Crawfish a.k.a mudbugs.

I used to work on the road a lot. I spent a large amount of my time in the south, (Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana, Texas, Louisiana,etc.). While working down there I really aquired the taste for crawfish. I know we have some here, but I don’t know if they would taste the same, if a guy could trap enough of them for a decent boil, or even the legality of trapping them. Has anybody tried catching/eating them here in Minnesota? If so how did you trap them and what did you use for bait. What type of habitat do you trap them in etc,etc. Any help would be apreciated. I would like to try and catch some this summer. Or maybe if somebody is traveling down south they could bootlegg me some. LOL.
Thanks, MNdrifter.

I’ve caught a ton in minnow traps in rocky creeks nice size ones too but I have never tried to eat them. Not sure on the legality of it in MN, I am in IL. I have never found bait to make much difference I have caught them with dog food as bait and I have caught them with nothing in the trap. I like the wire gee’s minnow traps but the cheap black frabil ones work for them too just not minnows.

I do boils every year. Leech Lake is loaded with Rusty Crayfish which are delicious and invasive! The catch is that you can’t legally transport them over land, so you must enjoy them at the lake. They are a cinch to catch, I just use minnow traps with a couple of butterflied sucker minnows in each one.

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Those pics are not helping Phil, now I really want some.

Holy crap! I feel cajun! I have 3 minnow traps collecting dust. Time to try something new! Thanks.

Phil Bauerly wrote:

I do boils every year. Leech Lake is loaded with Rusty Crayfish which are delicious and invasive! The catch is that you can’t legally transport them over land, so you must enjoy them at the lake. They are a cinch to catch, I just use minnow traps with a couple of butterflied sucker minnows in each one.

That looks delicious Phil! I was so interested in doing this myself I actually contacted (emailed) the DNR about this and they emailed me back saying it is legal to transport the alive as long as they were going to be used for a meal.

I had to scratch my head and question it because it was an invasive but they assured me it was legal.

^ I decided to do the right thing and look it up after typing.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/aquaticanimals/rustycrayfish/index.html

In my opinion this is probably a temporary loophole that’ll close up fast so go out and get your 25 lbs before you can’t anymore!

Found more info.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/laws.html

Crayfish regulations

The transportation of live native and invasive crayfish from one waterbody to another within the state is prohibited, except by permit issued by the DNR. Live crayfish or crayfish eggs may not be imported without a permit issued by the DNR. Live crayfish may not be sold for live bait or for use in aquariums. Live crayfish taken from a waterbody can only be used as bait in that same waterbody.

I too catch a fair share on leech lake. You can look up how to make a pretty easy crayfish trap online. Basically a rectangular metal mesh contraption with an upward incline where they walk up then fall in the trap to your bait. Weighted to the bottom in rocky areas work well. Since they swim backward it’s hard for them to swim out of the trap. Also boat landings in the harbors on leech are easy picking. I use a head lamp and a pool style net with a flat edge, and pick out the big ones and scope them up. Very delicious little critters. I usually will put them in a large Tupperware container with water in the shade for day to let them get the sand and poop out of there system.

Phil Bauerly wrote:

I do boils every year. Leech Lake is loaded with Rusty Crayfish which are delicious and invasive! The catch is that you can’t legally transport them over land, so you must enjoy them at the lake. They are a cinch to catch, I just use minnow traps with a couple of butterflied sucker minnows in each one.

When I worked at a resort on Leech a million years ago there was a big square trap in the bait house that I dusted off, threw some scraps from the cleaning buckets in, and bam! The whole the whole trap was filled overnight. It was almost too heavy to bring up.

We had an epic boil and had tail meat for alfredo pasta for days.

If all else fails try Louisiana Crawfish Company. They deliver to your door the next day. I have used them several times and never had any problems.

This is the style of trap that has worked for me.

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I have trapped a lot of them on vermillion while camping. Fun for the kids and makes for a good boil. They sure are not hard to catch. It seemed that we caught bigger ones on average in our traps then when we caught them by hand while swimming/snorkeling. Good times and good eats.

