Bait for crayfish - fishing in crayfish traps, using the best and catchiest baits, video

Crayfish are higher crustaceans. The body is divided into two parts: a flat arthropod abdomen and a cephalothorax, which are covered with an exoskeleton of hard chitin. Often you come across green and gray crayfish. Sometimes blue, and even less often red. It all depends on the environment the cancer lives in. The less noticeable the color of the cancer, the more likely it is to hide in the environment and survive.

Crayfish are most vulnerable immediately after molting. At such moments, even a frog can tear them apart. Other crayfish also don’t mind eating a freshly molted relative.

The cephalothorax is the fused anterior and thoracic parts. On the front part there is a sharp spike, near which there are eyes on movable stalks. Cancer breathes through gills. Crayfish jaws are modified limbs that are located on the sides of the mouth.

To move along the bottom, the crayfish has 4 pairs of single-branched thoracic limbs. The fifth pair are claws, which are intended for defense and attack.

To swim, the crayfish uses 5 pairs of two-branched limbs located on the abdomen. The caudal fin of the crayfish is formed by the seventh abdominal segment and the sixth pair of abdominal legs.

Males are larger than females and have massive claws. If a limb is lost, the cancer grows a new one gradually with each subsequent molt. The frequency of shedding depends on the oxygen content and lime dissolved in the water. The main criterion is that the water is not too acidic.

The female carries the eggs on two-branched limbs under the tail. The emerging crustaceans are already able to feed on their own and hide from their older relatives.

Habitats of arthropods

Crayfish live at a depth of 0.5-3 m. They choose places without silt, where the soil is solid. This is due to the fact that on a muddy, sandy bottom, as well as in flat and clean shallow water, crayfish will not dig a shelter for themselves.

Crayfish also settle on rocky bases, where there are many shelters, or on the bottom, which is suitable for digging holes. Crayfish burrows can be seen in coastal holes or under steep banks.

In the best places, large males make burrows

Often they are on the verge of crossing the hard and soft bottom. Crayfish dig holes up to one meter deep. The entrance is often hidden under a sunken tree trunk, the roots of willows growing above the shore, or stones.

The habitability of the hole is indicated by the presence of freshly dug soil near the hole. Also, the owner can be driven out of the hole by the strongest enemy. That is why the holes themselves are narrow, so that the crayfish can close its claws in it from the enemy.

The young settle in shallow water near the coastal line, under branches, stones and leaves. Females and weak males stay a little further from the burrows of large males and in less favorable areas. Such as, for example, under the roots of reed thickets.

The most popular lures

As you can see, both animal and plant baits can be used to catch crayfish. The former are preferable in autumn and winter. The latter should be used in the warm period, from late spring to August. However, this condition is not necessary.

From plant attachments you can use:

bread;
makukha;
peas;
corn;
cake

Animal bait can be taken fresh or spoiled. The most popular are:

liver;
meat;
fish;
offal;
worms;
frog;
snails and mollusks.

Animal and plant bait can be combined, selecting the best combinations that can attract the attention of underwater inhabitants. Below we will look at several catchy recipes that attract cancer

From the top

The groundbait made on the basis of makukha turns out to be quite workable. The ingredients we need are sunflower cake, bread, dill.

The manufacturing process is as follows:

Cut the pressed sunflower cake into medium-sized pieces.
Add pieces of rye bread to them.
Finely chop fresh dill and mix with the rest of the ingredients. In the absence of it, we use dried seasoning.
All that remains is to thoroughly mix the ingredients and place them in cheesecloth.

At the pond, we put the gauze in a crayfish catcher and send it into the water. You can tie it with a rope to a stick, which we stick into the bottom at the intended hunting location. The appetizing smell of dill will quickly gather all the living creatures in the area.

How to catch crayfish correctly

Garlic

The second option is even easier to make, but the crayfish bite on it just as well. The only ingredients we need are black rye bread and garlic. The manufacturing algorithm is as follows:

Garlic is cut into pieces or grated. In the first case, it will have more aroma.
Divide the bread into medium-sized pieces and lightly fry in sunflower oil. Fresh product may be used.
Press the prepared garlic into pieces of bread.

