Not Bass But....

[Sam]

I'm older than many here, so I'll share something my grandpa taught me about catching crawdads in this area back in the early 1950's. His method is probably illegal, for all I know.

Long before Tablerock Dam was built we'd fish James, Finley, and sometimes Beaver Creek. Grandpa lived in Springfield and he grew a big garden and raised chickens. He'd kill a couple of chickens for Sunday dinner and put the guts, heads, feet, and feathers in a burlap gunny sack along with a big rock. He'd tie the sack shut and bury it in his garden. A week or so later he'd dig up the sack and we'd go fishing - it'd be dripping and it smelled so horrible we couldn't stand to be around it. He'd tie it to the back bumper of his '49 Plymouth and we'd head for the creek.

At the river, he'd tie a length of rope to that sack and throw the sack in the head of a "hole" of water just below where the current ran in. The big rock he'd put inside made it sink. Then we'd leave it alone while we went fishing up and down the creek. Coming back, we'd fish for catfish all around that sack, and the smell would have attracted a bunch of them trying to get at that rotten chicken. We usually did real good, though we only had cane poles and little-bitty steel rods with black braided line and reels you had to "thumb" the spool or get a bad backlash.

The bonus - when we were done fishing, grandpa would pull the gunny sack in by the rope real fast, up onto the bank. Crawdads would be hanging all over it, maybe 25 or 30 of them. With all those legs and claws, they couldn't let go of the burlap very quick so we had a bucket ready and we'd catch them before they could get back in the water.

[Gone Fishing]

Sam for some reason during that whole story I was picturing you two and it made me smile. It makes me remember the the things me and my grandpa used to do and looking back now I am SURE had to be illegal.

[Billfo]

Fellas..... If I was being bashed- I missed it !! No worries here, never gave it a thought. Still don't.. All is good.. NOW if ya wanna talk PEDA issues....... Facebook banned me from posting videos as they said I violated some part of the rules because I posted a video of dropping these two lil-snacks in boiling water- or maybe it was the James Brown background music.....

Hey im a city kid with a crayfish trap

[David Unnerstall]

Wow! I watched that. You know I doubt anybody takes PETA seriously; on the right or the left.

I thought you were one of those PETA types that want to see fishing outlawed as they claim it hurts the fishes mouth and the fish are "sufferring". Im sure some of you have seen this interview with KVD as it is not latest news but it drives me nuts and I want to reach threw the computer and strangle this PETA guy Bruce. Bill "The Impaler" Babler of Table Rock. Don't you just feel awful Bill tricking all those poor fish with your lures putting smiles on clients and kids faces? Just a matter of time before Bill is dragging cats and dogs by hooks behind his car. lol.

heres the link for a good laugh:

http://www.anglerwise.com/2010/03/23/peta-is-loosing-their-battle-against-fishing/

At what tackle shop can I get my hands on those "Your Daddy Kills Animals" fishing comic book? I wonder if Bass Pro Shops greeter hands them out?

[Billfo]

Skeeter, thanks for the link. Lots of good information !

Billfo,

Almost positive those are both "Long Pincered" crawfish in your pic and we trap them and pretty much no other species in the Baxter area.

You might be interested in reading http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2005/05/table-rock-crawdads which is kind of a locally famous MDC Conservationist article about these crawfish in the Lampe/Baxter area published in the May 2005 issue.

You mention using hot dogs for trap bait. We find the best success in our traps with any remains left over after fish cleaning. (No, I'm not talking about Bass...relax you guys)

Many of the traps we used to find for sale in the area included little "bait cages" in them where the bait could be placed sort of suspended and protected from the crawfish. You'll find that if you toss a whole dead fish carcass in the trap these little scavengers will clean it off right down to the bones in an amazingly short time.