Methods for catching crayfish in a crayfish trap. How and when to catch crayfish? Where to put a crayfish trap on a lake

Hi all! I decided to write an article for you about how and where to catch crayfish. Answer the questions where crayfish are found, how to catch crayfish, where they live and what crayfish eat. It's no secret that boiled crayfish are one of the most popular dishes served with a foamy drink. Crayfish meat is very rich in proteins and carbohydrates, and also has an inimitable taste. Many fishermen pay special attention to catching crayfish because crayfish grown in the wild are much tastier than crayfish raised on special farms.

So, in order to catch a lot of crayfish, you need to know where to catch them. Although the crayfish feeds on carrion and rotten fish, it loves reservoirs saturated with oxygen with clean water, where there is an influx of fresh water that carries oxygen. Tributaries can be streams or springs, small rivers. Also, the bottom of the reservoir is important for cancer; preferably, it should be a rocky or clay bottom. It is easier for a crayfish to hide in a rocky bottom, but in a clay bottom, crayfish dig holes for themselves. We can sum up the intermediate result: it is better to catch crayfish in rivers, since there is running water. In reservoirs where the water stagnates and does not have tributaries, you should not catch crayfish; they simply are not there. Also, you should not catch crayfish in ponds and lakes with a muddy or sandy bottom; in such ponds there is simply nowhere for him to hide and he will not live there.

It is better to catch crayfish during the day or at night

Since crayfish lead a nocturnal or twilight lifestyle, you should catch crayfish when they come out of their hiding places. The most effective time for catching crayfish is considered to be the period from 22-00 to 3-00. It is at this time that cancer is most active. Going out in search of food. In each area, crayfish behave differently; there are places where it is better to catch crayfish in the early morning or at sunset. Autumn crayfish is considered the most delicious when it gains weight for wintering. Crayfish caught in the fall are much tastier and larger than those caught in the spring or summer.

Before you go catching crayfish, find out if there is a ban on catching crayfish in your area. Some types of crayfish are under a permanent fishing ban. There is a set size for catching crayfish, this is 10 cm, the length the crayfish reaches at the age of 5-6 years. And female crayfish reach commercial size at 7-8 years of age. Another important fact is that at the end of June, crayfish begin molting, throwing off their shell. After the shell is shed, the crayfish hides in a hole for 2 weeks. At this time, catching crayfish is prohibited, and there is no point in catching crayfish when they sit in holes for two weeks.

Complete ban on crayfish fishing

In Moscow and the Moscow region there is a complete ban on catching crayfish. In other regions of the country it is better to inquire about the action ban on catching crayfish. In a bad case, you will be fined for caught crayfish from 50 rubles per piece. So before you go fishing, don’t be lazy and find out whether you should go catching crayfish today or wait a little.

What is the best way to catch crayfish?

Crayfish are omnivores, willingly eating both meat and plant foods. Their diet includes both small plankton snails and aquatic vegetation. Crayfish are aquatic orderlies because they do not disdain wounded or dead fish. They also eat rotting products, preventing this infection from spreading throughout the entire reservoir. It follows from this that you can catch crayfish using both pieces of bread and meat. Here are some baits for catching crayfish.

Pieces of fresh fish, a crust of bread rubbed with garlic. Crayfish are also well caught using worms and pieces of cake. Since crayfish do not disdain rotten meat, you can put frogs with a smell or pieces of rotten meat in crayfish traps, grasshoppers and small fish also show good results.

How to catch a crayfish with a fishing rod

In order to catch crayfish with a fishing rod, you need to make a special tackle. Is concluded
she's in the next one. We take a long stick about 1.5-2 meters from one edge and sharpen it so that we can stick it into the bottom of the reservoir. We tie a piece of fishing line or thin cord to the other end. We tie a small mesh bag to the end of the fishing line and put bait and a small pebble in it so that the bait is at the bottom and does not float up. We attach a small signaling float to the bag so that it signals that the crayfish has grabbed our bait. After that, once an hour we check our fishing rods and remove the crayfish catch. The crab clings tightly to the bait and holds it until you unhook it yourself. This is not a complicated way to catch crayfish with a fishing rod.

