Utah Lake crawdads

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]It had been a long time since I caught a fish of any species out of Utah Lake that had crawdad remnants in its gut. One cat last week and the two I got today both had fresh crawdads in them.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I suspect that the crawdads have been hanging on and staying as hidden as possible, through the low water years and now that the water is higher they are taking good advantage of the increased food and cover. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There well may be an explosion of the nutritious little crustaceans in the near future. That is good for the whole lake. It should be especially beneficial to the largemouth population. They must think they are in heaven these days...all that structure and crawdads on the grocery list too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]And, although walleyes prefer live fishies for their main forage, they do eat crawdads. So, if they can find enough to start patterning on the 'dads, that will take some of the pressure off the over-munched white bass and bluegills.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It might be too soon to start setting crawdad traps on Utah Lake, but maybe not in the right locations. I am thinking that I gotta go somewhere and harvest me some of dose mudbugs and bait me up some Utah Lake fishies. Of course, in compliance with the law, I will kill the little suckers before leaving their source water.[/#0000ff]
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[Kraizee_Skot]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][#ff4040]That's crazy, I never knew that there were crawdads in there. Looks like I might just have to join ya in your crawdaddin escapade. Even if they don't work for the fishies, they would definitely work for me. Those are some tasty little buggers for sure.[/#ff4040][/font]
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[fsh4fun05]

TD, Utah Lake has never had a crawdad lowpoint,atleast in the last 7 years. I have been trapping 'dads for kitties for years at the lake. I've moved to minnows the last couple of years but still trap 'dads at night. I have many fish that I wish were a walleye but only cats and others fishing with them little pinchers. Just a warning, never watch Americas funniest videos then drink beer and go crawdad trappin'....makes my nipple sting just thinking about!


P.S. Don't let your tummy rumble, I've never trapped enough for a meal.
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[Out4Trout]

[cool]Awe, mudbugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's good to hear that they are apparently starting to come back in Utah Lake. Hearing your story about them makes me hungry for those tasty little morsels! C'mon Soldier Creek, hurry up and defrost already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Think I might head up there around Memorial Day and get me a few hundred of them. CBR, Bassrods and I nailed about 400 of them last year by just cruising out in the boat at Soldier Creek boat ramp just past where the bait tanglers can't reach and set up our traps with a piece of raw chicken. Then we went and fished for about 4 or 5 hours, came back and our traps were chuck full of 'dads.

The trick at 'da berry is to go just past where the bait tanglers can reach and you'll get into massive 'dads. We weren't even doing the chicken from a string thing (which can get you tons of them). We just had our traps set out and fished the rest of the time. Had we hung out in the same spot where our traps were with the chicken on a string thing and traps, I dare say we would have gotten thousands of 'dads in the time we were there.

C'mon ice, melt already!!!!!!!!![]
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[Utcatman]

if you go down to lincoln beach at night time between the fingers right near the boat ramp... you can catch tons of them by hand they are just chillen on the rocks...
JOe
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