Crawdad catching?

I am curious as to any places near Newberg, Oregon that I might be able to catch crawdads, either by hand or trap?

I think ur biggest chance is the willy, but try too look for shallow rocky waters thats where the crawdads hangout. There might be some crawdads in ponds or lakes but they smell really bad.

try the Tualatin or small creeks.....ive got them in the Tualatin before...if u can get ahold of fish heads those work hella good....remember what the crawdad eats....your gonna eat lol

We used to catch some on the Yamhill River years ago

CESAR503 said:

try the Tualatin or small creeks.....ive got them in the Tualatin before...if u can get ahold of fish heads those work hella good....remember what the crawdad eats....your gonna eat lol

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For those who use cat food for craw bait.... Bon apetite meow

CESAR503 said:

try the Tualatin or small creeks.....ive got them in the Tualatin before...if u can get ahold of fish heads those work hella good....remember what the crawdad eats....your gonna eat lol

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It's not terribly hard to keep them in a bucket for half an our (maybe a couple times) with clean water or cornmeal and water etc, to encourage them to flush out the gross-tasting stuff. I wouldn't fish for crawdads with catfood when I was planning on eatin them that day however, if you want to leave out a trap overnight and then bring them home you can put a little effort in an really reduce the stank.

I used to have a rather large Coca Cola beverage bin that I would throw a good 1/2 full gunnysack full of craw daddys in along with about a cup of corn meal for about 5 days and then flush the bin and give them an overnight in just clear water. On the 7th day the cajun brew pot was hot and those daddys went for their final swim and they tasted so fine ...

How the heck do you eat those lil critters? I can't imagine they have much meat on them. It must take a gazillion of them for a good meal. Oh, and if you suck their heads, I don't want to know...:sad:

It takes quite a few but they are good dipped in butter. Oh, and you have to suck their heads.....delicious.

I will at times pluck the tails for the more squeemish diners and sautee them in butter with a bit of fresh crushed galic and a finely slivered section of a fresh shallot . Combine the butter , garlic and shallot slivers in a medium pan an bring the mix up to a medium temp being careful not to scorch the butter until the shallots begin to soften and turn crear . At this point you increase the temp slightly and add the crawdad tails . How long you cook them will depend on the size of the tails and if you opt to peel them or not before they hit the skillet .Treat them as you would shrimp or prawns and dont over cook them . I dont peel mine before they hit the skillet but to each his own . Depending on the mood of my pallet I sometime add just a small dash of Sauterne or dry sherry to give it a nice twang . I have on occasion used these in a dish that mimics Lobster Thermador and must tell you that one REALLY ROCKS . Must go now and wipe the drool off my shirt ....

Raincatcher said:

How the heck do you eat those lil critters? I can't imagine they have much meat on them. It must take a gazillion of them for a good meal. Oh, and if you suck their heads, I don't want to know...:sad:

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Pull the tail and split it and eat it, like a small shrimp. If they're nice and big you might try the claws as well.

They're great in gumbo or a cioppino. :bleh:

Where ever you decide to go, put all the crawdads in a bowl of milk (while they are alive)for an hour or two before you cook em and they will 'flush' their systems and taste way better.

my x wife and her family live in Louisiana and down there they put them in a salt bath to clean them out 30min and a quick rinse in clean water then toss into pot with all the Cajun fixes.

pez75 said:

my x wife and her family live in Louisiana and down there they put them in a salt bath to clean them out 30min and a quick rinse in clean water then toss into pot with all the Cajun fixes.

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This is what I was going to suggest heard from my manager who is from Louisiana. From what I what he said it sounds like the clean up rather well.

Any suggestion for around Salem or Lincoln City.
Thanks

There are decent numbers of good-sized crawdads in the Nestucca River, Will!

Most coastal streams are loaded with them.

DrTheopolis said:

Most coastal streams are loaded with them.

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Seconding this. I had an uncle who lived a few miles up the Yachats Creek and we filled up two buckets in an afternoon, with a few kids and adults wading around a few hundred yards from where we were camping on his property and having a mini family reunion. Any small, shallow, clear, and rocky creek should have tons. (My uncle moved, and I've had success throwing a trap out in the same area - just follow the road east from Yachats until you come to a bridge which hits a T intersection looping south back toward cape perpetua. The stream there is full of 'dads. The river is also accessible along the road before that point and not by going through people's properties if you don't mind hoofing it with some waders, but my uncle says he got some guff from fly-fishermen back there.. I'm not sure if the creek is fly-fishing only, I've only ever hunted crawdads back there.)

I prefer using traps and trusting to luck but I've always had the best luck using a butterfly net or fishtank-fish net with a long handle, and a poker stick in the other hand. Put the net down behind the crawdad and then poke your other stick in front of him, he'll net himself. If you can get a basket on a strap or off your hip, you can carry a lot and keep your hands free.

Make the drive to the Nehalem near Big Eddy. Take goggles and a trap and bait. Put the trap and bait in a big pool, use the goggles to go around and hand fish that same hole. They'll come out when they smell the bait. Just go upstream or downstream from the park. I watched two people fill a cooler in about 30 minutes. (yes, FILL)

The Alsea rive is full of them