Mud Bugs

[1STMP]

Such a nice day today.
We decided to go after some crayfish
from a clean stream not far from the
house.
An old technique for catching them
I remembered from my childhood.
A 3 foot long length of red fluffy yarn
with a weight tied on the end.
The critters associate the red, slow
movement of the yarn in the current
to that of a worm. It's not uncommon
to pull in 3 or 4 at a time as their claws
get caught in the fibers.
Sorry....no pics....this was a day of
getting away from all that.
Had a blast with three of the
grandsons, and had a hearty meal
to boot.
I'll eat these kind of bugs any day of
the week.

 

[ckessel]

Tasty stuff. May get some while I'm here in Florida.

 

[Budnicks]

We used old Bologna or old Bacon,
both stink a lot, really oily too
a lil' lead splitshot down by the hook
the by-product was we'd get a few catfish in the process too
I do love me some channel cats, fried
used to catch them both in the delta off Bethel Island
a lot as a kid sitting on my Uncle Tinks' boat docks
catch 30-40 in the morning or early afternoon, not much after that
(water temps ?) they were all over, those were the good days

We did some deal with yarn too, don't remember the color
don't think it mattered, I can't remember...
I don't remember it working well in the delta, ever...
but;
in freshwater ponds or
in fresh streams (clean water) it does/did work,
South or North Fork American River, down in the Auburn canyon
in the shallows eddies, slow-moving waters
or Mt Murphy Pond in Garden Valley...
I haven't done it in decades...
Maybe the fresh/clear/clean water, they see it better (?)
or Calif. crawdads are different
the crawdads/crawfish (Langostino/Squat Lobster too, to make it sound better)
in fresh 'clear waters' taste way better too,
then the ones from Brakish/Brown/Green or Delta waters
less like mudbugs, but I remember them freshwater bugs, being smaller critters too...

 

[ckessel]

Mudbugs are on the menu for later today. Will take pics.

 

[ckessel]

12lbs of bugs between 3 people.

 

[Budnicks]

12lbs of bugs between 3 people.

View attachment 1448547

looks great

 

[1STMP]

12lbs of bugs between 3 people.

View attachment 1448547

Awesome!

 

[Matt B.]

Looks good, never tried them. Someday I’ll make it down south and give them a try.

 

[YY1]

I am convinced crayfish and "langostino" lobsters are the same thing or at least very closely related.

I have read that they are not, but they sure do taste the same.

I prefer both to "regular" lobster by a large margin.