Garlic bait is the simplest, cheapest and most effective.
All that remains is to place our bait in gauze or a nylon stocking, and then send it into the water.

Hepatic

This option is more difficult to make, but it is suitable for those who believe that cancer is only attracted to animal food. For it we need beef liver, fish or shrimp flavoring, and chicken giblets. The DIY recipe is as follows:

We leave beef liver weighing 1–2 kg in a warm place for one or two days, allowing it to spoil.
Cut the liver into small pieces and sprinkle generously with flavoring. You can add fish oil to it.
All that remains is to add chicken giblets to the liver.

We wrap the prepared “treat” in gauze and place it in the water.

Fish

What to use to catch crayfish if you go fishing and the fish are slow and you want to make your vacation more varied. Fish bait will come to the rescue, for which you will need several crucian carp or roach. Making bait looks like this:

A longitudinal cut is made along the ridge of the fish.
The swim bladder is pierced so that it does not float up once in the water.
It is better to remove the scales.

We place the prepared fish carcasses in cheesecloth and send them into the water. The smell of freshly caught crucian carp or roach attracts crayfish to abandoned gear.

Silicone with attractant

Sometimes it happens that a fisherman, finding himself on a pond, decides to catch crayfish, but he does not have the appropriate bait. If he is a spinning angler and is fond of jigs, then there is a way out - this is a soft “rubber” made of edible material impregnated with an attractant.

For catching crayfish, edible silicone baits with the scent of shrimp or fried fish are optimal. You should choose those models that are maximally saturated with attractant and retain an aroma for a long time that can attract crayfish.

It is enough to put several baits in the crayfish trap. Or they are wrapped in gauze and tied with twine to a stick, which is stuck into the bottom. Silicone emits an attractive odor, attracting underwater inhabitants, including crayfish, around it.

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Crayfish bait

Below are the most commonly used baits for crayfish fishing. They can be combined. A good result is achieved by alternating fishermen at the fishing spot with various baits. For example, in one farm there will be fresh meat, and in another there will be rye bread.

Fresh fish or meat

The best option for catching crayfish is fresh meat or fish cut lengthwise and turned inside out. You can also cut it into small pieces and wrap it in cheesecloth.

It has been noted that crayfish prefers bream and roach. But it is not recommended to take pike and perch as bait.

You can add fresh dill leaves to the bait. He does not disdain frog meat or grasshoppers.

Such baits are used from spring to early autumn.

Moldy stuff

Although it is believed that crayfish eat rotten meat, they still prefer fresh meat. Most likely, this stereotype comes from the fact that crayfish concentrate in large numbers while feeding under the corpse of an animal.

When using rotten fish or meat, cut the bait along the back down to the vertebrae. This is done in order to turn the meat inside out.

An alternative to such bait would be fresh bird entrails, which are lightly fried in unrefined sunflower oil. This bait can be used until it is completely rotten.

Rye bread with garlic

Take fresh rye bread. The crust is rubbed with garlic, a hole is made in the crumb, which is then filled with crushed garlic.

When using such bait for a long period, it is prevented from swelling. To do this, the bread is placed in a bag made of nylon fabric or gauze.

You can also make a uniform mass of such bait. To do this, pass all the ingredients through a meat grinder. This bait is used in the warm season. You can use a few mint leaves to complement the garlic.

Peas

In winter , crayfish prefer plant baits.
The most justified and catchy bait is canned peas. The peas are poured into a gauze bag. After which the bag is attached to the clamshell. To enhance the aroma of peas, it is recommended to add ground dry dill or its seeds, passed through a coffee grinder.

An alternative to canned peas is boiled pea porridge, which is moistened with any vegetable flavoring. For example, flax oil.

Cake

Sunflower cake is a universal bait for any time of year. It is better to buy cake made from roasted sunflower oil. In other words, this oil is called unrefined.

If you have a choice in purchasing cake, it is better to buy pressed pancakes. They take longer to liquefy in water and can be used several times in a mesh bag.

