What to use to "bait" crayfish traps?

I have now aquired 4 crayfish traps that I hope to set out soon locally and check daily. My real question is, what should be used to bait the trap? I have tried clam meat (noticed some kids killing clams with rocks and just took the meat out of the shattered shells) but didn't catch anything. I was wondering what worked best and what the odds are of ending up with more than one cray in a trap (seeing they are evil and tend to fight. My traps are the ones in the following link.

http://www.gandermou...fish_Trap_Black

Any help will be appreciated! I need to find some devil and prairie crays!

My favorite is hard salami in a mesh bag tied to the cage.

Todd

My Uncle Phil likes to use bacon to bait crayfish. One time the family was on a bridge in a park, and we tied bacon to a string and dropped it down into a creek. Not fifteen minutes later there was a large crayfish, coming out to sniff the bacon.

Edited by EricaWieser, 12 October 2011 - 01:57 PM.

interesting foods. I never would have thought either, but I guess salami has a strong scent. I would never use my beloved bacon to bait crayfish (bacon is waaaay to good to do that.. LOL) but I do thank you for that idea.

I had read some places that they also go after veggie matter, but have had no luck trying it (tried it last year in traps and caught nothing.. minnow traps that is.)

Dry cat food works well. I have gotten them in funnel traps baited with sardines or chicken livers too. You will certainly get more then one in a trap; they aren't going to pass up a meal just because another cray got there first.

Those are all good baits but don't leave the trap overnight, the crayfish will eventually figure out how to escape. I set a trap for crayfish overnight once and the following morning the bait was gone and the only thing in the trap was a Tadpole Madtom and even a catfish couldn't have eaten all of the food in the trap. 2-4 hours is the max from what I've read. I rarely use traps myself so I'm far from an expert.

As I found out while catfishing....CLAMS!! Gotta use clams. I was fishing Lake Nockamixon. Tried clams for bait after getting the idea from (yes thats right) my 4 yr old daughter who spent more time collecting empty clam shells from the shallows while fishin for gill's during the day. I was smashing cherrystone clams on a rock to open them up & the bits of broken shell clam fell into the water. When I landed my first cat, I had a swarm of small crays around me picking at the clam shells I was dropping.

p.s. circle hooks work great with clams for catfish.

Edited by exasperatus2002, 13 October 2011 - 08:06 AM.

Bivalves are protected by law in lots of places. It might be a good idea to check your local laws first.

Here is the clamming information for Wisconsin: http://dnr.wi.gov/fi...1/clamming.html

It is no longer legal to harvest live clams from the waters of the state.
Dead shells that are not from endangered or threatened mussel species may be collected.

Threatened or Endangered Mussel Species
It is illegal to remove threatened or endangered clams from any Wisconsin water.
The following clam species are protected and may not be harvested. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will inform the public of any changes as they occur. Penalties for taking, possessing, transporting or selling threatened or endangered species are more severe than those listed above for commercial clam species. If you are in doubt, leave the shell where you found it.

State Endangered
Higgins' Eye Pearly Mussel
Yellow Sandshell
Slough Sandshell
Spectacle Case
Purple Wartyback
Butterfly
Elephant Ear
Snuffbox
Ebony Shell
Bullhead
Rainbow Shell

State Threatened
Rock Pocketbook
Buckhorn (Pistolgrip)
Wartyback
Monkeyface
Slippershell
Ellipse
Salamander mussel

State Threatened & Endangered
Winged Maple Leaf

Note: These Web pages are a summary of Wisconsin's clamming statutes and administrative rules. Refer to Section 29.537, Wisconsin Statutes and Chapter NR 24, Wisconsin Administrative Code for the specific law and regulations that govern commercial and noncommercial clamming in Wisconsin.
See also Section 29.604, Wisconsin Statutes and Chapter NR 27, Wisconsin Administrative Code for requirements pertaining to threatened and endangered species.

Edited by EricaWieser, 13 October 2011 - 08:26 AM.

The clams I used were bought from the seafood dept at giants. I didnt use freshwater clams. my daughter was collecting only empty shells from deceased freshwater clams. I figured somethings gotta be eating these clams, must be big cats. At 28 inches long, the 1st cat proved me right.

I'm going to have to try that. I've bought raw shrimp from the supermarket to use for catfish with okay results but Clams are also supposed to be great for Striped Bass.

and erica, if you read the initial post, the clams used were smashed particles from kids that were killing them in the stream. The youth of the nation wouldn't listen to me saying they shouldn't be doing that. I would never kill clams. I love how ugly their little feet are and how they squirt water when you pick them up to look at them.

and after googling the images for all of them, none of them were the ones that I saw were killed (luckily )

Edited by NVCichlids, 13 October 2011 - 12:57 PM.

I'm going to have to try that. I've bought raw shrimp from the supermarket to use for catfish with okay results but Clams are also supposed to be great for Striped Bass.

I use mussels when fishing for striped bass, along with mummichogs (on the same circle hook). Works very well. The only problem I have is that the mussels are really not sturdy at all and don't last long. I wonder - would clams last longer? (Of course, they wouldn't be nearly as inexpensive as the mussels pried out of the mud!)

now I have yet another task at hand.. photographing all endangerd clam species of wisconsin, photograph all crays, and finish up all fish... this task keeps getting bigger and bigger.. Hopefully I will be done by the age of 50 (being 25 now)

I like to use canned catfood (usually seafood flavor). Just make four triangular holes in the top with triangular end of a bottle opener and throw it in the trap. Pretty easy system. Another idea, which I formerly used is to put the bait inside a ladies nylon stocking with the end knotted.

I vote for bacon. I used it tied on a string in a pond and caught crayfish all morning when I was a kid. They hang on tight as you bring them in and the bacon is tough so lasts a long time.

Usil

I vote for bacon. I used it tied on a string in a pond and caught crayfish all morning when I was a kid. They hang on tight as you bring them in and the bacon is tough so lasts a long time.

Usil

best bait for me has been salt pork #1 or two day old chicken neck's bar none #2

I second the idea of canned catfood, but all the above should work. You need something hard to pull apart and remove from the trap through the mesh, strongly scented and will retain its scent when submerged, cheap and convenient to obtain. A 50 cent can of catfood is excellent on all those criteria.

I vote for bacon. I used it tied on a string in a pond and caught crayfish all morning when I was a kid. They hang on tight as you bring them in and the bacon is tough so lasts a long time.

Usil

This is exactly how we go crabbing around here. You tie a chicken neck to a string, throw it in the water, and wait for little subtle tugs. Then slowly pull it in; the crabs are greedy and won't let go. Net them before you pull the bait out of the water, though, because they tend to let go once in the air.

I have a crab pot, too, but the chicken-neck-on-a-string method works faster if you want enough for dinner. Especially if you can recruit some neighborhood kids.

I imagine this might work quite well for crayfish.

Wow, that takes me back to my childhood days of drop lining for Blueclaw crab.We'd take a triangular sinker tied to some kite string, cut a frozen bunker in half and poke the sinker through the middle of one of the pieces and tie a quick knot. You always had to do that that very slow retrieve and have someone be ready with the net. I loved the suspense of pulling in the line and waiting to see if you had anything on it.

That method works very well for crayfish. I like to use beef liver (stronger scent), but chicken necks are probably ok.