# Red Swamp Crawfish (or crayfish, or crawdads, etc ...)



## redneck_billcollector

I have been looking for some places to run my traps this year for them boogers.  I have been catching mainly white river crawfish, which are native here, and haven't been running into the red swamps like I used to.....they are supposed to be so invasive that all native crawfish except white rivers are out competed.  I know I haven't caught all the ones in my area.  Anyone on here trap crawfish for eating?  I ain't talking about as a kid either, I am talking making traps and going out and catch 50 or more pounds a day.....I used to catch all the red swamp crawfish I wanted in south Georgia, but I haven't been finding the numbers I used to the past few years my catch has been largely white river crawfish. If any of yall in sowega know of some good areas and don't mind sharing the info I would appreciate it.  Also if any of yall have noticed any decrease in the numbers of red swamp crawfish  too, I would love to hear your ideas as to why they are getting scarcer....has the state been going after them ? They are non-native, invasive if you haven't already figured that out from this post.


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## Capt Quirk

We have them in our swa... I mean in our creek. I was thinking about setting out traps, until somebody said it was illegal. You wanna try your traps, bring 'em! I would like to see how they do


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## Twenty five ought six

You might find this article interesting.

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/102906/news_20061029135.shtml

Here's a list of crayfish in Georgia that are protected.

http://georgiawildlife.dnr.state.ga.us/content/protectedinvertebrates.asp

Never would have thought there were that many.  I hope I didn't use the last one of one of the endangered species to catch some warmouth on.

If I did, apparently it's o.k. because I found this.



> The Department also approved an exception to the protected species rules that will allow for the collection of state protected crayfish species for fishing bait. This exception will allow WRD to emphasize the need for conservation efforts for these species without restricting fishing activity, because collection by anglers is not considered a threat to the species' survival in the state.  The exception was made because it is often difficult to differentiate between protected crayfishes and more common species.


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## Murphy

Im sure you know about the bridge off of New York road down by the church we used to catch a 48 quart cooler full a night there last few times I went the catch wasn't as great but we still caught some thats always been my go to place


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## redneck_billcollector

Murphy said:


> Im sure you know about the bridge off of New York road down by the church we used to catch a 48 quart cooler full a night there last few times I went the catch wasn't as great but we still caught some thats always been my go to place



Yeah, I know where you are talking about.  I haven't gone after crawfish there in a longgggggggggggggg, long time.  I don't even remember what type I caught there.


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## Murphy

Im not sure of the types the ones we caught were reddish it was last summer the last time ive been there but I try it out every year there is a Gator that has made that place home too bout 5ft just so ya know


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## Swamprat

I would think if you were planning to catch 50 pounds or more a day you might have to have a commercial type license.


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## redneck_billcollector

Not in Georgia, don't need any kind of permit, the ones that are not endangered are not regulated.  The ones I really want are considered invasive and nuisances. The red swamp aint native to georgia.


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## wranglerjoe1968

Would love to learn about trapping crawfish.  I love them little bugs


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## redneck_billcollector

They are easy to trap, I use pillow traps and oily fish for bait.  If I have been out to LA or can get Bennett's Feed and Seed (here in Albany) to order it, purina crawfish bait is great later in the summer. Pillow traps are easy to make, not much info on making them online though, strange....there are all kinda trap designs online that are just way too complicated, pillow traps are simple and effective.


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## cddogfan1

redneck_billcollector said:


> They are easy to trap, I use pillow traps and oily fish for bait.  If I have been out to LA or can get Bennett's Feed and Seed (here in Albany) to order it, purina crawfish bait is great later in the summer. Pillow traps are easy to make, not much info on making them online though, strange....there are all kinda trap designs online that are just way too complicated, pillow traps are simple and effective.



I just started trapping last spring.  Made hardware cloth double funnel type traps.  Baited with canned fish.  Trapped in the Oconee River Swamp.  Did very well.  Getting ready to start again.  Would love any tips you can share.  Tell me more about the pillow traps


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## redneck_billcollector

cddogfan1 said:


> I just started trapping last spring.  Made hardware cloth double funnel type traps.  Baited with canned fish.  Trapped in the Oconee River Swamp.  Did very well.  Getting ready to start again.  Would love any tips you can share.  Tell me more about the pillow traps



Pillow traps are simple double funnel (or more if you want)traps, the funnels are all on one end.  What kinda crawfish were you catching in the swamps?   I like to run about a dozen or so traps if I am going to have alot of friends over, if it is just for me I will run a couple to four traps, depending on how many crawfish I am catching, I can eat a mess of them.  Check with your purina distributor and see if he can get you some crawfish bait, it is great when the water warms up, much better than fish.  Another good bait is FRESH oily fish like shad or such, freeze it right off and use it frozen, as it thaws it attracts the crawfish something fierce. Using that bait I have filled up a sack (around 30 to 40 lbs) with just one pull of 5 or so traps, it is great.