Distribution of bait by fishing period

At different times of the year, crayfish react differently to the type of bait:

Bait for crayfish in spring. Small fish and fish fillets are good bait at this time of year. And you don’t have to catch it yourself; you can buy it in a store. To make crayfish smell the fish faster, the carcasses can be cut before starting fishing.
Lure for crayfish in summer. In the summer, when there is enough food in reservoirs, animal meat or offal will be a good bait. You can buy them in advance at any store or market.
Bait for crayfish in autumn and winter. Their catch during this period of time will be good, since the volume of food in reservoirs decreases and bread with garlic can be bait. To prevent the bread from turning sour quickly while fishing, it is recommended to wrap it with garlic in cheesecloth or weave it. It is better not to peel the garlic, but to stuff it into bread with the peel. During this period, many fishermen advise using non-fresh meat and fish.

Choosing a shell

Rakolovka is also called recheshna or early. It is made from a mesh of wire or wood. The simplest design is the following: a mesh is stretched over a circle with a diameter of 0.5-0.7 m so that it sags in the middle. This crayfish-grip (crawfish-plate) performs well in slow currents and depths of up to 1.6 m.

Other designs are more complex; several rings or other geometric shapes made of wire of different sizes are used as the basis of the frame. To connect them together, a fine mesh is used.

Rakolovki are divided into two main types. These are open and closed. Let's look at them in detail.

Open

The already mentioned above-mentioned clamshell-plate belongs to this type. The main difference between open crayfish traps is also the method of attaching the main cord by which they will be lifted.

Ropes are attached around the perimeter of the circle, joining them together at a distance of 0.5 m from the center of the crayfish trap. The main cord is tied to them, thanks to which the tackle will be lowered into the water. To prevent the crayfish from turning to its side, the limiting ropes along the crayfish boundary are equal in length.

There are slightly supplemented designs where another hoop of the same diameter is used and a mesh 12-15 cm wide is fixed between the hoops.

Inkwell

Improved plate

Plate

Structurally supplemented crayfish-grips are also classified as open crayfish traps.

Closed

Such devices are cylindrical structures 2-15 m long made of hoops. This is in the case of a lying structure. Although they often use smaller ranches. Their shape can be round or rectangular.

So, the simplest design of this type will be assembled from two hoops connected by a spring. Holes for crayfish entry are located at the ends. They are made from small hoops connected to large mesh and placed inside.

As an option, the rachevnya can be woven from aluminum wire in the shape of a large egg (up to 60 cm long), the blunt end of which bends inward and becomes a cylinder-collar. The hole at the collar is made 3-4 times smaller than the diameter of the blunt end of the egg. A solid disc-lid is made at the blunt end slightly larger than the diameter of the hole, in the middle of which a rope is tied and passed through the entire crayfish trap.

Rectangular

Umbrella

Plastic

The other end of the rope is brought out through the second hole of the rope opposite the sharp end of the same diameter as the blunt one. This shell is placed horizontally so that the bottom cover does not cover the hole. Raising the rack of this design does not require skill; just pull the rope and stand vertically at the rack and close the bottom with a lid. The version of the fishing tackle just described is an average in design between the crayfish catcher itself and another type of gear, namely a mesh.

Variations of closed ones include compact umbrella shells with several entrances. Their superiority is their small size and ease of removing the mesh from the base of the frame.

When fishing over a large area of a reservoir, long fishing lines with many entrances . They are prepared on the shore and then thrown to the bottom.

When catching crayfish , folding crayfish traps are used. Their design is designed to fit into a cut hole and is fully opened under the ice. When they are lifted to the surface, they are folded again, thereby making them compact.

Operating principle

The bait is attached to the bottom of the crayfish trap. One of the methods described below.
They lower her into the water.
They wait for the crayfish to climb onto its surface or inside. Approximately no less than half an hour. More time may pass. Trivial advice: large specimens of crayfish sneak up on the bait later, driving away the young ones. So it’s worth trying to leave the crust on the bottom longer.
Raise the crayfish trap sharply and carefully to the surface so that the crawling crayfish do not run away.

What time to catch crayfish with crayfish?

