follow the requirements on page 22 under "Collecting Bait Fish". In short, a trap that may catch bait fish and crayfish both must not exceed the dimensions of a legal minnow trap and must be marked as noted.

Any crayfish caught must be killed without delay as crayfish cannot be possessed live.

[greylynx]

So what if a guy was trying to catch minnows and a crayfish entered his trap.... Silly

Crayfish and Minnow traps are identical.

You are supposed to throw the crayfish back.

[Lefty-Canuck]

Some mental giant released them into the Beaumont trout pond too.....if you want to test techniques there.....kill them ASAP after though.

LC

[trooper]

When my kids were much younger, we used to head out to the morinville reservoir and they would catch crayfish and place them in an aquarium at home, fed them worms and one had a mess of eggs under the tail.

[fishn4fun]

Catch em and boill them whole with some crawfish boil seasoning mmm mmm good but you need lots

[walking buffalo]

Crayfish and Minnow traps are identical.

You are supposed to throw the crayfish back.



Are you refering to this?

From the regs.
"Fish other than bait fish must be immediately released unharmed.
Game fish such as perch must not be kept."

Crayfish are not fish. ;)




Crayfish can be caught by hand or by Sportfishing. Using dipnets, seine nets and minnow traps following the Collecting Baitfish regulations are legal methods to "Angle" for Crayfish.

There are lots of Crayfish trap designs on the net that fall within legal descriptions for a Minnow trap.

" Seine nets may not be larger than 3 m in length and 2 m in depth.

Minnow traps may not have dimensions greater than 60 cm in length
by 30 cm in width, depth or diameter.

No more than 2 minnow traps may be used at one time.

Minnow traps must bear the operator’s name, address and Sportfishing
Licence number.

Crayfish cannot be used as bait. It is unlawful to possess live crayfish."

[javlin101]

A few years back we were at Carson and asked a F&W officer. They said catch as many as you want but do not use a rod & line. Kids caught a bucket full and boiled them up. They were ok.

[waterninja]

caught a pail full of these guys last summer at cardiff pond. i just used a hook with a split weight for control. put a piece of weiner, worm etc. on the hook and walk along the shore till you see them then toss the bait near them and wait till they latch on. pull them up (they hate to let go). now the tricky part, picking them up without them giving you a little nip with their pincers. it's lots of fun. I could not believe how quick they are in the water and i wouldun't dream of catching them by hand. might as well try to catch a trout by hand. lol.

[BGSH]

the N.S.R crayfish tase great

[recce43]

use to catch them by hand just start flipping rocks over and grab them behind the head

[pikeslayer22]

Vegreville trout pond

[DiehardFishingMan]

Minnow traps are OK. See the reply from SRD which I got last year.

Thank you for contacting the Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development Information Centre.

It is legal to catch crayfish by hand or by using hook and line, except in the Beaver River and it's tributaries, as explained on page 22 of the Alberta Guide to Sportfishing under the heading "Crayfish". Crayfish may also be captured by the use of a trap provided the trap does not capture fish (including bait fish); if the trap resembles a minnow trap and could capture bait fish also, it must follow the requirements on page 22 under "Collecting Bait Fish". In short, a trap that may catch bait fish and crayfish both must not exceed the dimensions of a legal minnow trap and must be marked as noted.

Any crayfish caught must be killed without delay as crayfish cannot be possessed live.

Thanks for the info.
I am going to print this out and show to the fish cop in Travers next time. Last summer one of the fish cop told me that I can not use any trap (including minnow trap) to catch crayfish. If I do, I will get $200 fine

[dodgeboy1979]

catch them by putting a small net behind them then move your hand in front of them and they will swim into your net, used to catch them that way in Ont. to use for bass.

[Moefoe]

Little Bow and Travers are full of them...fish guts placed under a rock by the lake or stream edge, wait for them to show up grab em with your hands! You can spook them and they'll come back the greedy little buggers!!

[1/2 oz Bucktail]

I used to catch tons in Saskatchewan. Find a lake that is known to have them and locate a good, rocky section of shoreline. Wait until dark and shine a flashlight over the rocky area in 3" to 2 feet of water. The crayfish crawl out from under the rocks after dark and are very active. Use a kid's minnow net and a stick to catch them (chase them into the net with the stick). You will do even better if there is a dock in the rocky section of water. Should be able to get a good pail in about an hour.

[Fish along]

A good way to catch em is this , get a bike tire take out all the spokes then attach a net inside the hoop attached to the inside edges of the bike rim make it sag in the middle , then place your bait in the middle with ,set it on the bottom and check it every 1/2hour for a handle place 3 pieces of string or rope and tie unto 3sides of the rim about 2pr3ft long tie something that floats , and your ready.when you check your trap if you see crayfish just grab the handle and pull em up.

