Northwest Fishing Reports

Started fishing for crawdads last year. Caught enough to find out I like them. The water in the rivers this year earlier was really high for a long time so trying the rivers was out. Finally found a nice honey hole and for the first time got the Daily limit. I kinda thought it was impossible but using the max number of pots helped. Caught a bunch of really big beasties. crawdad for dinner at my place.

wow, that sucker is HUGE! What is the coloring on the underside? Reason I ask is while recently fishing the Columbia I had a smallie puke up a crawfish that was identical in coloring to the diving plug I was casting, which I thought was pretty cool:




I like the idea of filling my tackle box with gear that "matches the hatch" so to speak.

I have found that the dads I catch seem to vary from one individual to another slightly. After I get them home clean then up and get them into well oxygenated water their color changes slightly again, some more than others. But here is a picture of one off the bigger ones underside I caught.

thoes are huge!

thanks, kind of monochromatic, different from the ones on the Columbia. And again, HUGE!

Those are really interesting in color. Im more used to the brownish/red variety like I get in the Slough or Lk Wa. How did they taste? Also after cooking them what color were they. Just as a side note. Steelies love crayfish meat.

These guys were in a slow moving section with a muddy bottom. After they got home they were put in an tank with good air and their color changed to the reddish brown. So I'd say they lived in an oxygen starved area. They were pretty dirty as well, again cleared up at home quite easily. The taste was great. The family gave excellent reviews mostly due to size (less effort, more meat). I couldn't tell a difference in taste from the smaller fast water craws I usually catch. That being said my average on one pound is about ten to twelve. Anybody else pulling in crawdads that size consistently? I'm still pretty new and am glad I found this honey hole, but curious if this is normal elsewhere.

I've caught some that size, but not a lot like that! Where'd you get them at?

That used to be regular size in Lake Samm and then there were the big ones. About 30 years ago some commercial guys went through and cleaned them out in about a 6 mo period. I haven't been after them since.

I have consistently pulled them out that big on the Sammish river, I have found a few spots with some large rocky bottoms and they are uually only big ones in these areas. Interestingly enough, I actually get more crayfish (weightwise) when fishing the small creeks/tributaries; however the size is much smaller. I think this is more a function of the enviriomnet than anything else. Good catch and great pitures. THX

Sammamish river has always been awesome for big daddies. I used to go more off hiway 522 . Usually by the train tressel. Ive limited there many times

racfish wrote:Sammamish river has always been awesome for big daddies. I used to go more off hiway 522 . Usually by the train tressel. Ive limited there many times

Train tressel I don't see any thing like that on google maps. Where is it by?

The railroad trestle is part of the Burke-Gilman trail. You can get to it easily from Blyth park which also has easier access to the water, less blackberries; In addition to this there is also a landing in Blyth park that allows easy access to the water. During the summer months I will actually get into the water and chuck my cages out so that they get to the deeper part of the water. This also it makes it a little more difficult for pesky thieves. What I have found that helps in addition to fresh oily bait is the use of bait booster for crabs really brings them in.

Our favorite bait was a can of catfood. The thing I hated worse then the blackberries were the wasps and bees.I'll take the bramble anyday over the bees and wasps. We used to toss our pots also. We mightve seen eachother before.The tressle is what I rembered most. Kinda in Bothell area? Have you been there in recent years with pots? Its been a few years since I went.

Yes it is in the Bothell Area, actually a very short walk up from Bothell Landing. In scouting for spots this is one that I checked, I didn’t fish here though as I could see another person’s buoy on the opposite bank, must have had a canoe, so I decided to go somewhere else. As I continued further upstream I ran into more pots so this particular area is fished regularly.
I plan on making my own cages this season and have priced out all the supplies for a lot less than the commercially sold ones. I can build five for the cost of one and this will allow me to tweak them according to where I set them.