Conference wahoo::fishing

    Hay Walt I have an easy way to catch them.  We go to flood control
    rivers to get them. I don't know if you would want to eat these,
    but any weedy mud type area would work.
    
    Take a fine wire metal kids bike basket and attach it to a stiff pole
    or 2x4.  Then make fast draw throught the weeds and up.  Pick through
    what you get and there will be craws..  Good luck.
    
    Bob

    The best way to catch crayfish is with a minnow trap, which is like
    a small lobster trap. catch a few small pan fish and place them
    in the minnow trap, you should kill them before putting them in
    the trap. attach a rope to the trap and throw it into a pond that
    you know contains crayfish, tie the rope to the shore and let it
    sit out there for 24 hours or so. If the pond contains a good  
    population of crayfish your trap will have atleast 30-40 good size
    crayfish in it, some good for eating some good for smallmouths at
    Wachusett resi.

    Jes flood yore rice fields in de fall an dreen dem in de airly spring
    and dere are dem mudbugs!!
    
    An wit dem chew kin mak etoufee, crawfish pie, crawfish bisque(made
    wit dem crawfish "heads"), an gumbo.
    
    Or chew kin jes buy dem frum de Landry brothers who hab dere own
    crawfish farm(dey cum in a can).
    
    For de etoufee chew mak a roux. Start wit bakon fat an onions, bell
    peppers an flour an mak it real dark an thick. Den add water an
    tomatos an cayenne pepper an de crawfish tails. Serv ober rice(wild rice
    am better).
    
    For de crawfish bisque chew jes chop op de boiled crawfish tails
    wit onions, bell peppers, an celery(real fine). Cook for a while
    an put it in dem shell ob de bodies(after chew don removed all de
    insides). Make a roux an put de bodies"heads" bak in de pot wit
    water. Add rice jes before servin.
    
    Gumbo kin be made wit jes about anythin(ham, seafood, squirrel,
    venison, boudin, blackbirds). Crawfish pie is lak dem meat pies
    in dem allyminum tins wit a crust.
    
    Jes wot ole Coonass didn tell was de seasonin to use an dats too
    hard to describ chere. Some are Pechot bitters, Lea & Perrin, Tobasco,
    Filet powder, an cayenne pepper. 
    
    Always put chore rice in de gumbo jes before chew eat it so it don
    get soggy an always put chore filet powder on de gumbo last.
    
    Dem crawfish r de bes eatin in de world!! Always boil dem whole
    in Trappeys Crab boil first an peel de tails before chew use dem
    in any recipe. An if chew was a real Coonass chew wud suck de fat
    outta de heads!!
    
    Bon appetit!!
    
    Coonass

    Hey Coonass,
    
    What's Boudin?
    
    Steve

    Boudin are a sausage made from a rice/pork/blood mixture. It are
    cooked on barbeque, boiled, fried, or put in other dishes. In de
    old country(France/Belgium) dey make one witout blood. It are called
    lite boudin and de udder is called dark boudin, but in Loosiana
    dey only hab dark boudin.
    
    Dey cooked boudin all nite long on de statehouse lawn wen de guvoner
    Edwin Edwards was inausiated.
    
    Sumtime wen me, I go op dere mebbe I brought chew some, huh??
    
    Coonass

    Coonass,
    
    Save the sausage for when I come down there.  It doesn't sound like
    Boudin would pass through the detectors at the airport.  I'd hate
    to precipitate a scene. 
    
    Blood, mudbugs, what else?
    
    Steve (leaving_for_lunch_now_despite_that_queasy_feeling) 

    Why chew tink de Cajuns wuz ast to leave Kanada?? An to take dere
    boudin wit dem!!
    
    I ban tole dat dere r sum pleces op dere dat sell Cajun food, dat
    rite?? Mebbe we tell dem jes wot dere eatin an close dem down...
    
    Real Cajuns eat ANYTING!!!
    
    Coonass

    	I went to a place yesterday up in North Conway, N.H. that had
    some Cajun dishes but no mudbugs. I looked for them but they didn't
    have any. They had "blackened" chicken, shrimp, fish and BBQ ribs
    and shrimp Cajun style and Creole (sp?) and some kind of gumbo as
    I remember.
    