Google pillow traps for crawfish and you will get tons of photos of them along with instructions on making them.  It is what they use in Louisiana to trap wild crawfish.


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## grouper throat

That sounds fun making the traps and then using them. I've always been interested in making traps of any kind.

I think we have some of those red species in our creek. I see them from time to time in the water holes and the bream and shellcrackers seem to love the smaller ones. They will hammer a rebel topwater crawfish too lol


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## bnew17

cddogfan1 said:


> I just started trapping last spring.  Made hardware cloth double funnel type traps.  Baited with canned fish.  Trapped in the Oconee River Swamp.  Did very well.  Getting ready to start again.  Would love any tips you can share.  Tell me more about the pillow traps



Im in dublin too. How many did you catch?


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## redneck_billcollector

grouper throat said:


> That sounds fun making the traps and then using them. I've always been interested in making traps of any kind.
> 
> I think we have some of those red species in our creek. I see them from time to time in the water holes and the bream and shellcrackers seem to love the smaller ones. They will hammer a rebel topwater crawfish too lol



If you are in the panhandle you might just have them naturally, red swamps are native in the panhandle...

I don't know how florida is about trapping them though, might need some type of permit.


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## grouper throat

Yes I would imagine. There's a permit for everything here.


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## Ballplayer

For bait me and my freinds, for years have just gone to the dollar store and bought the cheapest small cans of cat food(fishy, not the cereal type), do not remove the top, just get a ice pick and punch about 6-8 holes in the top and bottom  that way they get the scent/aroma without the catfood and place 1 in each trap. Good times will await you !


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## egomaniac247

I've only eaten them a few times but MAN are they good live bait for bass!  

Anyone ever caught anything "else" in the crawfish traps?

As a kid, we had a very small stream on a neighborhood kids property....we set out normal minnow traps and would catch crawfish in them...I will never forget one day when I pulled that trap up and it was full of baby snakes!


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## Ballplayer

Yep, caught my share of snakes too, scare you want it !!


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## coyotebgone

no closed season for trapping crayfish in ga? no special license?

The regulation does say minnow traps are illegal in freshwater. Theres not two bits difference between a minnow trap and crayfish trap.


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## redneck_billcollector

coyotebgone said:


> no closed season for trapping crayfish in ga? no special license?
> 
> The regulation does say minnow traps are illegal in freshwater. Theres not two bits difference between a minnow trap and crayfish trap.



A minnow trap and a crawfish pillow trap are nothing alike.


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## Bowyer29

I called DNR Region 3 and spoke to a guy, I forget his name right off. Catching crawfish in a minnow trap is legal, you are just supposed to release unharmed any minnows you happen to catch. That is what he said.


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## egomaniac247

So I couldn't take my 2 piece minnow trap to a lake and set it while I fished?  That's odd.


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## cddogfan1

redneck_billcollector said:


> Pillow traps are simple double funnel (or more if you want)traps, the funnels are all on one end.  What kinda crawfish were you catching in the swamps?   I like to run about a dozen or so traps if I am going to have alot of friends over, if it is just for me I will run a couple to four traps, depending on how many crawfish I am catching, I can eat a mess of them.  Check with your purina distributor and see if he can get you some crawfish bait, it is great when the water warms up, much better than fish.  Another good bait is FRESH oily fish like shad or such, freeze it right off and use it frozen, as it thaws it attracts the crawfish something fierce. Using that bait I have filled up a sack (around 30 to 40 lbs) with just one pull of 5 or so traps, it is great.
> 
> Google pillow traps for crawfish and you will get tons of photos of them along with instructions on making them.  It is what they use in Louisiana to trap wild crawfish.



Thanks for the info.  Do not know exactly what species I caught.  But I would guess last spring I caught around 150 pounds or so.  Enough we has 3 good boilings out of them.  Will try the Purina bait this year.


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## Lorren68

*minnow trap*



Bowyer29 said:


> I called DNR Region 3 and spoke to a guy, I forget his name right off. Catching crawfish in a minnow trap is legal, you are just supposed to release unharmed any minnows you happen to catch. That is what he said.




I spoke to the DNR LEO at the Calhoun office and was told it is illegal to put a minnow trap in flowing water in the state of Georgia, and if you have minnows in your crayfish trap you must release them without removing them from the water.


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## Quail man

just gettin started in it, do yal catch more in the swamps or rivers, or farm ponds?


