the fresh-water lobsterette - crawfish lakes *UPDATE*

[G-Man]

In the milfiol is a good spot, seriously. They eat it and hide in it.

[fishermandave#1]

when I was a kid growing up in federal way WA. me and my friends had a special way to catch
crawdads . This was at Lake Geneva before the days of milfoil%#@*&^%%. We would catch a yellow perch, put him
on the dock and give him a good stomp. Then tie him on a line long to get to the bottom plus a little. Wait a long time,
like an hour . pull the line up slow . the CF would hang on till about 12" inches below the surface were we would net
them.. 6 to 12 feet of water. the bigger ones are sometimes deeper. they averaged around 7 inches some were close to 10" inches (no joke),,,, the lakes around can grow em that big. Mineral lake has a thriving population of crawfish.
so much so that crawfish and crawfish colors are a go to.

[bluegrouse bill]

Also Sacheen, & Horseshoe lakes in Pend Oreille county have them. In Stevens so does Loon, & Deer lakes.

[Bobber_Dogging_Gal]

I haven't seen anyone in here refer to crawfish as mud dogs. I was born in Seattle yet raised in New Orleans. It was common to hear fishermen calling them mud dogs. For flavor, we'd throw in a small pouch of Louisiana crab boil in the kettle. Yum! Is anyone else familiar with that term?

[Sideburns]

Used to spend my summers in Texas as a kid, with my grandparents. My cousins called them mud puppies, close enough... Mud bugs was another common term.

[fishnislife]

This months issue of Northwest Sportsman magazine has a pretty good crawdad article in it. Who's Your Crawdaddy? is the name of the article.



fishnislife

[high country]

13 feet of water. Find rocky shore.



This is a few for size samples.

[Bobber_Dogging_Gal]

Thank you for the update. Does anyone know of a list of lakes in western Wash. that has catfish? That would be helpful

[Sheltered]

There are 14 pages here and I have not read them all. So sorry if this is a repeat.I don't catch crawdads, but whenever I've traveled to Spokane I've seen huge numbers of them in the Spokane River on Riverfront Park above the falls. People were catching loads of them with chicken on strings and traps.

[Walleye Be Damn]

Here is what I pulled out of Moses Lake. I will be going again soon before the season closes on Halloween.

[boebishop@gmail.com]

After they used chemicals in black lake I haven't been able to catch any crayfish from it. Has anyone else?

[Sideburns]

Wilderness Lake in King county has some quality sized craws. My wife saw a little girl at the wilderness trout derby walking around with a big one. Crawfish opens first Monday in may. (tomorrow) If I ever get to that point on my to-do list, Ill be repairing pots and dropping them somewhere in wilderness...

edit* I trapped this lake unsuccessfully for about a week, with one non native crawfish in one pot, one time.

[Yatabata]

Where and how to get crawfish in Snohomish and Skagit Co WA? Not having any luck yet?

[onyoursix]

First time poster, long time lurker. I soaked my crawfish traps overnight at Pass Lake in Anacortes yesterday using bread, hotdogs, and dry dog food. Not one crawfish.
I have one soaking at Cranberry Lake tonight on Whidbey Island with a "fresh" salmon head in about 8' of water. I'll check it in the morning, hopefully there will be a few.

Lots of great tips in here, if not for the fish head tip I might have not tried it again after the failure at Pass Lake, so thank you!

[Sideburns]

although I only caught 1, one of my traps was completely cleaned out in Lake Wilderness! They even ate the skull of a very large cutthroat! This is the first time Ive had a cleaned out pot!

[Sideburns]

Louisiana swamp crawfish though...

[onyoursix]

Just a update from Cranberry Lake in Island County. I left the salmon head soak for almost 24 hours. Someone clearly messed with my trap, and one trap was missing completely. I had the float hidden and walking up towards the place that I dropped them and I could see it, I knew that someone had messed with it. I'm pretty pissed off. I wasn't on a trail or near the fishing dock or swim beach or boat ramp.
In other news, the salmon head that I used for bait was not only still intact, but showed little to no signs of being consumed. On closer inspection, it appeared to be an Atlantic Salmon head, I don't know if that could be an issue. I have not caught much in regard to fish in Cranberry, but I was surprised to see that nothing had pecked at the fish head.

I think the next attempt will be on Cranberry Lake and Lake Erie (after I replace my stolen gear... I'm going to state that it was stolen since it was all gone. So far I'm not too impressed with the crawfish/crayfish/crawdad/mud-bug fishing here. I did see someone in Pass Lake with buoy's in their drift boat headed to the far side of the lake, so maybe he knows something.

Anyone ever tried Goss or Lone Lake on the south end of Whidbey?

[Sideburns]

My missions have been mostly unsuccessful, but even a few feet can make the difference....

[onyoursix]

I think I will set my sites on Lake Padden in Bellingham next. It's an hour and 30 minute drive away from Oak Harbor, but if they are there, it's worth it.
It's funny, growing up back in the Northeast, I saw these crayfish all the time. I never thought to eat them, I'd just catch and release them. Now here I am trying to eat them, and I can't find them! I heard they are great eating up here. So far fishing up here has been both expensive and frustrating, and the state rules and closures couldn't be more aggravating. Never in any other state that I have fished in (12) have I paid so much to fish so little. /rant.

[Sideburns]

Pulled my 3 traps from lake wilderness tonight. My "cleaned out" crawfish trap the other day was explained to me by a nice gentleman at the boat launch....

Apparently some kids drug it back to the launch, took out all my bait, and were bragging about saving the day... They were very confused. They thought my traps were beaver traps.
Someone at the launch informed them of what they had done, and they returned my trap to the water. Wow.