    	First time I had blackened chicken I didn't know it was supposed
    to be that way. I don't think the place that served it did justice
    to it because all it tasted like was burnt chicken. It wasn't spicy
    or anything. I'm going to give it another try though.
    
    	RAYJ

    
     Crayfish, thats what I call them little fresh water lobsters.
  They are great bass bait but they also cook up just like a small
    lobster. When you get about thirty or more of them thro'em in a
    pot of boiling water and watch them turn red. Wait a few more 
    minutes then tka them out , break of the tails, remove the meat
    and dip in butter. Make,s a great appetizer to the bass you should
    have caugth with them.
    
         Kevin H.

    	Out here in Colorado,a fast food place called Popeye's is featuring
    Cajun Crawfish dinners. I tried them for the first time a couple
    of weeks ago,,and I sure love them "bugs". If you get a chance,
    give them a shot.
    
    	George
    

    Wen chew boil shrimps or crawfish always use Trappeys Shrimp & Crab
    Boil. Put it in a deep pot an brang to a boil. If chew like it hot,
    add a little cayenne pepper. Put de shrimps/crawfish in a cotton
    bag an dip dem in de boil for jes 5 minutes. Den dreen dem, cool
    dem an put dem in de reconfigurator for de nex day. Trappeys has
    bay leaves, peppercorns, cayenne, an a lot ob oder spices in it.
    If chew can't get som op dere, jes let ole Coonass no an me, I'll
    git chew som.
    
    Dere used to be a bar type saloon bak home in Breaux Bridge an dey
    wud put dem boiled shrimps on de bar for free. Dey wud add some
    cayenne to make dem hot and dey sold a lot ob beer!!
    
    Wen chew go to eat dem, dip dem in Remoulade sauce. It are a white
    sauce chew can make op r chew can buy it in de store. Some lak de
    cocktail sauce made wit ketchup, Heinz 57, an fresh horseradish.
    
    De "blakened" stuff jes is new. Its not really Cajun. It come from
    a chef, name ob Prudomme, in New Orleans who neber ban to Cajun
    country. Its good, but it got to hab lots an lots ob seasinin oderwise
     it jes burned meat.
    
    Dat Popeyes got dirty rice too. Dats real good. Try it, but be sure
    to hab someting to drank wit chew.

    Coonass

    Prudomme's "Blackened Redfish Magic" is good stuff!  Keith suggested
    it for our slamon catch last week, and the wife and I loved it!
     
    Don Mac

    
    
I cotch dem Mudbugs liek dis:
    
    Take chew kids and chew cane poles down to de place whar der is a
    dam or bank area wid shom nice rocks piled up with shom good mud
    delow dis. Dis need be de almost still wadder. Dem you take de fishin 
    pole an chew put dem gob o nightwakers on dem hook. When de sun go
    down dem mudbug dey come up on de rocks to keep warum and catch dem
    shom chow. Chew lower de gob o walker down by de bug and de mudbug he 
    grab it wid he claw. When he real busy eaten dem bait you real slow like
    bring de bait up off de bottom. De mudbug he so busy eaten dem worum
    he forget to let go dem...him not so sharp ..EH! When chew get dem to 
    de surface chew just give a quick little pull and swing de pole over
    so dem mudbug is over de dry lan. Den when he wake up and let go chew 
    catch dem and put in de can. Chew snap offn dem tail and cook dem jus 
    like de shrimps...YUM YUM YUM....If chew doan hunger for dem you
    use dem as bass bait. Dat how I do dis "down east", keeps the kid
    amused while I fish too....., Ayuh...;^)..

                                            Tight lines
    
                                                 Ed    
    

Give it up, Ed!  I finally got to understand Ole Coonass, but I'm having 
trouble with your accent!

    A faster way to get more at once if you don't have a kid fishing
    for you is to take a square of the new fiberglass screen door screen
    about 2' square.  Tie a loop of string to each side.  Then lace
    another piece of screen over a chunk of hotdog.  (cooking isn't
    necessary.)  Tie a piece of string long enough to reach shore onto
    the 2 loops and drop to the bottom of the lake.  Come back about
    an hour later and pull your screen up.  It is usually loaded with
    the little critters trying to figure out how to get to the hotdog.
    (Actually landed a 2# catfish this way.  He was also looking for
    a free meal.)

