Keeping crayfish alive

[krawler]

Id like to keep some crayfish alive for as long as possible for fishing in the late fall. I have a cottage where i can easily catch 100 in a day. i was thinking of drilling some holes in a few buckets, attaching a rope, add a few rocks and let it sink. i can feed the crayfish once a week. would this work for a long period of time?

 

Does anyone know what happens to crayfish once the temps in the lake start to drop? do they stop feeding, bury themselves under a rock, move locations - deep or shallow, are they active all year? info like this will help keep them alive for as long as possible.

 

thanks

[Nemo]

http://www.naturenorth.com/fall/crayfish/cray2.htm

[EC1]

i had one as a pet years back, that i actually was able to keep alive for almost 1 year. fish food that sinks works, and if you are really looking forward for them to grow, a minnow every few days keeps them happy ----FYI - NO MORE THAN 1 MINNOW IN 1 DAY ! i overfed it with 2 minnows in 1 day and it died on me right after LOL

[Victor]

iFYI - NO MORE THAN 1 MINNOW IN 1 DAY ! i overfed it with 2 minnows in 1 day and it died on me right after LOL

 

greedy little buggers lol!!

 

i also kept a few as a pet and they survived for alittle over a year, usually feed them leftover food ... sausages, corn, etc.

[JohnF]

I've also heard of folks who freeze a rock bass occasionally and cut off chunks to feed to the crayfish. They like to have lots of rocks to hide under and that plastic bottles almost filled with water and frozen will keep the temps down in aquariums on a hot day.

 

JF

[Canuck2fan]

Id like to keep some crayfish alive for as long as possible for fishing in the late fall. I have a cottage where i can easily catch 100 in a day. i was thinking of drilling some holes in a few buckets, attaching a rope, add a few rocks and let it sink. i can feed the crayfish once a week. would this work for a long period of time?

 

Does anyone know what happens to crayfish once the temps in the lake start to drop? do they stop feeding, bury themselves under a rock, move locations - deep or shallow, are they active all year? info like this will help keep them alive for as long as possible.

 

thanks

 

I would have been reluctant to share this method before it became illegal to use crayfish in Ontario as bait unless they are from the same body of water that you going to use then on. (ie you can't transport them overland anymore) As I would be afraid too many people would go catch a 120 crayfish and then wind up wasting them thinking they would use them....

 

For years I tried to keep crayfish and nothing really was simple, cheap or worked long term until I hit on this method.

 

Take a large flat bottomed plastic container with a lid that has holes drilled into it. Take about 10 pages of newspaper and put it through a strip shredder. Soak the newspaper in DISTILLED water and then squeeze until it just damp. Put the newspaper in the container add your crayfish and put it in your beer fridge. I have successfully kept crayfish alive for up to one month using this method, by changing the papers once a week. However keeping this way and in good condition 2 weeks is more a realistic time frame. The cold of the fridge slows them down and the moisture on the paper keeps them from drying out. The cold should also mean that they really don't need to eat although if you wanted to you could sprinkle some fish food on the paper the day before you are going to change it. I wouldn' leave the food on the paper longer than that though.

 

If you want to have a supply of crayfish until bass ends, just gather up and keep a few dozen when the water temps start to drop because they will dig in for the winter earlier than you think once the water gets cold. I remember having a terrible time going for crayfish and literally having to kick them in to the net because they were hibernating or inactive in the fall. Where as in the summer you get the crayfish to do the work of swimming into the net as you just walk along... lot easier on the toes. LOL

Edited August 28, 2008 by Canuck2fan