[eBaked]

You can find lots in the Cardiff pond. See them out there all the time.

[jaystev]

I was told by f w guy that you cant use bait unless attached to a hook. Therefore I cant use cat food to catch minnows. Is this true? I see alot of your suggestions to use bait and it has me wondering if he was wrong?. It does say that in the regs and if I were to put the bait on a hook in the trap to make it legal id have to stay within 30 meters or whatever right?

[LacLaBicheNS]

Whats the negatives about crayfish in lakes/rivers?

Growing up in ontario EVERY piece of water had them. They are great for eating dead fish and lots of game fish eat them. I never came across anything negative about them.

I always had fresh water aqariums growing up. And I always had a cray fish in them. They kept the bottom clean and prevented excess food from rotting.

[RavYak]

Whats the negatives about crayfish in lakes/rivers?

Growing up in ontario EVERY piece of water had them. They are great for eating dead fish and lots of game fish eat them. I never came across anything negative about them.

I always had fresh water aqariums growing up. And I always had a cray fish in them. They kept the bottom clean and prevented excess food from rotting.

It is just the whole they weren't there before so they shouldn't be there now argument...

I haven't seen any at the few lakes I generally go to but remember seeing some in Sask. When I lived in Kentucky we used to go out to a little creek and catch them by hand.

[Fishnafterwork]

http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y463/fishnafterwork/null_zps035d26d0.jpg

Pulled over 20 out of our minnow traps in 2 days at ssr. :)

[AppleJax]

http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y463/fishnafterwork/null_zps035d26d0.jpg

Pulled over 20 out of our minnow traps in 2 days at ssr. :)

Some big ones! Did you try eating any or just throw them back?

[Fishnafterwork]

Didn't eat any.... I would like to try them sometime as we used to eat the big ones ( as big as your hand) down in Texas.... My problem is as I understand the regs I interpret it as they must be destroyed immediately.... Now the only way I think I'd eat them is like a lobster boiled alive... So to get enough of them with the 2 minnow trap law it took me 2 days ( sure I wasn't actively hunting them but..).... Being as they only get to be about half bite size at best I don't really see how one could get a meal of them...? :)

[AppleJax]

Maybe you could pull the tail off them immediately just like cleaning a prawn until you get enough of them. That's probably the only sizeable chunk of meat on them anyways.

[Fishnafterwork]

Ya prob just put it on ice and it'd b ok for a couple days..?... Seems like a lot of work for a thumbnail sized meat but if it tastes like the real deal then it's worth it :)....but seeing all these massive freshwater clams everywhere too makes me wonder... Haha but I'm way less brave with them than the crayfish

[AppleJax]

There was a thread on FW clams a day or 2 ago. From what it sounds don't waste your time lol. I might try some crayfish this summer out of curiosity...

[winger7mm]

Thanks for the info.
I am going to print this out and show to the fish cop in Travers next time. Last summer one of the fish cop told me that I can not use any trap (including minnow trap) to catch crayfish. If I do, I will get $200 fine

Ill have to do the same, Iv talked to 3 different officers and all got the same answer. They were unsure and had to read the regs. You have to fish for them using stuff that is legal for gamefish, hence not being able to use a trap

[walking buffalo]

Ill have to do the same, Iv talked to 3 different officers and all got the same answer. They were unsure and had to read the regs. You have to fish for them using stuff that is legal for gamefish, hence not being able to use a trap

Catch up here Winger, we've already clarified this.

You have to follow the "Angling" regulations, not the "Gamefish" laws. Minnow traps, dipnets and seine nets are legal to use when fishing for Baitfish. When using these tools, sportfish and non-baitfish must be released, but you can keep any crayfish.

[baptiste_moose]

All you can eat is the tails. We used to trap them in flathead and echo lake in Montana. A milk jug with a rock in it, a tiny hole and something for scent. Tie a rope to the handle and put it down for a day. When we'd pull it up it would always be loaded. Very good eating but like a guy said the ones we caught where much bigger!

[recce43]

you can suck out all the goodness out of the head then eat the tails crack open the claw and suck it out yum

[lotw]

Throw some meat, dead minnows, fish bones whatever in a minnow trap overnight. It will fill up by morning if there are any crayfish anywhere near it.

[jaystev]

Remember!

it is illegal to use live bait fish or crayfish as bait.
it is illegal to set out or use bait to attract fish unless the bait is attached to a hook used in angling.
it is illegal to use scented lures or scented weights where bait bans are in effect.
discard live unused bait withinn its original packaging inside a garbage receptacle.

unless im reading the regs wrong you cant use bait unless its on a hook.

[Bolete]

A crayfish is not a fish.

[Fishnafterwork]

A crayfish is not a fish.

Really...:sign0161:

Haha Jk but thanks for the tip