Anyone else embracing the spring by fishing these little invasive buggers out of the local streambed? Recipes, tips and tricks, etc. all welcome. It's fishing on easy mode, but still pretty fun.
we catch thousands of the invasive Orconectes limosus with eel traps in a small lake in northern Germany
I just roast them with butter in a pan and eat them with some extra salt on brown bread
Where are they invasive? Are they native to New England?
>>734531
>native to New England?
I wish, nom nom nom nom nom
>>734531
This
It depends on the crayfish and the location
>>734512
My crawfish trap - you can purchase one for about 10 bucks or make a larger one for 5. They're easy to use, just add some bait and sink it in a stream. It helps if the crayfish can't actually eat the bait. A can of tuna with several holes punched in it works good or you can make a tiny bait cage to place inside. Any kind of meat will attract them - fresh cut fish, hotdogs, chicken livers etc.
>>734526
Fuuu germany? Welcome to my hood brooo
I WANT to eat these delicious chinese communist invaders so bad.
Give me the absolute crayfish fishing basics? Im starting at 0 here
>PICTURE UNRELATED
>>734711
The ABSOLUTE minimum you need are your hands, plus a container to hold the crayfish before you boil them.
They defend themselves from predators by swimming backwards, away from threats. So you can basically just drop a rock in front of one and catch it as it scoots away. Just grab it on its body, away from the pincers.
A simple net will increase your speed.
>>734754
>Give me the absolute crayfish fishing basics
Where do I catch them?
West germany here
Crayfish are like top 3 tastiest foods
often buy the brine packaged ones as an easy meal with no prep
>>734760
Amazon sell them live, but you need to buy a couple kilos minimum.
Crayfish are not native or present in my country (Ireland) and whilst I have wanted to trap/eat them, the damage they do to river banks and fish eggs makes me glad that we don't have them here.
Still considered buying a few kilos live and releasing them, but the return I'd get would be less than what I'd get from just eating my potential invasion squad, also I don't want to be the guy who fucked up the ecosystem.
For us signals are the invasive fucking shits.
>>734760
Generally they live in shallow freshwater environments. They enjoy warmth, but not extreme heat. So, you will often find lots of them shallow parts of streams with a lot of rocks, where they can rest or hide. Or in rocky lakes/ponds. The name itself in German ("flusskrebse") gives you an idea.
They don't like fast-moving water, so, look for streams with a slower/more gentle current. And look for areas with shade/trees above the stream, since they will often avoid the heat of direct sunlight.
Germany has a lot of crayfish species. I think there are eight major ones. Four are native, but four are invasive.
But all of them are tasty.
>>734512
Do you guys PURGE your crayfish before you eat them, by putting salt in their bucket, or do you just cook them up and pull out the intestinal vein later?
>>734981 #
A good way to clean them out is to put them in a tub of water with a layer of corn meal on the bottom for a day or two. They will eat the corn meal and pass out all the muddy shit that was in them before.
>>734531
>Where are they invasive?
Not all of them are, but in general, crayfish species have spread way outside of their original population zones. In some cases (like with the signal crayfish), people actually imported them only to later realize their mistake when the newcomers began to take over native habitats.
So in any given region, there are probably 1 or 2 native crayfish plus a bunch of invaders.
That's why limits on harvesting them tend to be very loose all across the northern hemisphere. Nobody really cares if you are "poaching" crayfish.
>Following.
Western PA native here, we used to "catch" them for fun as kids but I never realized what good they were until I was much older. I later found out how popular they were as a food source and fishing bait. Now that I am older never put much stock into catching them.
![56135321[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/1ogAfj6.jpg "56135321[1].jpg")
>>735013
They're a pretty great source of food if you're camping and want to live a bit off the land. Just boil them and season them (if you have seasonings) and enjoy. Fancier recipes are pretty easy to prepare with access to a kitchen.
They're very nutritious; lots of lean protein and B12 vitamin. And the taste like a combination of a shrimp and a lobster. The meat absorbs sauces and spices fairly well.
I didn't always appreciate them as much as I do now, but when they're there for the taking, I'll take them.
I just put old, used up pic related that i had lying around into my home lake
I'll keep you updated
will first check on Tuesday
If it doesn't work out i'll get a proper crayfish trap
>>735240
>If it doesn't work out i'll get a proper crayfish trap
Check out Bob Hansler's channel, he must have reviewed every type of crayfish trap:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFfAX1Hx0fM
>>735250
thanks senpai,
nice trap and impressive catch
will also try dried dogfood as bait
>>735250
>Bob Hansler's channel
His videos are interesting and watchable - most outdoor YouTubers are so damn annoying that you have to mute the sound or fast forward thru all their yammering to be able to sit through the whole video.
>>734649
does the entrance get closed when they get in or does it stay open? and if so, can't they get out?
>>734512
Arkansan here. We have a ton of these fuckers everywhere. If you get away from the river valley and delta region, and head up into the Ouachita or Ozark mountain regions, a lot of the crawdad species are protected. Most are geographically isolated (and named after) in their creeks and caves, thus there's only a small breeding population. They all taste about the same, though.
>>735535
The entrance stays open and they can't escape.