    A friend told me to build an "official crawdad trap" and it goes
    like this.
    
    1/4" plywood & glue required
    also a dead fish-he calls them Kivers?? I call them Kibbys, You
    can call them what you like.
                                                      
                        -------------------------\--\ 
                        |                         \  \__ 
                        |                          \____ /|
                        |                               | |
                        |        Bait                   | /
                        |_______________________________|/
                                     
    Put the bait in the box, Tie a string to the box, Throw it in the
    water and come back for it the next morning. 
    
    Make a bunch of boxes and decimate the Crawdads population in the
    pond.
                                              Walt
    

    Are crawfish in New England the same as the ones in Louisiana ?
    I never heard of anyone eating New England crawfish. Lake Whalom
    is loaded with crawfish.
    
    Just to let you know, Cajun's are Acadian's, come to Cleghorn
    and you'll meet many of them.
    
    Jim
    

    Say, I lak dat ED...mebb he my cousin, huh?? You sure you back name
    not Boudreaux, or LeBlanc, or Couvillion??? You got de idea bout
    ketchin dem, but we use dem wurms fo fishin an salt pork fo ketchin
    mudbugs..
    
    Mais yea, Cajun come frum Acadia. Dats zatckly were dey cum frum.
    Mos ob dem dat cum to Noveau England not as "civilized" as us, tho.
    Dey larned Anglish an don't speak some Franch attal.
    
    Dat trak look mos interestin, but mos gfolks bak home jes pull dem
    to de top an grab dem wit dere hans. Dey mostly dark, lak black
    down chere, sometimes dark red. Wen dey are young, dey are sorta
    pink, den red, den black. Wen dey big dey bout 4-6 inch long. Dey
    de same as op dere in Noveau Angland???
    
    Coonass

    Coonass,
              No way in New England we have 4-6" crayfish! I have heard
    they are great eating. I have also heard of "suckin heads" in new
    orleans. Appearently it pertains to actually sucking the raw matter
    out of a crayfish head (cooked I presume). Yummy. Well, I saw a
    special on New Orleans and they showed this culinary delight being
    performed in a resturant there. Whats the story on this one eh??
    
                                        NIGHTCRAWLER~~~~~~~~~~~~

    
    Yo Nightworm,
    
    We do indeed have  4" or larger crayfish up here.  I used to catch
    then that big in some warm water lakes down here in RI.    I  got
    a Cajun recipe and plans for building a trap filed somewhere at
    home and plan to do some trapping this summer.  On  any given warm
    summer night I can shine a flashlight along the edge of my wall
    and see at least a half dozen or so.  I usually try to catch just
    a couple of small 1" - 2" ones for bass bait.  But with a trap I
    may try to catch a few pounds before its worth while to get  a meal.
    
    The Harbor Master
    

    Ole Coonass jes got bak frum Galveston. Dey had 18 peoples an 40
    pounds ob boiled crawfish!!! We jes ate dem mudbugs till we wuz
    all chockey!!
    
    Wot chew eats frum de head(cooked ob course) is de fat. Chew kin
    suck it out or chew kin take yore lil "pinkey" an jes kinda stick
    it in de head an lik it off!! Sumtimes chew use de fat fo cookin,
    course it take a lot ob it.
    
    At de meetin in Galveston dere wuz sum people frum Mastyusless an
    dey liked dem mudbugs much as anybudy!! Wen it wuz ober were wuz
    ole Coonass, a couple Texyuns, an a couple ob Mastyuseless peoples
    left!! Dey sed mebbe dey cud put some alum on dem lobsters an grow
    dere own mudgs!!
    
    Coonass

    Mastyusless!.........ha ha ha ha ha!!!
     
                           Coonass you are are somethin'! I love the
    discription of suckin' head. Especially the little finger part
    Nothin like "BRAIN" food..........
    