Catching crayfish with shoes

No matter how funny it may sound, this type of crayfish fishing takes place. It is advisable to use shoes with laces; bait is placed in the front of the shoe and lowered into the water. Having smelled the bait, the crayfish will climb into the shoes and begin to eat the bait. All we can do is check our shoes more often for the presence of crayfish. Of course it is advisable to use old shoes. While catching crayfish, your shoes may be damaged by water.

Catching crayfish with your own hands.

You can also catch crayfish with your bare hands. But it is advisable to wear construction gloves. This method involves sticking your hand into the crayfish's holes and pulling them out. It is not so easy to pull a crayfish out of a hole, because their holes are deep and narrow. And there is always a chance of sticking your hand into a muskrat hole and getting some pretty deep bite wounds. So catching crayfish is not so simple. In some areas this type of crayfish fishing is prohibited.

Catching crayfish with a crayfish trap is very simple.

Yes, undoubtedly, catching crayfish using a crayfish is the most common and easiest way. It is enough to have a small number of shells. Place them around the pond with
bait inside. For example, place crayfish traps at sunset and check for crayfish in them in the morning. We collect our catch of crayfish and go home. The operating principle of the shell is as follows. The crayfish trap has a narrow entrance and has no exit, and the crayfish cannot squeeze back in because the entrance is located in an inconvenient place and once the crayfish gets into the crayfish trap, it can no longer get out of it. At the same time, it is both in the trap and in the water, so that the caught crayfish will not deteriorate until the morning. We'll talk about that very soon.

Well, I introduced you to some methods of catching crayfish. I wish you good luck, big trophies and good mood. Leave your comments and suggestions for new articles.

- this is a completely different side of fishing, which not all fishermen can understand, and for some reason many simply ignore and have never even tried to engage in such fishing. However, those lucky ones who have at least once felt the pleasure of catching crayfish remain “crawfish fishermen” for life and will never miss the opportunity to catch crayfish if they find themselves in a reservoir where these arthropods even live. For those who don't know how to catch crayfish or wants to increase their knowledge in this matter, this article has been written, thanks to which you will quickly learn the skill of catching these unusual creatures.

Article content:

Catching crayfish with crayfish traps is the most effective method of catching them, which is why the article is devoted largely to catching crayfish using this method. The article is structured in such a way that after reading it, you are left with as few questions as possible about this type of fishing. If you still have questions, you can ask them in the comments under the article and you will receive an answer in the next 24 hours. We are glad to help you!

- the most common, catchable and convenient type of catching crayfish, which, moreover, is not poaching and is a completely legal method of fishing. The main thing is that the number of crayfish per fisherman does not exceed the limit established by the fishing law. This limit may vary depending on the region. Typically you can place from 3 to 10 crayfish traps per person.

So, let's find out what we need to know to catch crayfish with crayfish, and here we have 4 main questions:

How to fish with crayfish;
When to catch crayfish;
Where to catch crayfish;
Crayfish bait.

How to fish with crayfish

Let's take things in order and start with the question of how to fish with crayfish. In fact, this is elementary and even a fisherman who has never encountered catching crayfish or catching with traps in general can cope with it. There are many different types of crayfish traps, in principle, they are all effective. You can choose the most effective crayfish during your fishing trip, because few people fish with one crayfish, but if you fish with several, you can buy different types of crayfish and draw conclusions on the catchability of each of them. If you make clamshells with your own hands, also try different designs and variations.

Once the crayfish trap has been selected, you can proceed directly to fishing. The design of the crayfish trap is clear; it is designed in such a way that the crayfish can easily climb into it in search of food, but cannot get out. In order for the crayfish to get into the crayfish trap, it is necessary to lure it there, for this we place it inside the crayfish trap. A rope must be tied to the crayfish trap; if there is none or it is too short, as is often the case, you need to tie a rope of the required length.

