[Vojak]

Hi all,

So I grew up in Sweden where we have the anual crayfish festival around mid August. Nowdays, every year I have to drive to Ikea in Renton and buy frozen and overpriced crayfish. Someone told me Pine lake in Sammamish has crayfish and that its allowed to fish for them. Does anyone know if this is true? If so, any pointers as to the best method of catching them?

Thanks much in advance and I apologize if the question is a little off topic for this forum.

Cheers

 

[sean_k]

I can't speek much where to find Crayfish on the wetside. I would imagine the eastside has a higher population with the warmer water temps.

As for catching crayfish a simple wire trap baited with chicken or turkey legs work well. Follow the link for how to instructions for building a trap.

http://www.wut2c.com/Activities/Survival Trips/Food/Collection/Crayfish/crawdad trap.htm

 

[Dead Drift]

a lot of lakes and rivers have crawfish in them. i remember when i was in middle school we used to go fund huge ones on the Pilchuck and in the Snohomish. Im not sure if its legal to 'fish' for them but im sure it says so in the regs. those wire traps and a piece of chicken will work to get them. vbut if you really want to get a lot of them put a fresh piece of fish in the trap, like a squawfish or some other type of 'trash fish'.

Good luck!

-Connor

 

[KerryS]

Bacon!

 

[GelJockey]

I would contact Molly Hallock at WDFW (360.902.2818 or [email protected]). She manages the commercial and recreation crayfish fishery.

Another possibility would be Dr. Julian Olden at the UW. He is conducting some crayfish research (eastern and western Washington) and although I can't recall if Pine Lake is one of the lakes on his list, he may know or he may be able to recommend a lake.

 

[Vojak]

Thanks all for the answers! Greatly appreciated.

 

[Poopy McButtfart]

I've seen live crayfish at Pike's Place

 

[Richard Torres]

Vojak.
You will find crayfish in any body of water that has basketball and larger sized rocks.
As a kid I used to wade in the smaller tributaries and lakes around here with friends and hunt for them.
We would just find a nice sized pool with rocks, pull up the rocks while another person would try and corral them into a net or try to grab them by the tail without getting pinched.
Then we'd take them home and mom would boil them in a pot of salt water. Very tasty!!

 

[Jim F.]

Lots of crawdads on the east side . . . no size, but lots. Don't know if there's a season (didn't check the regs), but crayfish/crawdad imitations are deadly on Smallmouth Bass . . . they like 'em, too! Ate tons of them while in Loosiana . . . Mississippi spilway craws were HUGE. Never tackled the head, however . . .

 

[Vojak]

Thanks! So as long as I figure out if its legal or not (regs seem to imply it is), whats the strategy (if any) once I get to the lake (assuming using traps)? Pretty much find any spot with rocky bottom and lots of cover and set the traps there? Would it be better to set them away from land to avoid easy access for people who might have the urge to pull them for me?

 

[SpeySpaz]

go fairly shallow, 20 ft ish, bottom with timber and rock is preferable, definitely set from a boat,
bait well and let it soak a long time.
Many lakes around here have crawdads.

 

[Old Man]

I knew some people that lived on a small lake in Seattle proper. And at night in the summer time they would use hamburger meat on the shore line.. The crawdads would come up and eat the burger meat and they would scoop up what arrived. A good easy way to catch some.

 

[FE427TP]

I don't know how it is up there, but down here it's hard to find crawfish of any size that aren't covered with worms/parasites...

 

[Gary Thompson]

I used to work/camp on a little lake that was full of crawdads. The dry side.
I found that if ya left the trap for very long the dads would figure out how to crawl out so we would just hang out, have a beer and pick the trap up as it filled.
The dads were smallish with big ones maybe 4" from head to tail.
A little work, but worth it.
Fish heads were the best bait.

 

[Old Man]

What ever you do. Don't eat the BLUE ones.

 

[Phishy]

When I was a kid my bro and I would catch crayfish by the bucket load in lakes and creeks and all we used was a large plastic cup and a stick. We would flip over rocks to find them then lay the cup down in the water behind them and give 'em a little nudge in the front with the stick and the crayfish would shoot backwards into the cup. We kept a 10 gallon aquarium loaded with them in the summer because they were excellent for bass fishing our local ponds.