It's just a classic funnel trap whose design is used to trap al manner of creatures - mice, insects, fish, snakes etc.
>>735552
but crayfish can swim and climb right?
>>735556
Sort of. They can do both of those things relatively poorly. They are not very agile, which is why they are fairly easy to catch by hand. They "swim" in short bursts like shrimp, but they don't enjoy extended effort. They mainly like to hang around rocks and scavenge for food.
So I checked Aliexpress and found basically these 3 kinds of traps. Top left is the cheapest, top right seems the best to me and bottom is like the first one, but metallic and most expensive.
Which one would you recommend?
>>735662
Forgot pic and can't upload because of some error.
To describe them, the first one is a tube with holes on both ends, second is an umbrella with 6 holes and the last is a metal tube
>>735665
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A60DKXO8u_E
>>735670
Umbrella it is then.
I just saw this thread randomly and remembered how I was catching crayfish with grandpa as a kid, so I googled about legality of it and found out that signal crayfish is invasive and overpopulated in the area around my hometown. I really look forward to go again.
>>735556
Animals like this trying to get out of funnel traps is like a fly trying to get out a window. You and me can see the way out easily, we can work out that flying through the gap is the path to outside, yet the fly won't make that connection and will repeatedly fly into the glass until it gets lucky.
>>735808
Not really a good analogy...
Crayfish can not physically maneuver themselves back out the opening unless the trap is full.
>>735240
this has been two days with the eel trap
i now installed a dogfood baitnet and will check again on Thursday
>>734822
Latvia here.
Are you me?
Man I seriously love a good Crawford boil.
Me and some coworkers order 30-40 lbs of live Crawfish from Louisiana a few times a year. We live in Pennsylvania.
Next boil is actually this weekend coming up.
We start off with a huge pot and boil some potatoes. In that water is lemons, and lots of crawfish seasoning. Then add some corn, mushrooms, onions, and sausage. Let that boil a few minutes then add the crawfish.
We bring back to a boil, then remove from the boil by dumping in ice, and let set for 20 minutes. Let's them soak in the flavor. Then we bring back to a boil, then serve.
Turns out awesome.
>>734807
>release them
>just so you can catch them again
Are you sure you're Irish and not English? Those niggers have fucked up half the world's shit with their sporting animals released into the ecosystems of their colonies.
>Australia
>Tropics good for sugar cane
>Import and grow dat shit
>Cane beetle comes with
>Hm what eats beetles, old chap? I know, frogs wot wot!
>Release thousands of cane toads
>Toads ignore the beetles
>Bread to plague proportions
>Oh, and it turns out they're poisonous
facepalm.jpg
>>734828
>Flusskreb
>River crab
ohyou.jpg
>>737779
Krebs != Krabbe
>>736722
only 8 crayfish with bait and not a single fish
I'd need about 5 traps for a little meal
so new place, new bait and more time
maybe the water temperature is still too low; it's a little under 10°C i guess
>>734828
How deep can you go? I went swimming in my local lake and harvested a couple by hand at depths of 2-4 feet. Then I went back to the same spot and left a funnel trap baited with cat food overnight, but I got nothing except a couple perch.
How deep, how far from the shore and for how long do you guys put the trap? I just ordered one on aliexpress.
In my experience, the fastest way to gather up crayfish is by hand, with a net. You just chase them into the net and scoop them right into your bucket(s).
Traps can be hit/miss. Sometimes, the crayfish are simply not very mobile, or will have enough material to scavenge in their immediate vicinity without having to chase down food elsewhere.
>>738920
that depends on the type of body of water and the population of crayfish, temperature, oxygen, current etc.
i fish in a rather eutrophic lake and have the trap in shallow water (depth of 2-3 feet) a few meters from the shore
in cold water i'd check every 4 to 7 days, in warm water sooner
>>734794
My Danish friend!
Where do you catch crayfish? I have heard that Fureso, near Lyngby has tons. WAs thinking about heading out there in the summer (I live in Copenhagen). What time of the year to you catch them? And how?
Northeast US here. Lake is like 46 degrees. Is that warm enough for them to come out? I picked uo 2 nice traps over the winter.
>>739577
You should be fine right now I'm in Connecticut and the lobsters are starting to go nuts so there might be kind of the same
I work at a grocery store in east Texas.
I hate crawfish season because they stank up the whole store while we keep 'em around.
They are pretty delicious though.
>>738604
my crayfish numbers are even worse now
only caught six till last thursday
it seems they are less active with strong winds (9 bft) and related waves
>>737568
From our boil yesterday
![632@80[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/r44HAqB.jpg "632@80[1].jpg")
>>734512
Scandinavian style. Served in brine, with dill.
Add good bread and cheese and some other dishes. Drink shots of clear booze with that. Good stuff
>>742132
got 15 today
still nowhere near enough for a meal but i'll eat them
>>734828
In the lakes I find them in. They come up near the shore a few hours after dark. If its a rocky clean water area you can just pick them up with your hands.
>>744953
That'd be plenty for a nice Cajun style pasta dish. I make a catfish and shrimp alfredo that's pretty good using catfish that I've caught and store bought shrimp. I'll have to look into setting some crayfish traps so I can use those instead of buying shrimp... Shrimp are just too damn expensive.