                                        NIGHTCRAWLER~~~~~~~~~~ in 
                                                              nastyussless~~

    
    
Re: .17....yesir...they taste just yummy, Boilem and snap off the tail,
    peel the tails just like shrimp...the taste is much more like delicate
    lobster....delish!!!!  No sir, no Cajun in dese jeans, my wife is part 
    frenchy tho, does that count!!!  
    
Re: 4-6", Hummmmm....a five incher is a monster up here, I have caught
    a few maybe that big... but as a average its a bit colder here than
    in most of Massachewshits and therefore I think the mudbugs doan
    grow quite as large...average would be 3 1/2 to four....even the
    little bitty ones eat well...just takes more of them. Color is almost
    uniform reddish brown but some of the real monsters tend toward
    dark almost black. I think when they go shedder thay must get a
    lighter color cause the softshell ones seem a bit lighter.

                                                  Good eaten 
    
                                                    Ed
        

  Dan St Jean raises crayfish in Lake St Jean Rte. 125 Lee NH 4 miles
  south of Rte. 4 or 6 miles north of 101.  I believe he gets $3 a pound
  if you take em home and $4 if you want to eat them while you fish in
  his trout pond.  The larger ones he sells for eating and the smaller
  ones for bait.  These things have an affinity for fly lines as there
  is often one or two grabbing on during a real slow retrieve.
  

    
    At SHAWS market last night..I found CRAWDADS. YEP CRAWDADS.
    
    2.50 a pound and from Oregon.
    
    As I remember they were only about $.40 a pound down south.

    Yahhhhhh!!! Now chew got chew sum Trappeys?? Dew chew need sum
    Trappeys??? Sum cayenne an Trappeys an sum Dixie beer an we don
    got a crawfish boil!!! But $2.50 is to much to pey, its jes de tails
    I hope[don chere we buy dem complete, lak shrimps]. Lemme know..
    
    Coonass

    
    
    	I'd like to know if there is any source of LIVE crayfish (cradads,
    	whatever) In the Maynard/Northboro area.
    
    
    		Chuck
    

    re. -.1

    	What do you MEAN, FISHING......  Boy, what a waste of GOOD
    EATING!!!!  Besides, if the fish AREN'T biting, catching the bait is
    LOTS of fun.  Just move slow in the shallows turning over large rocks,
    sticks, etc.  If the fish ARE biting, you don't need the crawdads. ;-)

    
    
    	Well, when I lived in Pa., the sand/gravel creek down the street had 
    millions of them.  Now, in my back yard  I have some small streams with
    sand/mud bottoms.  I was wondering about keeping some, and would like
    to picjk up a few-just to see if they will live back there.
    
    		

	Barnicle Bill's in Littleton on RT119 usualy has them.

Mc

Mudbugs?? Jes git chew som salt bakin on a string an
dip it op an down till chew feel sompthin on it. Den
raise it real slowly op till chew kin see de tips of
his pinchers. Den retch don an flip him out onto de
groun. Den grab dem by de body, jes behin de pinchers.

Course if grabbin dem out de water mak chew so fraid,
chew kin use a minnow net.

Coonass

    
    	The way we get them out here is to make a kind of net trap out of
    an old piece of screen, some twine or rope, a pole, a piece of nylon
    netting, and a piece of hot-dog.  
    	Cut a square of the screen material (preferably the nylon screen
    door screen) about 2 feet per side.  To the corners of this, attach two
    pieces of twine (nylon type preferable) and make the twine come
    together at the center.  Use a piece of twine that will be about 1 foot
    above the screen when the screen is flat.  Tie a piece of rope to the
    center of the 2 pieces of twine.  (Make rope long enough to reach the
    bottom of the water you are trying to get the bugs from.)  Attach other
    end of rope to stick or pole.  Then, lace the nylon netting over a
    piece of hot-dog about an inch long in the CENTER OF THE SCREEN.  Drop
    to bottom.  Leave for about 1-2 hours after dark.  Come back and QUICKLY
    raise the screen.  Dump bugs in plastic bucket of water.  Take back to
    camp and BOIL, PEAL, and EAT HEARTY.  (Oh, you said these were for
    BAIT, didn't you. :-)  )