The free end of the rope is tied to a tree, a stick, or a specially driven peg on the shore. You can also drive a peg into knee-deep or waist-deep water and tie a crayfish trap there. When the crayfish is already equipped with bait and the free end of the rope is securely fastened so that the crayfish is not lost, you can cast. You can throw it directly from the shore, or you can go into the water and install it in a specific place, depending on the design of your crayfish. After the cast is made, we give the crayfish time to find and get to the bait. This can take from half an hour to several hours, everything will depend on the population of crayfish in a particular reservoir. Most often, crayfish traps are placed overnight and checked for catch only in the morning.

When to catch crayfish

Now we have smoothly moved on to the topic of when to catch crayfish. As you already understand, they catch crayfish at night, capturing the morning and evening. During the day, crayfish sit in holes and show virtually no activity, but with the onset of evening, crayfish slowly emerge from their shelters and scour the reservoir in search of food. There is no point in setting crayfish traps for the day and it will only be a waste of time and bait. And by installing the crayfish in the evening, you increase your chances of success and after a while you can check the crayfish for the first catch. But still, I would not recommend checking the crayfish traps too often, since by your actions you can scare away the bulk of the crayfish that could be in your trap. I would advise not to touch the crayfish trap for at least the next 1.5-2 hours.

So, we found out that the crayfish goes hunting at night, and during the day it hides in burrows, under tree roots, in aquatic vegetation, under stones and in any other shelters where it can go unnoticed.

Where to catch crayfish

The next question that interests us is where to catch crayfish. As you know, crayfish live in burrows on steep, steep banks, and naturally there are more of them near such shores. On flat banks it is much more difficult to find crayfish. Accordingly, crayfish traps should also be placed near steep banks. It is not at all necessary to cast crayfish far; at night crayfish can crawl very close to the shore and they can be caught literally half a meter from it. In order to determine at what distance from land there are more crayfish, it is better to place the crayfish traps at different distances from the shore accordingly.

So we have decided where it is better to install crayfish traps. I just want to add that if reeds grow nearby, you can put several crayfish traps closer to it, since crayfish love such places and perhaps their accumulation there will be greater. You can find out about bait for crayfish by reading an article on the Rybkolov website dedicated to this particular topic; I gave a link to this page above.

Catching crayfish with crayfish video:

Catching crayfish with crayfish from a boat, video:

Now on the market, you can buy everything. Including the shellfish. But you can do it yourself. Its principle is simple. The frame is usually cylindrical in shape, but it can be any other, and there are two entrances on both sides of the cylinder (one entrance is possible). These entrances must be made in such a way that the cancer can get inside, but cannot get out. You can see more clearly and in detail about how to make a crayfish trap with your own hands in the video below.

Video: “How to make a crayfish trap”

Other ways to catch crayfish

So, you have already learned how to catch crayfish with crayfish traps, then we will talk about other ways to catch these arthropods. If the reservoir is rich enough in crayfish, then catching them can be quite successful with a fishing rod. And if you have enough fortitude, you can dive and catch crayfish with your hands.

Catching crayfish with a fishing rod

In general, a crayfish can fall for any bait. Personally, I caught crayfish using corn, a dung worm, and a crawler. However, most of all, crayfish love missing, maybe slightly rotten fish, which can be used. So, for crayfish bait, you can catch a small fish, dry it in the sun so that it dries a little. You can put it on the hook in any way you like, either lengthwise or across. In principle, you can do without a hook altogether. The crayfish simply clings to the fish with its claws and you can carefully pull it out of the water, but without sudden movements. You can use an ordinary stick instead of a fishing rod, and some kind of cord or even a rope instead of a fishing line. On the contrary, you can not give up the hook, but attach a large tee, so that when the crayfish gets to the bait, it has no chance of not getting caught on the hook.

Catching crayfish by hand

Catching crayfish with your hands is also a fairly popular way of catching them, which involves diving and searching for crayfish holes, which are usually located on the steep banks of a reservoir, under water; some crayfish fishermen do not dive, but by touch look for crayfish holes on steep banks under water. Having felt the hole, they stick one or two fingers into it and determine by touch whether there is cancer there or not. Crayfish sit with their heads towards the exit of the hole, so you must rest your fingers either on its claws or on the spines on its face. Did you feel it? - grab it by the shell with two fingers or all five and pull it out.

