Never heard of the 'bucket strategy' Also, where are guys talking about when y'all say 'ditch'. Could y'all elaborate?

Welcome aboard dixiony,,, ditch= bar ditch

Thanks for both

You can buy eating size crawfish. Break off the tail, cut it in half. Do not peel. Stick hook thru peel from one side and out the other side thru the meat. Take the head and crush it over the water and drop it. It will help scent up your hole. Cast it out, reel it slow, and hold on. It is very legal and deadly. Good luck.

You can buy eating size crawfish. Break off the tail. cut it into 2 pieces. Leave on shell. Put hook thru shell and meat and out the other side of shell. Use the head as chum. Crush and drop into water. Cast out and reel slowly. Hang on. It is legal and deadly. Sometimes it takes a rise in the water level to wash mudbugs out of sloughs to kick the whites into craving them. On low water years they dont work as well early. Have used them for years also as a tip on a roadrunner. Deadly.

Had a dozen of these:

http://www.basspro.com/Frabill-Crawfish-Trap/product/37119/125790

Filled them with dead salmon and setM on creeks! They work great in lakes too. In OR the crayfish liked rocks, not sandy bottom?

I have found small ones under rocks at Grapevine. Not many, and not large ones like I like to use. So they do like rocks. They also have another nickname. Mudbugs. In the bar ditch, I raked them out of the mud. I hope they'll get larger as the weather gets better.

Thanks All!

Captn Daves seafood market in Plano has live 'uns for 4.25/lb.... Just went thru a sack on Sunday!

When I was kid we would catch 'em out of a ditch. Nice ones, 3-5 inches long. We would go to a pond, hang 'em under corks, let them cross the water. Big LMB and Channels Cats just killed 'em.

Look at bridges over creeks where the water may not always run. Pools form right under the bridges concrete edge. That water is clear and full of stuff crawdads like to eat, thats where you can find some, fish them live if you can.

To keep crawfish alive do not put a hook through them instead use a rubber band and wrap the hook to its back.

I've always hooked them through the back end of the tail......they live a long time

i rather eat them myself lol

Growing up my brothers and I used them alot for trotlines very successfully for catfish, a truly excellent river bait. I have never fished with them for whites, but last summer I caught several that had crawfish in them.

My brothers and I used them for bait because we liked catching them too. Use a piece of bacon (it doesnt come apart, like using a chicken neck for crabs) on a string on a short to medium stick. You can slowly bring the crawfish up once you see the line, bacon, or crawfish moving/pulling, but you need a net to slide under them before you pull them out of the water because most will let go when you get them out of the water. We mostly used an old basket from a frydaddy to scoop under them. Those were good days. Some of the other methods here are much more efficient but you guys with kids might find enterainment this way.

They are excellent eating boiled, fried, etouffee, and etc... I would not suck the heads, tried that once and was nasty. We did manage to talk the dumb cousin into trying to suck the head twice...convinced him the first one being nasty was just a fluke.

I know they're a costly but has anyone ever used water dogs for striper or Hybrids? I know they work great for Lg mouth.

Thats exactly right! On regular/higher water level seasons, they work awesome on sandies and hybrids (2 & 4 years ago). When water level is lower (last year), they dont work as good.

i knew lmb love crawdads, and knew drum would tear em up, and have heard of ppl using crawdads for catfish bait. but nvr realized all fish liked them

iluvfishin, you must be a cajun. I heard they don't throw nothin back. Yer not supposed to eat the fish bait !

I bought 4 pounds of them live at fiesta in garland for $8. Put them in my pond out back and scoop them out when I need them. Some died and I just froze them to use the tail and then will hook the live ones behind the head. No clue how well they work. Just got them from reading on here about them.

I need to go get some of those to eat myself.

Reggie