Crawfish anyone?

catman529

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Got these in a creek sunday night in maury county. Hand caught everything - held a flashlight and bucket in one hand and caught them with the other. Total of 64 crawdads over about 2 hours of wading. I could not catch as many as I saw... too many to keep track of.

When I got home monday morning 36 of them had died but were still fresh. I put those in the freezer right away.

The survivors -

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The DOA ones...

P1030568.jpg


I put the surviving crawfish in a bucket of fresh tap water but half had died when I got home from work that night. So I just put all of them in a separate bag in the freezer. Talked to a coworker about them and he said to bring some in on thursday and we'll boil them later that evening (I work at a restaurant). Good thing because I wouldn't eat them all myself... I'll catch em all night long but need a couple of buddies to help me get the eating done. :D

The creek was loaded. Never seen so many crawfish in one little creek, and they were all out of hiding because it was late at night. Here's a pic I took of one spot that had a few -

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There were some pretty cool fish in the creek too. Most were familiar to me but there was one type of minnow that was awesome looking but they moved around too much for me to hand-catch one. I did not have a dip net. Here are a few of the specimens I caught and released

Northern studfish
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Banded Sculpin
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I'm guessing this is a bullfrog but I heard a lot of green frogs and no bullfrogs that night. Future frog legs....
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Breeding male central stoneroller
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There were 2 species of crawfish I could tell apart... one green with black tipped claws that lives under rocks, and one mud-colored type that lives in mud burrows and builds mud "towers" outside of the creek bank in some places. I imagine they both taste good though. Just need some cajun seasoning to throw in the water.....
 

jb3

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Congrats on the catches, but are those crawfish big enough to eat? Didn't know the water in Maury County was clean. :)

I'm no expert, but crawfish need oxygen (fresh water) to live. You may have been better off placing them in a bucket with wet leaves, rocks, and just a little water.

I will say one thing, that's some awesome smallmouth bait. You want to have fun, put those suckers on a hook with an ultralight rod and reel and hold on.
 

catman529

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They are big enough, not huge except one or two, but definitely will have some meat. Average maybe 3" long minus the claws. I've had crawfish live a couple days with no water at all, supposedly they can get by on just a little water in their gills or something like that. They did not sit in the fresh water very long before dying... either they were too crowded or the tap water killed them, or both. Either way they should still be good eating. The creek flows out of the country so I assume it's clean.

As for bait yes they are awesome for bass, drum, catfish... I heard crawfish make up a large percent of a smallmouth's diet. I caught my first "big" fish when I was 12, a 17 inch drum on a crawfish. I don't fish with them much now but they sure are a good bait.
 

X-Tennessean

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shopson said:
Fresh city water will kill minnows so it would prob kill crawdads too. They can't handle the chlorine.

I agree Cl2 will kill them ! I buy crawdads all the time from Louisiana,Arkansas and keep them in the bags alive on ice for 3-4 days until I can get the water boiling !!
 

X-Tennessean

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FOX FIRE said:
Here ya go, pull up a chair & count your fingers to mak esure ther all still ther when your done.

http://youtu.be/UucVOAqP7ao

Almost identical the way I do them, they added a few more items than I do but may try it this weekend as a matter of fact !!
The Zaterans season is the best IMO, I don't ice mine and soak for 15 minutes in the water but I do take them rite out of the pot into a cooler and sprinkle MORE Zaterans on them, they steam in the cooler and stay very hot until ready to serve.

Shrimp and crab legs are also VERY good prepared the same way just don't over boil either of them. 5-7 minutes boiling tops

HMMMMM HMMMMM GOOOOOOOD !!!!!!!!! :)
 

catman529

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I figured the chlorine might kill them, I knew it would kill minnows, but I had to try anyway and didn't have any fresh creek water near the house. I have fish aquarium drops to neutralize chlorine but that says on the package not for fish intended for food. Whatever... I got crawfish and can't wait to boil em up. Those darn cajun crawfish boils make it look like we got puny little crawdads here in TN.
 

Headhunter

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I would not eat them. Steamboat Bills in Hendersonville is serving them every week now, fresh from Louisiana. Plus 64 is not even an appetizer for me. I can eat many lbs at one sitting. My brother is as good as anyone at cooking them and we had a sack this past weekend. I will post a picture later from one of his boils.
 

catman529

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well dang Headhunter of course you wouldn't eat them, you got those lobster sized crawdads from LA and as many pounds as you can eat and cooked true cajun style... Let me set a few traps in that creek and hand catch a few more at night and I'll come up with a better number for you :D
 

Headhunter

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Here is what I like, we also have mushrooms, potatoes, corn, garlic, vadalia onions and some other foods. My favorite food in this world.

IMG00042-20110528-1928.jpg
 

RUGER

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Very cool man.

Thanks for the id on the Banded Sculpin.
Man and I caught one each of those in Fall Creek Falls one year and I had no CLUE what they were.
Looked like some kind of catfish to me. :D
 

Kimberman

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The corn that comes out of a boil is unreal. I love to tail out some crawfish and save some of the potatoes for the next morning. The potatoes from a boil make the best has browns you ever had, then a crawfish omelet on the side. I'm having a boil in a couple weeks, I can't wait, without a doubt my favorite meal.
 
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