Cancer can simply crawl along the bottom, or sit still there. When he notices that you are approaching him, he, as befits a cancer, will begin to back away. By the way, crayfish move quite quickly in water. So it's important not to lose sight of it. But it’s still easy to catch up with him, because it’s not every day that a crayfish has to run away from a masked diver. 🙂

Many people love the tasty and tender meat of crayfish, but it can be difficult to obtain. In Russia, industrial production of these arthropods is practically undeveloped, and the main production of animals is carried out in natural ponds.

Hence their high cost. An excellent way out would be to catch crayfish yourself using special devices - crayfish traps. This is a very simple way of harvesting animals, requiring virtually no material costs and the presence of a hunter for the delicacy at the fishing site.

Rakolovki and their types

There are a wide variety of devices for hunting crayfish, but they are all simple and easy to use. The design consists of several metal rings or any other geometric shapes of different sizes, which are the main frame.

They are fastened together with a fine mesh.

Among the many devices for hunting crayfish, there are two main types:

Open

The simplest structure consists of one metal hoop covered with mesh. Ropes are tied along its perimeter, connecting them together at a distance of half a meter from the base of the crayfish trap. The main cord is attached to them, with the help of which the trap will be lowered into the water. To prevent the device from tilting on its side, the holding cables must be of the same length.

Open crayfish traps also include slightly improved structures consisting of a large and small hoop. They are fixed parallel to each other, with the small circle located slightly higher than the large one and not covered by the mesh, forming a door for prey to enter.

An even more perfect trap is an inkwell. It is made from three hoops, the smallest of which is fixed inside the second upper circle. This creates an almost enclosed space.

Closed

These devices are elongated structures made of round or rectangular hoops. Their length varies from 2 to 15 meters.

The simplest are crayfish traps, assembled from two hoops, between which a spring is placed. In such a cylinder, two entrances are made from the ends. To do this, use small hoops connected to the main circles with a net and placed inside. Such entrances allow crayfish inside, but do not provide any opportunity to get out.

A type of closed trap includes compact umbrella crayfish. They are manufactured in various geometric shapes and have several inputs. Their advantage lies in their small size and the ability to detach the mesh from the main frame.

For fishing over a large area, long multi-entry devices are used. They are first stretched on the shore and then thrown into the water.

In winter, catching crayfish is greatly complicated by the need to break through the ice, however, there are special folding crayfish traps. They easily fit into the hole and open completely only under water. When raised to the surface, such structures again become compact.

The principle of operation of all traps is very simple:

Bait is placed on the bottom of the mesh.
Lower the crayfish into the pond.
When gathering food, crayfish climb onto the surface or inside the mesh.

Using this simple device you can get excellent catches of crayfish almost all year round.

Where to catch crayfish?

These arthropods, inexperienced in choosing food, are very picky about the quality of water in reservoirs. It must be clean and with excellent aeration. Therefore, you should not look for crayfish in muddy ponds, where rivulets and streams do not flow, and, therefore, oxygen does not flow. They will never live in stagnant lakes with a bottom covered with sand or overgrown with algae.

It is best to catch crayfish in rivers or flowing bodies of water. Here they live at different depths, both near the shore and in the most remote parts of the reservoir. Crayfish prefer a rocky bottom with many shelters, and are also often found in places with clay soil, where they dig shelters on their own.

Best time to fish

The best time to effectively hunt crayfish is at night. At this calm time of day, when other aquatic inhabitants are less active, arthropods emerge from their burrows in search of food. Rarely, there are bodies of water where they can actively forage in the early morning.

Crayfish are hunted all year round, however, in some regions there are bans on catching them in certain months. There are also restrictions on catching animals of certain sizes.

In some areas, you cannot hunt arthropods with your hands or with oversized traps. You need to clarify this data directly in your region, otherwise you can incur a considerable fine for violating the law.

The quality of crayfish meat directly depends on the time of year. The fattest and tastiest crayfish are those caught in late summer and early autumn.