There are many opinions about what time is best to catch crayfish and when exactly you can get the largest catch:

All winter, crayfish stay in burrows and that is why you should not count on any catch.
The beginning of spring, namely March-April, is the time when crayfish begin to wake up from hibernation and that is why there is no need to hope for great results, although you can already begin to test your strength.
May and June are also not the best time for fishing, as the crayfish are still not active. They shed their old shell, molt and release their eggs.
Starting in July, you can safely begin successfully catching crayfish, since after shedding their shells, they become more active in search of food throughout the reservoir. The end of fishing should be celebrated in December.
At the beginning of autumn, crayfish begin to gain weight, and females form egg deposits. By the end of autumn they become very fat.

Fishing technique

The main thing you need to pay attention to when fishing is the location of the bait.
It should be right in the center and secured. Thus, all the crayfish will fall to the bottom of the gear and it will be much more difficult for them to get out.
You need to immerse it slowly so that the entire structure is not damaged.
You need to lift it out of the reservoir quickly so that the crayfish do not escape under pressure.
You need to check your gear depending on its type.

If you follow all the above recommendations, success in catching crayfish will not take long. The main thing is to remain persistent, have patience and intelligence

Methods for attaching bait in a crayfish trap

Let's look at all the ways to attach bait to a crayfish trap. The choice of attachment method depends on the type of bait. If the bait is combined, then to secure it to the bottom of the crayfish trap, appropriate methods for this bait are used. Only in this case, the main thing is that the various baits do not cover one another.

And another piece of advice - don’t pile up a lot of bait in the camp.

Tie with an elastic band

The most successful options for attaching bait with a rubber band are the following:

A rubber band is used, which is wrapped around the bait several times.
In the center of the shell, a rubber band is pulled like a string several times. The bait is placed under the rubber band and placed in the next one.

Put on a pin

Small bait (such as grasshoppers, worms and mole crickets) can be attached to a pin, which is threaded through the holes of the mesh.

Another option is to attach a piece of bait to a regular connecting small carabiner. Having previously made a hole in a piece of meat with a slate nail. The carabiner itself is attached directly to the mesh of the rachevny.

Place in a mesh bag

Bulk bait is placed in mesh bags. If it is not possible to use a mesh to sew the bag, then use gauze or old nylon stockings. In this case, additional holes are made. By the way, you can also use old fine mesh stockings.

Tie with wire

You can also tie the bait with wire or pierce pieces of meat, fish or other large and insoluble bait.

As an option, the intestines and large earthworms are put on a wire with a stocking. In this case, it is easier to attach them to a crayfish trap and combine them with additional bait.

Use a special hook to secure

It is convenient to place soft and medium bait, as well as rotten meat or, for example, a dead frog on a special hook, which can be found on sale.
As a replacement for a special hook, you can use fishing single hooks No. 14-16 or smaller tees. When using fishing hooks, take 5-8 of them per rack. Secure the hooks with fishing line to a wire wound to the bottom of the trap.

Features of baits when catching crayfish using crayfish traps

To get a good catch of crayfish, the type of bait is of great importance. Cancer must be lured into a trap; he will not go into it himself.

Commonly used and effective baits are:

fish (preferably fresh);
cake;
garlic;
mollusks living in the reservoir where fishing will take place.

Fish is most often used as bait; it must be elastic. There will be a good catch if the bait is roach, bream or perch.

Of course, these are not all types of bait. Experienced fishermen also use their own time-tested baits, but in any case, they must be fresh. In order for the crayfish to crawl into the crayfish trap faster, a strong smell must come from the bait. For example, to enhance the smell of fish, it is better to make a cut along the vertebra and turn the meat out.

It will be enough to put one fish in one trap overnight. The second most popular bait is occupied by mollusks (mussels and clams). The bait may be live. You can find a snail or shell in a pond and put it in a trap.

Tactics and techniques for catching crayfish

Choose a bottom that is more or less flat, rocky, and rich in a variety of shelters. There may be a flooded snag nearby, steep clay banks, and thickets of water lilies are excellent landmarks.

The waiting time depends on the population of crayfish in the reservoir.

On average, the shells are raised after half an hour. When using open cone crayfish traps, they are left on the bottom a little longer.

