Recreational Crawfishing?

I would like more information on this as well. I've been a handful of times in the Spillway (New Orleans) and Honey Island Swamp, but have never had any great success.

A few things I've learned,
- Equipment depends on where you are crawfishing, if you are crawfishing in water that is less than 16" deep you want to use triangle set nets which are commonly called puddle nets.
- If its deeper than that you would want to use "deepwater nets".....essentially a crab net with smaller mesh.

quote:

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beef melt

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spleen

and yes its the best bait

Pillow traps in deeper water. Set trap on the bottom and hang from a tree. Tupelo and Cypress swamp are a good start. Stagnant water doesn't do as well as water that might fluctuate in depth. Gives the crawfish oxygen in warmer temps. Water temperature is the key in when they come out in fishable numbers. Cut bait (pogies or shad) in the trap until the water temps warm. Then pelletized bait (looks like a light colored turd). When water gets warm/low make sure the top portion of the trap sticks out of the water to allow the crawfish a way to get oxygen. A table to sort is essential. Throw out all dead/crushed ones and any bait left over can be re-used or tossed. Make sure to pack your sacks as full as possible and put a good knot in the string. Be gentle when stacking or loading/un loading your catch. Don't intrude on any already established lines. I think you have to have a commercial license for anything over 25 traps. Check LDWF.

I have used set traps along the levees, south of Ramah, in high water in the grass. 2 dozen traps and I got no rest running continuously...

Cheap ones can be had at academy. They won't last very long if you use them a good but though

Can get small rice field style traps for a couple bucks well made

Not to mention snakes make good bait as well. We'd kill the water snakes we'd run across and then ran out of bait so we started cutting them into pieces. Crawfish loved it.

Not necessarily moving water but water that rises/falls at a few diff times of the year. Not just stagnant water. If the water is too hot, one day maybe two at the most. Alot of dead ones (15-20 per trap) means water is too hot. Cooler water or after a good rain (feb-april) 2-3 day sets.

Look on la sportsman or CL for used pillow traps. If looking to do it for the long haul and make money buy a roll of 3x coated wire and make your own. Pierre Part store or Net Company in Jonesville. Need good coated string (trot line string), flagging, and good clothes pins.

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Best bait to use is beef melt - basically it is neck tissue from a cow.

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I from Morgan City and my dad took me crawfish ing every year.
We would go to different areas of the atchafalaya basin sometimes in wooded sleus, sometimes more open areas...
We always were in shallow water (no more than 3ft deep) and we used pirogues...
We used double-hooped nets with a shower hook in the middle to hold the bait. We run 20-30 nets each, we used a paddle to make sure the nets rested on the bottom...
My dad would freeze the remains of the fish we cleaned all year and that is what we used for bait...
We would run the nets every 30-40 minutes or so...it's important to keep moving the unproductive nets and keep your bait fresh...a lot of times by the time your done with a run, it would be time go again...
We would catch 2-5 sacks most trips...