Crayfish

[honda450]

Originally Posted by AxeMan

Better yet, I'll tell you right now. It's no big secret. Morinville reservoir or Heritage Lake I think it is called. It's the stocked trout pond on the other side of the hiway from Morinville. There are lots of big rocks in there and you can find them under and among the rocks. The shore is covered in claws from the birds feeding on them.

I would have to be pretty desparate to eat anything from the Morinville Pond. On side west side of Hiway 2. No thanks.

[BlackHeart]

Went out today with one of my sons. We caught 31 of them. A third of them had a clutch of eggs under their tails. About 6 or 7 got away from us when turning the rocks over. After a while you get to know which rocks to turn and which are a waste of time.

Tommorrow they will be boiled and the taste test begins. The Tbones are marinating tonight.

I will post some pics soon.

It was a pretty neat day out and my son loved the hunt/action.

[skiidooskiidoo]

i am looking for some gopher spots around red deer area, does anybody know of anybody that wants to get rid of some pests?, small rimfire cal only, no crazy stuff.
please email if you find, thanx.

skiidooskiidoo@gmail.com

[Gary K]

Originally Posted by skiidooskiidoo

i am looking for some gopher spots around red deer area, does anybody know of anybody that wants to get rid of some pests?, small rimfire cal only, no crazy stuff.
please email if you find, thanx.

skiidooskiidoo@gmail.com

That seems related.....

[Unregistered user]

Originally Posted by Gary K

That seems related.....

Mmmmmmmm gopher jambalay.

[jacenbeers]

I would love to try crayfish. Does anybody know a place near Calgary that I could go to in order to hand catch them? A creek would be best. And preferably one where they are edible because I probably would not eat one out of the Bow.

[duffy4]

Originally Posted by BlackHeart

Went out today with one of my sons. We caught 31 of them. A third of them had a clutch of eggs under their tails. About 6 or 7 got away from us when turning the rocks over. After a while you get to know which rocks to turn and which are a waste of time.

Tommorrow they will be boiled and the taste test begins. The Tbones are marinating tonight.

I will post some pics soon.

It was a pretty neat day out and my son loved the hunt/action.

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).

[strathmorite]

WOW, interesting thread. I seen the carcasses at Newel when I was there last month. I will have to catch a pot full when I am there later this month and try it out!

[spopadyn]

I get the no transporting live, but if you kill them in advance, how long will you have to cook them before they become toxic. My understanding of Atlantic Lobster is for freezing they needed to be cooked first - is it the same with crayfish?


don't know, just asking.

[slingshotz]

All shellfish goes bad fast both cooked and uncooked. You need to get it on ice ASAP. You can freeze them either uncooked or cooked.

[Brian_levesque]

I seen on canadian sportfishing they caught a bunch in ontario and what they did was pull off the heads and the middle fin on their tail, you give that a pull and out comes their intestine with all the poop and stuff in it. they then battered them hole and ate the shells and all, they said it was like a soft shell crab. they where using minnow traps, but it was also in ontario..

[pikester]

Originally Posted by spopadyn

I get the no transporting live, but if you kill them in advance, how long will you have to cook them before they become toxic. My understanding of Atlantic Lobster is for freezing they needed to be cooked first - is it the same with crayfish?


don't know, just asking.

Exactly!!! I know the regs DO stipulate killing them imediately if you are gonna keep them but I live 1& a half hours from the lake & I'll be damned if I'm going to eat crayfish that have been dead in my boat for a couple hours then almost another two hours on the road. That's just a good way to end up in emergency

Taking a cooler full of ice in the boat might be an answer but there's barely enough room in my boat as is with all the rods,tackle boxes,nets, kids, etc.

[courjaco]

how hard is it to get a meal size for 2 people at morinvillle?
what do you all need for equipment?
thanks, jake

[BlackHeart]

Originally Posted by duffy4

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).

I DEFINITELY know what the rules are. So I'm not sure if your just giving me a reminder in case I didn't or .....

A quick snip of the head with side cutters and their dead. Actually it doesn't take much to kill them at all.

Receipe books recommended keeping them in the fridge on ice/water and covered until ready to cook.

As for equipment. Rubber boots or hip waders would be even better. Bucket, side cutters or knife and your good to go. Lot of bending and turning over of rocks. And by the looks of the weather right now.....a snowmobile.

