Guides to Catching and Cooking Crayfish in a Creek

Crayfish, often referred to as crawdads or crawfish, are a delight to catch from a creek. Whether you're aiming to use them for fishing bait or cooking up a hearty meal, this guide will show you how to catch and prepare crayfish efficiently.

How to Catch Crayfish in a Creek

Crayfish are small, crustaceans that thrive in freshwater environments like creeks. Here's a step-by-step guide to catching them.

Method 1: Using a Craydall Trap or Bait

Conventional anglers often rely on craydall traps or simple baits for catching crayfish. Here's how:

Using a Craydall Trap: Place the trap in the water and wait. These traps are highly effective for catching multiple crayfish at once. Using Bait: Toss a chicken leg or beef liver on a piece of line into the creek. When crayfish latch onto the bait, pull it gently and retrieve the catch.

Method 2: Hand-picking Crayfish from Rocks

Directly from the creek, you can also catch crayfish by hand. Follow these steps:

Lifting Rocks: Gently lift up rocks to avoid disturbing the water too much and to prevent a cloud of sediments from settling. This allows you to spot crayfish more clearly. Catching Crayfish: Once you spot a crayfish, slowly move a hand behind it to grab it, focusing on the spot between the tail and the body to avoid getting pinched. Using a Crayfish Cup: For easier catching, poke some holes in the bottom of a McDonald's iced tea cup to allow water to pass through but not the crawdad. Place the cup behind the crayfish and use your hand to guide it in.

With these techniques, you can catch large quantities of crayfish in a short time. For instance, in the creeks of my youth, we would catch up to 50 crayfish in about half an hour, which would be more than enough bait for smallmouth bass and catfish.

How to Cook Crayfish

Once caught, crayfish can be prepared in a variety of ways to enjoy as a delicious meal.

Step-by-Step Cooking Instructions

Cooking crayfish can be as simple as buying them ready-made or making a homemade meal. Here are some popular methods:

Boiling Crayfish: Order five pounds of crayfish from a restaurant that serves boiled seafood. Mix horseradish with mayonnaise, mustard, and ketchup to create a flavorful sauce. Enjoy until satisfied. Homemade Boil: Alternatively, get a sack of crayfish from a local seafood market, along with seasoning, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, and corn. Boil them at home and savor the freshness. Etouffee: For a more complex dish, buy a fresh pack of crayfish tails and prepare an etouffee at home. Use onions, peppers, celery, green onions, mushrooms, garlic, parsley, butter, flour, and chicken stock. Serve the etouffee over steamed rice.

While I am not a crayfish farmer, I do appreciate the effort and satisfaction that comes with catching and cooking crayfish.