Best lures

The main thing when hunting for crayfish is the choice of bait. These animals have a hypersensitive sense of smell, so the bait should be aromatic and attract attention.

The most effective baits:

To prepare it, use fresh rye bread. A depression is made in it, which is filled with pre-ground garlic. In order for the aroma of the filling to quickly spread in the water and last for a long time, you will need quite a lot of it.

If you plan to leave the trap overnight, you need to protect the bread from getting soggy. To do this, the loaf is placed in nylon fabric. From the same ingredients you can prepare a homogeneous mass by grinding all the components in a meat grinder. The finished mixture is laid out in gauze.

This bait is most effective in the warm season.

Fresh meat or fish

The common belief that crayfish prefer to eat spoiled foods is wrong. To catch them, only fresh meat, previously cut into pieces, is used.

From fish they use:

bream;
roach;

Crayfish do not like pike and perch.

As bait, they take whole fish, which, to enhance the smell, must be cut lengthwise and turned with the meat out.

Disdainful crayfish fishermen often replace fish meat with frogs. But before placing them in a trap, they need to be skinned. Animal baits are most often used in late summer and early fall.

In winter, crayfish prefer to be caught on canned peas. The entire jar is poured into a gauze bag, which is tied to a clamshell. To enhance the aroma, it is recommended to add chopped dill to the peas.

In different bodies of water, at different times of the year, you can and should experiment with crayfish baits.

Their components may include:

cake;
chicken;
canned fish and meat;
grasshoppers;
leftover food from home;

When choosing the ideal option, all ingredients can be mixed with each other.

How to attach the bait?

Food to attract crayfish is attached directly to the bottom of the crayfish trap.

The method can be any:

tie with an elastic band;
put on a pin;
place in a mesh bag;
tie with wire;
use a special hook for fastening;

The main thing is that the bait does not fly off while throwing the trap, and that the crayfish does not have the opportunity to drag it into the shelter. The animal must be forced to eat the prey in the crayfish trap.

When using fish as bait, the air bubble is removed from the carcass. This way it won't float up.

How to catch?

When catching crayfish with an open-type trap, you need to be dexterous. First, wait until the animals crawl onto the bait, and then you need to quickly and carefully lift the entire structure so that the prey does not have time to run away. Depending on the number of crayfish in the pond, the waiting time may vary. On average, such crayfish traps are checked every half hour.

When fishing in open cone-type crayfish traps, this time is a little longer, since it is more difficult for the prey to get out of them. But the inkwell traps do not need to be inspected often. It is very difficult for animals to get out of their peculiar house, so they can be left in the water for the whole day without fear.

Hunting using closed-type crayfish traps is the simplest and most convenient. They can be thrown into reservoirs for a day or even several. Here it all depends on the size of the trap: large ones are checked less often, and small ones, where crayfish can hide at the very top, need to be inspected more often.

When fishing with closed-type crayfish, traps with bait are set from a boat or from the shore using a long pole. If you plan to leave the structure unattended for some time, then to search for it, tie a foam plastic float to the top or stretch a fixing rope to the shore.

When installing several traps, maintain a distance of at least 10 meters between them. Also, for fishing efficiency, it is recommended to place crayfish traps at different depths.

Crayfish are higher crustaceans. The body is divided into two parts: a flat arthropod abdomen and a cephalothorax, which are covered with an exoskeleton of hard chitin. Often you come across green and gray crayfish. Sometimes blue, and even less often red. It all depends on the environment the cancer lives in. The less noticeable the color of the cancer, the more likely it is to hide in the environment and survive.

Crayfish are most vulnerable immediately after molting. At such moments, even a frog can tear them apart. Other crayfish also don’t mind eating a freshly molted relative.

The cephalothorax is the fused anterior and thoracic parts. On the front part there is a sharp spike, near which there are eyes on movable stalks. Cancer breathes through gills. Crayfish jaws are modified limbs that are located on the sides of the mouth.

To move along the bottom, the crayfish has 4 pairs of single-branched thoracic limbs. The fifth pair are claws, which are intended for defense and attack.

