Crawdad, Crawfish, Mudbug Trap Etiquette and Tips

[AZMinyard]

I have this new-to-me boat, with almost all of the pieces assembled including a crawfish trap. What I am curious about is trap etiquette. When fishing I tend to move around the lake a bit, but would like to drop the trap somewhere and let it sit. What is the proper way to do this? Any tips on how I can do this with this least likely chance of having the trap stolen (aside from the obvious ?Don?t?)?

Also, any tips on bait and locations (water depth, proximity to shore, points v. cove)? I used a can of cat food with holes poked in it with some success, but it really didn?t draw the suckers into the trap, they just hung on the outside.

I am using a Frabill 12x12x5 trap.

 

[bjperry]

Re: Crawdad, Crawfish, Mudbug Trap Etiquette and Tips

I can't speak to the etiquette of it; that largely depends on the consideration of others and whether they'll leave your stuff alone or not.

As for bait are you trying to catch crawfish or suckers? Your comment about suckers hanging about the outside confused me. When I fish for crawdads in the river I use chicken liver exclusively. The river I fish has so many you don't even need a trap. Just a couple of people with liver tied to the end of a piece of fishing line can catch 10 pounds in a few hours; loads of fun too watching them come up from downwind and attacking the bait. I don't know if it's the blood scent in liver or the oil that brings them out of the woodwork but I've never been disappointed with this method. Fish carcasses also work well as that's what they primarily feed on I suspect, but I don't always have one at my disposal. Chicken liver is cheap and available at every grocery store. Can't comment on whether beef is also effective, but it would certainly stand up better to punishment I think.

 

[AZMinyard]

Re: Crawdad, Crawfish, Mudbug Trap Etiquette and Tips

As for bait are you trying to catch crawfish or suckers? Your comment about suckers hanging about the outside confused me.

Sorry for the confusion, meant "those suckers" as in calling the crawfish suckers. I can see where this could be misleading when thinking in a fish frame of mind.