What's the best way to catch crayfish?

Question

A lake by my house has bass, walleye, and catfish. I was throwing some bread in the water and I saw a big brown thing pull some bread under some brush and I realized it was a crayfish. I tried to catch it by hand but they're a lot faster than I thought they'd be. If anyone could reccomend me some methods of capture, and if it requires bait, what bait.

Answer 1

Get a minnow trap and bait it with a full can of tuna with small holes puncturing it.

Answer 2

Theres alot of commericailly available traps that will work well for you. The quick and easy way is to get a strong stick about 5 or 6 feet long, then tie a peice of string onto the end, use enough string to get to the bottom, on the other end of string tie on a peice of beef liver. dropp down to the bottom, wait 5 to 10 mins, maybe need longer then very slowly lift up and you should have crawdads on there, some will fall off some wont, you can get a net under em as soon as you bring em out of the water if you want, but its not really needed. Crawdads make good bait for bass, especially smallmouths.

Answer 3

Here is an easy one:
Take a two liter bottle and cut the top off. Then put the top back inside the bottle backwards. Tape the top so that it does not move. Then fill the bottom of the bottle with a few rocks and a cut up fish. Lay the trap in the water and return the next day.

Answer 4

ive got a little minnow trap that you just tie on to the side of the lake liike on a dock post or sumthing and leave it there overnight and you will come back with many crayfish or minnows (depending on how you baited it) they cost about 6 bucks and they work pretty well....

Answer 5

theres alot of ways to catch em, heres a few.......
if there is a heavy poplulation of them in the lake your talking about you can take a peice of bacon or chicken (uncooked) or any other kind of meat with lots of oil or blood that is relatively tough and tie it to a string with a small rock like a pebble or a sinker or somthing to get it to stay on the bottom... just toss it out and watch it and when you see a crawfish start eating on it just slowly pull him in you have to take your time otherwise he will just swim off...
the other way if you want to just leave a trap out for them is to take a minnow trap and put a peice of chicken or a cup of livers inside of it and toss it out this way the only thing you will be attracting is mostly crawdads instead of a bunch of minnows (youll still get a few though)
still yet if you want to catch them with your hands the trick is to either put one hand cupped several inches behind them and guide them toward it with your other or to just come at them from behind and grab them i have found the best way to catch em if the water is over your ankles is to get a stick and flatten the end and just lift rocks and when you see one just pin it to the ground and pick it up,,,,,,, if your gonna catch em with your hands though the key is to come at them from behind and do it slow that way it doesnt make em too jumpy and you can usually grab em (right beheind the pinchers kinda where the tail starts) hope this could help you out some

Answer 6

I am a pro at catching crawfish in my river. Just put on a pair of old shoes or somthin and wade out lift up rocks then when you see then scoop them up and put them in like a bucket or somthin.

Answer 7

A net that has a weave that is small enough so the crayfish can't get through.
What are you gonna do with it once you catch it?

Answer 8

usually under rocks and near the shoe line.

Answer 9

minnow trap with "fish guts" works amazing

Answer 10

read this article
http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2005/05/30.htm