[maddwapper]

Originally Posted by madatter

Lake Newell has lots,the boat launch area is littered with them.
I'm told they come onto the beach area at night and I've hear seagulls make big noise there lots of times.....like a feeding frenzy is happening!
Camping there 2nd week of May so I will try to go for a walk along the shore in dark to see if they do come out.
I've never had a pike kept that had any in its guts from there tho...

i would like to know where lake newel is located like to try some

[BC HUNTER]

we have lots! easy to catch one make a trap like a shrimp
trap and put can of cay food in easy or what we do on a sat
nite take kids and buterfly nets flashlight swim suit as you will get wet!
if it is a lake where you know they are they will be close to shore at dark
they are scroungers walk with lite on tilt you and kids will have a hoot
we have caught up to 75 a night kids have a riot!!

[luckyme]

i was in travers last monday,there were few in north side of new spill way.you even can see them close to shore.

[braxxtonn]

caught 2 crayfish this year out of the ssr , I would see a lil nibble on my p rig reel in to check bait , and there they would be clamped onto my minnow,

[Fishfinder]

Originally Posted by braxxtonn

caught 2 crayfish this year out of the ssr , I would see a lil nibble on my p rig reel in to check bait , and there they would be clamped onto my minnow,

Yeah once in awhile they will bite...or clamp. Caught me first clam the other day, felt the light bite, was thinking it was a baby walter or goldy but upon reeling, not so much. Big healthy clam haha!

[Spudnut]

If you are looking for tips on how to cook and eat them just search "crawfish" or "How to eat crawfish" on you tube. Lots of videos.

[bowness]

Lots under the rocks in Newell. Not that close to Calgary though.

[braxxtonn]

Originally Posted by Fishfinder

Yeah once in awhile they will bite...or clamp. Caught me first clam the other day, felt the light bite, was thinking it was a baby walter or goldy but upon reeling, not so much. Big healthy clam haha!

yeah i caught a few clams this year aswell

[madatter]

We camped at Newell last weekend and caught a few pike.
One of the ones we kept had six crayfish in it.....1st time I have ever seen a pike with them in it,even tho I fish it a fair bit and see the dead crays(or pieces of em) everywhere.
All were still alive and kicking so that pike musta been a little hungry that morning.
Wonder what it feels like to have them squirmin round your gut..
That was pretty much the highlight of the fishing there cause I found it pretty slow.

[hustler]

So where in and around edmonton can a guy catch crawdads?
Mornville sounds good ill check that out but is there anymore hot spots for them maybe a bit closer or say.....cleaner ?

[greylynx]

Originally Posted by hustler

So where in and around edmonton can a guy catch crawdads?
Mornville sounds good ill check that out but is there anymore hot spots for them maybe a bit closer or say.....cleaner ?

Crayfish, like their lobster brethern, eat decaying matter (plant and animal and fecal) off the bottom of a water body.

Another great place to find them is right in Edmonton downstream of Goldbar park.

The Beaver River Basin which is around St. Paul is another place to look.

[wwbirds]

One of the highlights of my annual trip to Ocean City Maryland each April is meeting up with cajun friends from Louisiana who host a traditional cajun meal on Saturday night during our stay. They cook up a caldron of a soup/stew like mixture which is then served on a pile of rice in a bowl.
Because there is so much seafood in Ocean City the traditional crayfish (mudbugs as they cal them) is supplemented with crab and who knows what else as well as vegetables. Is it ever good!
Rob

[Dak1138]

Lacomb park in St. Alberta has them. The kids there catch them with a weiner on a string .

[soopacoach]

Grew up in Australia catching crays (or Yabbies as we call them). As a kid we used to catch them with a piece of stew meat on a string, pulling in slowly and using a colander behind them when they saw us a would let go and try swim away. They are in the dugout systems over there and rivers as well, we used to use traps and drag nets to catch them. Have caught so many we filled a 4 x 8 trailer lined with a tarp, varying in size from 3 inch to 15 inch. Here's pics if you don't believe
http://www.crayfishworld.com/yabbykidscatching.htm

We've even caught females so big you can eat the roe off of them!!

[AltaIce]

First time trying to post a pic, lets see if it works.


This one was caught last winter by a friend, through the ice at Travers Reservoir.

[Paul C]

Crabby ice fishin. Interesting Photo