How to Catch a Bunch of Crawdads

       Let's start this article with a couple of questions.

1. Do you call them crawdads or crayfish?
2. What do you do with them?

       I grew up calling them crawdads, and crawdads were bait. Simple as that.
Oh, how things change. Now these little creepy, crawly, snappy, creatures are a delicacy called fresh water lobster. I will pass, thank you very much, but I hear that they are quite tasty cooked up with some butter and garlic, and thrown over a nice pasta.

       Well, whatever you call them, and whatever you want to do with them, first you have to catch them. This is not always an easy thing to do. Until now. I've seen those little wire traps that you stick in the water and leave, only to come back to an empty little wire trap. Easy, but boring and kinda frustrating. Leave those wire traps at home. I have a much more fun way to catch them, and it is super easy! So easy, that the kids can help!

       Nomad Dad came up with this plan to catch the crawdads when he was cleaning the grill, getting ready to bbq some chicken for dinner. Scrubbie in one hand and chicken on deck, coupled with the Nomad Kids asking (20 billion times that day) to go fishing, and it just came to him. After dinner he took the kids to the creek to try out his plan, and it was a success! The next day, they went out and caught a bunch more.

       We shared our success with a few camping neighbors, who undoubtedly wondered what it was that we were doing. They were quite impressed. One even took pics of Nomad Dad's "rig" and texted them to her friend who had been using those little wire traps with no luck.

       One of our camping neighbors taught the Nomad Kids how to hold those creepy little creatures without getting pinched.  From what I gather, you have to get behind the crawdad and grab it as close to the "shoulders" as possible. This way, it can't reach back and pinch you. The kids were brave. Nomad Mom (me)... not so much. The closest I got to handling one, was to pick it up with a couple of sticks and quickly drop it into the old water bottle that we had cut the top off of. That is plenty close for me!

       I am sure that, by now, you want the details. Without further ado, here they are.

How to Catch a Bunch of Crawdads

What You Need:

• stainless steel scrubbie
• fishing pole or a stick with some string
• a net (optional)
• a bucket or vessel with water to put the crawdads in (we cut the top off of an old gallon water bottle)
• bait- they seem to love chicken!

Instructions:

1. Loosen the scrubbie coils by just pulling them apart a bit.
2. Attach the scrubbie firmly and securely to the end of your fishing line or string.
3. Bait the scrubbie. How? Simply stick some small pieces of chicken into the webbing of the coils so that they are good and stuck in there.
4. Have your net and bucket ready.
5. Find a nice muddy spot in the creek or river or wherever you are seeing the crawdads. Throw in your scrubbie line to rustle up the dirt and see if a crawdad is near. They will usually dart out from under the mud or a rock, if disturbed. Once you spot one, get that chicken-filled scrubbie close to the crawdad and wait for it to pinch on. 
6. Once a crawdad pinches on to your scrubbie, pull it up and secure it in the net before it lets go.
7. Now just drop it in your bucket of water.
8. Repeat until you have caught yourself a mess of crawdads.

Please let us know if you try this method of catching crawdads. We would love to hear how it worked out for you. Leave a comment below, and share a pic of your rig and your catch on our facebook page.