Dang! We usually do a boil or two each summer, but we always buy them. You can usually find frozen locally. My 4 year old loves them!

I grew up on a metro lake. As a kid I would explore the shoreline rocks for crawfish. one night I went out with a flashlight and saw the shallows were loaded with crawfish all over. I got a 5 gallon bucket and began catching them by hand, filled that bucket 3/4 full.
Mom boiled a put of water with some veggies, lemon and old bays and we gave them craws a nice place to live out the remaining seconds of their life, cool to watch them turn red. They were amazing.
Only advise I have is to put them in a tub of freshwater for a spell (sometimes 24 hours) to purge the poo away.

The tail is pretty good. But the best part is sucking the head! That’s where all the flavor is if they are fresh. Good stuff for sure! I’m going to try an catch some soon. Just got to find a minnow trap. A good reason to go to the flea market this weekend, after fishing of course.

MNdrifter wrote:

The tail is pretty good. But the best part is sucking the head! That’s where all the flavor is if they are fresh. Good stuff for sure! I’m going to try an catch some soon. Just got to find a minnow trap. A good reason to go to the flea market this weekend, after fishing of course.

Truth!

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Ive watched a few of this guys videos and they are pretty informative.

Phil Bauerly wrote:

I do boils every year. Leech Lake is loaded with Rusty Crayfish which are delicious and invasive!

After you catch them, do you take any steps to prep them before cooking? I read somewhere that down south some guys swear by putting the live crayfish in a well water tank for a couple of days to reduce any “mud” flavor?

Do you do anything between catching them and cooking?

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Phil Bauerly wrote:</div>
I do boils every year. Leech Lake is loaded with Rusty Crayfish which are delicious and invasive!

After you catch them, do you take any steps to prep them before cooking? I read somewhere that down south some guys swear by putting the live crayfish in a well water tank for a couple of days to reduce any “mud” flavor?

Do you do anything between catching them and cooking?

Grouse

I rinse them with a garden hose and soak them in fresh water for a half-hour or so, and then rinse them again. This is just about enough time to get everything else ready. If they were coming out of a shallow warm pond I might soak them longer.

So are they all over Leech, or only certain parts of the lake? I love a good crawfish boil!

They are all over now BigWerm. I used to do really well between walker narrows and pine point and also the east shoreline of goose island. Now I can just drop my pots off of a dock in walker bay and they are heaping full by morning. Prime months seem to be June-October.

5-6 years ago walker bay had just the small brown native ones but it seems like the rusty has taken over, I catch very few native ones lately.

On occasion we drop off pots in the morning on the way out muskie or walleye fishing and then pick them up at the end of the day on the way in. They go really well with a few beers at the end of a hard day on the water.

I’ve never done it with rusty a, but on other crayfish you can pull the intestine out by twisting and gently pulling the center tail fin straight out (before cooking).

Talk to a guy named Dan Krone from Longville. He commercially traps them on Leech and other area lakes…I think.

This is now on my to-do list!

-J.

chris wrote:

I’ve caught a ton in minnow traps in rocky creeks nice size ones too but I have never tried to eat them. Not sure on the legality of it in MN, I am in IL. I have never found bait to make much difference I have caught them with dog food as bait and I have caught them with nothing in the trap. I like the wire gee’s minnow traps but the cheap black frabil ones work for them too just not minnows.

In Illinois you’re good to go. Soak them in some fresh water maybe. I only say that because we used to do the same with snapping turtles before cleaning them…
Enjoy!(formerly Quad-Cities area)

Apparently 50 degree water in mid-May is good too. I thought the kids would enjoy sinking a couple of traps to see what would come up, we counted 148 for just two minnow traps. No minnows.

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Awesome! What did you use for bait?

Walleye carcass.

Kind of an old thread but oh well. I have a week long trip to Vermillion planed in June. Planning on trying this out. Is it as easy as just setting some traps off the dock with some fish scraps in them? We will be staying in Daisy Bay. Any one have a trap they would suggest?

We use a cheap minnow trap from fleet farm and bait is a can of cat food. Works every time.