Corpusfishing.com

[TexasJohnny]

Just wondering if there are any places here (Corpus) or around here where you can catch crawdads. If so whats a good method? If not anyone know where to buy live ones locally? Any suggestions would be great. Thanks

[keith]

Yes they(mudbugs) are in this area We just don't get enough rain As a kid we'd catch them in old boots (like cowboy boots) boot tied to a line, like crabbing but in a drainage ditch That's all I know about them Ask Artie?? I'd sure like to mariculture shrimp Hope to post a fishing report tomorrow

[Diehard]

The newer HEB stores here in SA that have deli and seafood sections sell live crawfish when they are in season. I recently picked some up to use for catching freshwater redfish at one of our area lakes.

[crab_n_fisher]

LOL....Time to not ask questions but raise your own via aqua-culture techniques.

http://www.ncagr.com/Aquacult/aussieredclawcrayfish.pdf

I am using Google for the Giant Austrailian Red Crawfish.....Sum b*tches are nearly the size of lobsters -- hence their local names in some places as "lake lobsters."

There is another site I saw a few years ago, if any one is interested. It dealt with a showcase of the 10 dollar Wally World swimming pools and good gobs of where these tasty critters were raised in captivity! (If I can the find the site again I'll be sure to post it.)

I raise the own aqua-culture issue for reasons I will not explain here other than: If you want lobsters, Texas either has the high-priced bug at your local grocery store; but if you want something much cheaper, and what you wife will kiss you every day for a lifetime, these Aussie bugs will keep not only you happy but your wife as you spend all your discretionary income on hunting and fishing stuff.

[crab_n_fisher]

New site I found.....

Don't buy 'em but raise 'em? These babies grow up to over a foot long!

http://lobsterpond.com/index.htm

I apologize if you feel I went a tad off topic. My parents at one time wanted to raise shrimp in ponds in West Texas in the early 1990s but we brushed it off. Now aqua-culture is big business, not unlike at least half the catfish we buy at the grocery store that are "farm raised." (I shouldn't say "we" on a fishing site! LOL ..Real men catch their own food....right! LOL)

[The Trash Heap]

If these are the same species I read about when I was a fisheries student studying aquaculture 30 years ago, they'd put rice farmers and others relying on earthen levees at great risk if introduced here. One of the largest Australian crayfish (perhaps this one) bores long, 3-inch-diameter holes sideways through stream banks, and thus could easily weaken a levee, raised irrigation canal or tank dam.
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[The Trash Heap]

Back when it used to rain you could catch a few in the local ditches and ponds. The best site we knew was along the base of the Wesley Seale Dam near Mathis. You could dip them up at night in the pools and around the rocks where seepage kept them happy. These were the Lousiana Red Crawfish so popular at Mudbug Festivals.
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[Big John]

We had an American Eskimo when I was younger that would dive underwater at the lake (Lake CC) and come back up with mudbugs, then eat them on the bank. Don't know how he learned to do it, he just did it.

When the lake went down in the 80's, we came across the remains of a HUGE crayfish. I would estimate it to have been 11 to 12 inches long, easily.

It was one of the Louisiana Reds too, as all of its features were identical too the little fellas we used so many times for bait to catch gaspergoo and big bass.
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[FINS]

This isnt in the area but we usually go to Landa park in San Marcos and fish for crawfish there, There is a gazallion there. The best thing is the water there is from the edwards aquifer and is drinking water clear. U can see them all and sight cast to them. All we use is bacon or ham, Just tie on a small weight and rap the bacon or ham with ur line keeping it as close to the weight as possible cuz if there is a current ur bait will float too high for them to grab ahold of. My girlfriend isnt very big on fishing or hunting but shes hooked on catching crawfish, its good being able to spend some QT with her and seeing her have that much fun. On this same topic has anyone seen someone put one to sleep? No joke we were there about 3 weeks ago and some guy from louisiana said he could, i was like yeah yeah and no bull i got the liveliest crawdad and gave it to him, he started scratching its belly real fast for a couple of minutes, he then put the crawfish with its nose down and rear up in the air using the claws to rest also, that thing was out cold!!! i couldnt believe, it must have stayed like that for about 5 minutes until it eventually fell over and woke back up and was just as lively as when i first gave it to him..........He said it works on lobster also but id be skeptical to try that on a lobster unless his claws were tied together. I've tried it on other crawfish and they do settle down quite a bit but i can never get them to stay on its head like he did.....i think i just need more practice.

[TexasJohnny]

Thanks for the responses fellas. I don't know it seems like I'm going to have to order them in, maybe I'll call this HEB plus and see when they are in season and if they get them. Just seemed like it would be fun to catch those little buggers. My great grandma used to have them living in her back yard in Arkansas (no inbred jokes). Maybe a blue crab boil will suffice. lol anyone with any good blue crab or stone crab spots they wanna share? Thanks guys.

[am3]

here is tynan there is a small creek that stays full of water from the water treatment plant that is full of them as well as in mathis also. edroy has a good place too and anywhere you can find irrigation ditches and big drainage ditches that have mud holes from where they burrow into the waters edge should have crawfish. found one in a culvert one time around 12" long just thought i would add that in.

[Diehard]

Back in the late 70's, when I lived in CC, a fellow sales rep showed me that rubbing a crab on top of the head between the eyes with your finger would put them to sleep. Naturally you would hold them with the other hand from the rear and lay them on a flat surface while doing this. When I moved back to SA I tried the same technique while fishing with crawfish and it worked just as well. I would get a kick out of watching their claws slowly lower until they would lay motionless. Just thought I would share.

[crab_n_fisher]

Guys,

I have asked the question before but never received an answer. I am not sure if the shrimp traps on Ebay are legal devices to use in any freshwater environ(ment) in the state of Texas; but I'd like to try adding fresh Bluegill and canned mackeral to the two I purchased and drop them off of some riff-raff to get me a few pounds of 'em! (One can google "catching crawfish" and spend weeks and weeks on the subject. These yummy critters are everywhere!)

Mr. French, you made an excellent reply (as usual). I have always been interested in building my own private lake, or big pond and I've read the same problem(s) you have come across as well. Its a great day to have to have such a smart, well-educated biologist on board! Thanks.

By the way, as pre-teens my brother and I used to catch crawdads in the man-made "creeks" at the golf course nestled within the confines of Country Club Estates. None of these were as big as John mentioned at Mathis but were the typical sized mud bugs a patron would find at the local cajun eatery.

[crab_n_fisher]

"It it moves, its dinner! Varmint, get into my bag!"

[crab_n_fisher]

John,

Years ago my dad told me about the monster catfish at the bottom of the dam at Mathis....He said the local urban legends were that divers would be afraid to dive down there for they would be swallowed alive whole! Of course, he never saw these behemoths....but who knows, and what "extreme sporter" would want to find out? Hehe, not me! I'd take a fishfinder and dynamite first to prove my suspicisions.

Oh, as I was told, at one time it was not uncommon to see one take bow and arrow and shoot alligator gar there, right off the dam.