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## redneck_billcollector

Quail man said:


> just gettin started in it, do yal catch more in the swamps or rivers, or farm ponds?



I like to trap them in places with alot of plant matter.  Harder for the fish to compete and crawfish will eat just about anything organic.  I trap in river swamps, swamps, ponds, rivers/creeks and larger ditches/canals.  In other words, anywhere I can find alot of sign (chimneys) during late summer means crawfish during high water.


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## Redbug

Up here in SC...if you have more than 2 crawfish traps, you need a commercial license. It is $50. Maybe Georgia is like that, too?


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## Chase4556

Is there anywhere near the savannah area that you can get live crawfish to eat? I am dying to have a crawfish boil. Back in Texas we can get them from a slew of places. Here they seem to be non existent.


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## redneck_billcollector

Redbug said:


> Up here in SC...if you have more than 2 crawfish traps, you need a commercial license. It is $50. Maybe Georgia is like that, too?



You can run all the crawfish traps you want in GA without a license unless they changed it for this year.....


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## Boudreaux

cddogfan1 said:


> I just started trapping last spring.  Made hardware cloth double funnel type traps.  Baited with canned fish.  Trapped in the Oconee River Swamp.  Did very well.  Getting ready to start again.  Would love any tips you can share.  Tell me more about the pillow traps



We used to trap these all the time growing up.  Could find them in just about any ditch or backwater around.

We used a type of trap that was a cloth netting, square on the bottom.  From each corner a metal wire rose up and then bent over to the opposite corner.  We would tie bacon or chicken livers to the netting on the bottom and use a pole stuck under the bend in the wires to set and lift up the nets to check them.

Other times, we used a drag net to just pull across the mud and shallow water to scoop 'em into the buckets.

And then of course we'd boil them and spread 'em out on a table for everyone to eat 'em.


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## little rascal

*Just Know*

you need to set your traps (whatever type you use) so that that some of it sticks out above the water, you will drown your crawfish if they can't get air. Pyramid's are easy to bait and dump, but Pillow's are a lot easier to make.


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## tmille18

I have two South Bend Wire Traps I have purchased from Sears.com and they have failed every time I've put them out. I'm fishing the Flint River only so far. Canned cat food, whole bream, sardines, and raw chicken have not worked from what I can tell


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## redneck_billcollector

tmille18 said:


> I have two South Bend Wire Traps I have purchased from Sears.com and they have failed every time I've put them out. I'm fishing the Flint River only so far. Canned cat food, whole bream, sardines, and raw chicken have not worked from what I can tell



Get up some of the creeks on the river, I trap the flint "backwaters" in the albany area and do well during late winter and spring. I imagine you could find some in the backwaters near lake seminole....I don't know how the corp is about crawfish trapping, I know folks do it on corp waters in LA.


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## Redbug

I have tried to get the Purina Crawfish Bait. They just don't sell it around here and shipping is around $40 a bag...the cost of the product is only around $19 a bag. It's not cost effective.

http://www.fishchow.com/prod_crawfish.html


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## bigcountry68

Thinking about building a few traps, already have the designs for some pillow traps. However didnt know if there was a certain time of year that was best to trap?? Any pointers would be appreciated.


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## redneck_billcollector

Typically late winter through around the first of July is when I do it, haven't had the water around the past couple of years in the river swamps.


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## redirectaklg

I followed New York from 195 all the way up today and I can't believe how much of it is completely dried up.  

Two small gators and a moccasin later I headed back to the muckalee crossing on 195 and pulled up about 15 decent crawfish.  I used a cylindrical pillow trap with a can of cat food peeled back a tiny bit and put in beside the landing the night before.  I'll probably go back soon with a boat and work the bank...


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## hunterofopportunity

I knew a guy once who trapped them and put them in his kids wading pool to" clean out" he called it.Put a top on it and kept the hose running slow,said it got out any bad stuff.Ya'll do that or just eat them as you catch em?


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## cddogfan1

hunterofopportunity said:


> I knew a guy once who trapped them and put them in his kids wading pool to" clean out" he called it.Put a top on it and kept the hose running slow,said it got out any bad stuff.Ya'll do that or just eat them as you catch em?



I have done something similar to this before with sucess.


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## redneck_billcollector

hunterofopportunity said:


> I knew a guy once who trapped them and put them in his kids wading pool to" clean out" he called it.Put a top on it and kept the hose running slow,said it got out any bad stuff.Ya'll do that or just eat them as you catch em?



Need to put some salt in the water, causes them to purge...spit out all the mud and such.  Keep doing it until the water stays clean.


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## hunterofopportunity

Thanks for the info I'll give  it a try.


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