How do you catch crawdads? Do you eat them?

[AGarbers]

Last year I decided to start catching and consuming Indiana crawdads. I must say, after getting over the idea of eating bait, they were the sweetest vittles dripped in butter I have ever tasted. They were better than any snow crab on any buffet.

I catch mine in the local creeks using homemade traps baited with some sort of oily fish like sardines or cat food. I am curious how my fellow "cajun" Hoosiers do it.

 

[K_W]

I don't eat them, but as a kid I caught them all the time by watching for them to scurry to their holes, then cupping my hand over the hole waiting 30 seconds, and then lifting the rock up from one side as they would see the light and turn away from it and back right into my hand thinking it was another rock.

 

[BiscuitNaBasket]

I've only caught and eaten craw dads in Florida. They were delicious. When I did do that I'd just put on a pair of scuba fins and a snorkel with a mask and put a mesh bag around my wrist to stuff the craw dads in. Then just swim up and down the river and pluck the juicy ones.

 

[phylodog]

Love me some mud bugs but haven't caught them since I was a kid and that was simply for entertainment. I ate my body weight in them a couple times over when I lived in Louisiana for a few years.

 

[scott delaney]

raw chicken in homemade trap or a minnow net works great for me

 

[actaeon277]

This makes me think of a scene from Raising Arizona.

 

[Fargo]

I wander down the streams at night with a headlamp on, bait net in one hand and a beer in the other. I have a mesh drawstring bag on my belt to hold them. Usually it is me and a buddy or two. You can catch about 5 lbs an hour in a good spot. I thought I was the only one who caught and ate hoosierdads!

 

[AGarbers]

I wander down the streams at night with a headlamp on, bait net in one hand and a beer in the other. I have a mesh drawstring bag on my belt to hold them. Usually it is me and a buddy or two. You can catch about 5 lbs an hour in a good spot. I thought I was the only one who caught and ate hoosierdads!

Interesting... Five pounds is about right for a good meal. This idea has great appeal.

 

[ConcealedCarryCutie]

I use my thumb and index finger, and just grab them behind the backs of their pinchers. i used to live near a great stretch of shallow streams. I was younger, and wished i coulda used nets, but we did what we had to do

 

[jontheturboguy]

Ive heard that the ones under the water are hardshell and the ones that make the burros on the banks are soft shell.
Any truth to that?

 

[singlesix]

Homemade trap and chicken necks.

 

[gunworks321]

Can you get them out of the holes in the bank? Have often wondered if that is possible and how it could be done quickly and efficiently.

 

[Fargo]

Ive heard that the ones under the water are hardshell and the ones that make the burros on the banks are soft shell.
Any truth to that?

No I don't believe so. A softshell is just one that has recently molted and whose new shell has not yet hardened. About 1 in 30 that you find will be softshell. Keep it a few days and it will be a hardshell again. All the one's I've caught peeking out of burrows have been hardshelled. All the soft shelled one's I've caught have been underwater.

 

[The Bubba Effect]

One summer I got really into fishing a creek near bloomfield. I would wade the creek with my fishing rod and a little bitty dip net like they use in the pet store to dip gold fish. When I saw a crawdad I would scoop it up and pop it on the hook. Every time I caught one I would pitch it up stream without a weight or bobber and every time I caught a small mouth or rock bass. It was a heck of a way to spend an afternoon. I used to catch them by hand all the time when I was a kid, but those little bitty dip nets are awesome!

 

[Leadeye]

Last year I decided to start catching and consuming Indiana crawdads. I must say, after getting over the idea of eating bait, they were the sweetest vittles dripped in butter I have ever tasted. They were better than any snow crab on any buffet.

I catch mine in the local creeks using homemade traps baited with some sort of oily fish like sardines or cat food. I am curious how my fellow "cajun" Hoosiers do it.

Eating bait, I liked that.

My question is how you are cooking them, steaming, boiling and how long?

 

[Fargo]

One summer I got really into fishing a creek near bloomfield. I would wade the creek with my fishing rod and a little bitty dip net like they use in the pet store to dip gold fish. When I saw a crawdad I would scoop it up and pop it on the hook. Every time I caught one I would pitch it up stream without a weight or bobber and every time I caught a small mouth or rock bass. It was a heck of a way to spend an afternoon. I used to catch them by hand all the time when I was a kid, but those little bitty dip nets are awesome!

The easiest way I've found to scoop them is to gently position the net behind them and then wiggle your fingers in front of them. They scoot back right into the net!

 

[Fargo]

Eating bait, I liked that.

My question is how you are cooking them, steaming, boiling and how long?

I boil them in with half cobs of corn, taters, and onions. I add a bunch of cayenne and black pepper to the water. There are a million different cajun boil recipes out there. Just be aware, they have to be cooked live and can only be frozen uncooked with specialized equipment. Discard any that do not curl up in the boil as they were likely dead going in.

 

[The Bubba Effect]

The easiest way I've found to scoop them is to gently position the net behind them and then wiggle your fingers in front of them. They scoot back right into the net!

That's how I used to catch them by hand, but I found those little bitty nets move through the water fast enough that I could usually just creep it up on them from behind and then snap the net forward to scoop him. Man, now I'm really wanting to go wading (I bet the water is still pretty chilly so I will give it a few weeks, lol)

 

[AGarbers]

Eating bait, I liked that.

My question is how you are cooking them, steaming, boiling and how long?

I buy the crab boil and follow the directions on the box. It doesn't take long.

 

[AGarbers]

By the way, Zydecos in Mooresville should be starting their crawfish season very soon.