Grabbing this little guy off the shelf at Bass Pro was the best accident I've made so far in my novice fishing adventure. It stinks up my tackle box like no other, but it drives the bass nuts. Three fishing outings using these soft baits, and I'm ready for a new pack. However, this success got me thinking...what if I fished with the real deal?
To be fair, I decided to embark on my crawdad adventure after a random conversation about having a crawfish boil...which led to some online shopping (naturally), and two clicks later, Amazon was shipping me a crawfish trap direct to my door for the low, low price of $15.99. Crawdads (or crayfish/crawfish/mudbugs, depending on what part of the United States you hail from) are freshwater crustaceans that look like tiny, angry lobsters, and feed off of fish and plants in many ponds, ditches, streams, and swamps. You can tell if your pond is host to these little beauties by the characteristic mud "chimneys" they build around the pond's edge as they burrow into the waterline just below the ground. The bass and catfish love them, and since our family ponds are blessed with these little water bugs, I thought I'd give trapping a chance.
Crawdad traps are supposed to be baited with the oily heads, guts, and tails of fish native to the pond where you are trapping; however, since I still don't know how to clean a fish, I've had to resort to using cheap hotdogs in my trap. I figure a package of $0.99 hotdogs probably has the same ingredients as oily fish heads and tails, so I should be good there. I picked out a shallow spot with good brush cover, weighed my trap down with stones, and tied it to the bank to restrain the onslaught of crawdads I was sure to catch from dragging my trap into the middle of the pond. Job done, I planned to wait 24 hours before dragging in my catch.
I managed to wait the full day to check the trap, but that meant I had to duck in between graduation parties in a dress and heels and gingerly make my way to the pond like the classy lady I am. Nothing. Not even one measly mudbug. Disgusted, I replaced the trap and stomped my way back to the car. What can I say, I may struggle with setting realistic expectations.
Giving my bait one more day to work, I checked the trap this afternoon. Progress! Two teeny bluegill helped soothe the frustration of being blanked -again- by the crawdads. I'm scouting for a new site and freshening my bait, because I'm not going to let the crustaceans win. It's starting to get personal.
To be fair, I decided to embark on my crawdad adventure after a random conversation about having a crawfish boil...which led to some online shopping (naturally), and two clicks later, Amazon was shipping me a crawfish trap direct to my door for the low, low price of $15.99. Crawdads (or crayfish/crawfish/mudbugs, depending on what part of the United States you hail from) are freshwater crustaceans that look like tiny, angry lobsters, and feed off of fish and plants in many ponds, ditches, streams, and swamps. You can tell if your pond is host to these little beauties by the characteristic mud "chimneys" they build around the pond's edge as they burrow into the waterline just below the ground. The bass and catfish love them, and since our family ponds are blessed with these little water bugs, I thought I'd give trapping a chance.
Crawdad traps are supposed to be baited with the oily heads, guts, and tails of fish native to the pond where you are trapping; however, since I still don't know how to clean a fish, I've had to resort to using cheap hotdogs in my trap. I figure a package of $0.99 hotdogs probably has the same ingredients as oily fish heads and tails, so I should be good there. I picked out a shallow spot with good brush cover, weighed my trap down with stones, and tied it to the bank to restrain the onslaught of crawdads I was sure to catch from dragging my trap into the middle of the pond. Job done, I planned to wait 24 hours before dragging in my catch.
I managed to wait the full day to check the trap, but that meant I had to duck in between graduation parties in a dress and heels and gingerly make my way to the pond like the classy lady I am. Nothing. Not even one measly mudbug. Disgusted, I replaced the trap and stomped my way back to the car. What can I say, I may struggle with setting realistic expectations.
Giving my bait one more day to work, I checked the trap this afternoon. Progress! Two teeny bluegill helped soothe the frustration of being blanked -again- by the crawdads. I'm scouting for a new site and freshening my bait, because I'm not going to let the crustaceans win. It's starting to get personal.
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