There is no need to inspect inkwells often. The round crayfish trap is installed vertically and checked 2-3 times a day.

Storage and transportation of crayfish

After catching, it is important to transport and store animals correctly. It is necessary to familiarize yourself with this information in advance in order to have time to purchase the necessary accessories.

Crayfish are stored in special cages. These animals eat weak individuals, so the dead crayfish is thrown out of the storage area. Most often, crayfish are transported in ordinary boxes. It is important to take care of air access.

Recommendations for transporting crayfish:

Use tall wooden boxes with extra padded shelves.
Place the crayfish on grass, moss and collected algae.
Feed the animals.
Place crayfish in only one row.
Cover the animal with an additional layer of grass on top.
During hot periods, protect the boxes from direct sunlight and use ice.
Buy a special thermal container that will regulate the temperature and allow you to conveniently transport your catch.

At home, crayfish should not be stored in chlorinated water. It is necessary to take river or settled water. Use a large pan and feed the animal.

Originally posted 2018-07-20 16:58:24.

Tips and tricks

When using an open crayfish, you need to wait for the crayfish to crawl onto the bait. After which they take it out sharply but carefully, trying not to knock it over.
You can also leave a closed type clamshell overnight, for a day or several days. This depends on the size of the crayfish trap; the larger it is, the less frequently it is checked.
The shape of the crayfish depends on the number of crayfish you want to catch. A round shell with a diameter of about 40 cm can catch 10 crustaceans at a time.
Option for installing an open shell.
Closed shells are installed from a boat or with a long pole from the shore. A float (plastic bottle or piece of foam) is attached to the top. You can also stretch a rope, thanks to which the crayfish trap will be fixed on the shore.
Another option for installing gear is to fix the rope from it to the stick. Even a child can master this fishing option. Because he won’t lose his tackle.
Install each subsequent crayfish trap at a distance of 10 m from the previous one and at different depths. It is enough to use from 3 to 10 crayfish traps per person.
If you plan to catch adult crayfish, use crayfish nets made of polyethylene fishing line. In the case of catching young crustaceans that still have a soft shell. It is better to use a crayfish catcher with nylon or cord threads. Such a net will not damage the shell of the young.
You can use spoiled cabbage, banana peels and fruits as bait. Crayfish especially like overripe pears and melons.
You can add a little blood to sunflower meal and pea porridge to attract crayfish.

Open type traps

These traps are based on the principle of operation of lifts. They are attached to a long, strong pole and taken out of the water vertically. You can fish with them both from the shore and from piers or bridges.

Simple screen

The simplest open type traps are screens. They are a ring of metal wire covered with mesh. Three or four cords of the same length go up from the ring, which are tied together.

Then the main cord is tied to their attachment point, which goes to the handle of the trap.

The bait is attached to the middle of the net in a specially sewn mesh pocket or a woman's stocking, and then the bait is lowered into the water. Sensing the bait, the crayfish crawl towards it and concentrate in the center of the trap. This type of clamshell should be checked every 20-30 minutes. The rise from the water must be done energetically, but evenly, so that the crayfish that look at the “light” do not have time to run away.

It should be noted that the screen can be made not only round, but also square, in the manner of a little fish for catching verkhovka. In this case, the laces can be replaced with knitting needles located at the corners of the structure.

A more convenient harness consists of two hoops. The larger one, covered with mesh, forms the bottom of the structure. The smaller circle is connected to the bottom by a vertical mesh, so that a trimmed mesh cone is created.

Read How to tie a swivel to a fishing line

This crayfish catcher is installed on the bottom so that the upper small hoop seems to hang in the water. This prevents the cancer caught inside the trap from escaping from it.

The use of such a trap makes it possible to check it less often than a simple screen; you can return to the trap no earlier than 4-6 hours.

Inkwell

You don’t have to check an open “inkwell” type rack for even longer. In appearance, it resembles a metal fish tank without a lid. Imagine the design described in the previous chapter, where inside a smaller hoop in the same plane as it, there is another one, and the gap between them is covered with a mesh.

The cancer will be able to get out of this structure only when it is filled to capacity with its fellow tribesmen. Such crayfish traps can be safely left for a day or more.