To swim, the crayfish uses 5 pairs of two-branched limbs located on the abdomen. The caudal fin of the crayfish is formed by the seventh abdominal segment and the sixth pair of abdominal legs.

Males are larger than females and have massive claws. If a limb is lost, the cancer grows a new one gradually with each subsequent molt. The frequency of shedding depends on the oxygen content and lime dissolved in the water. The main criterion is that the water is not too acidic.

The female carries the eggs on two-branched limbs under the tail. The emerging crustaceans are already able to feed on their own and hide from their older relatives.

Habitats of arthropods

Crayfish live at a depth of 0.5-3 m. They choose places without silt, where the soil is solid. This is due to the fact that on a muddy, sandy bottom, as well as in flat and clean shallow water, crayfish will not dig a shelter for themselves.

Crayfish also settle on rocky bases, where there are many shelters, or on the bottom, which is suitable for digging holes. Crayfish burrows can be seen in coastal holes or under steep banks.

In the best places, large males make burrows

Often they are on the verge of crossing the hard and soft bottom. Crayfish dig holes up to one meter deep. The entrance is often hidden under a sunken tree trunk, the roots of willows growing above the shore, or stones.

The habitability of the hole is indicated by the presence of freshly dug soil near the hole. Also, the owner can be driven out of the hole by the strongest enemy. That is why the holes themselves are narrow, so that the crayfish can close its claws in it from the enemy.

The young settle in shallow water near the coastal line, under branches, stones and leaves. Females and weak males stay a little further from the burrows of large males and in less favorable areas. Such as, for example, under the roots of reed thickets.

When and where is the best time to fish?

The best time is from 22-00 to 03-00.

Also, in shady areas of water reaches, crayfish look for food in the early morning. The speed of the current does not matter.

Crayfish can come out into shallow water or under steep cliffs with fast currents.

Crayfish bait

Below are the most commonly used baits for crayfish fishing. They can be combined. A good result is achieved by alternating fishermen at the fishing spot with various baits. For example, in one farm there will be fresh meat, and in another there will be rye bread.

Fresh fish or meat

The best option for catching crayfish is fresh meat or fish cut lengthwise and turned inside out. You can also cut it into small pieces and wrap it in cheesecloth.

You can add fresh dill leaves to the bait. He does not disdain meat and grasshoppers.

Such baits are used from spring to early autumn.

Moldy stuff

Although it is believed that crayfish eat rotten meat, they still prefer fresh meat. Most likely, this stereotype comes from the fact that crayfish concentrate in large numbers while feeding under the corpse of an animal.

When using rotten fish or meat, cut the bait along the back down to the vertebrae. This is done in order to turn the meat inside out.

An alternative to such bait would be fresh bird entrails, which are lightly fried in unrefined sunflower oil. This bait can be used until it is completely rotten.

Rye bread with garlic

Take fresh rye bread. The crust is rubbed with garlic, a hole is made in the crumb, which is then filled with crushed garlic.

When using such bait for a long period, it is prevented from swelling. To do this, the bread is placed in a bag made of nylon fabric or gauze.

You can also make a uniform mass of such bait. To do this, pass all the ingredients through a meat grinder. This bait is used in the warm season. You can use a few mint leaves to complement the garlic.

Peas

in winter crayfish prefer plant baits. The most justified and catchy bait is canned bait. The peas are poured into a gauze bag. After which the bag is attached to the clamshell.

An alternative to canned peas is boiled pea porridge, which is moistened with any vegetable. For example, flax oil.

Cake

Sunflower is a universal bait for any time of year. It is better to buy cake made from roasted sunflower oil. In other words, this oil is called unrefined.

If you have a choice in purchasing cake, it is better to buy pressed pancakes. They take longer to liquefy in water and can be used several times in a mesh bag.

Choosing a shell

Rakolovka is also called recheshna or early. It is made from a mesh of wire or wood. The simplest design is the following: a mesh is stretched over a circle with a diameter of 0.5-0.7 m so that it sags in the middle. This crayfish-grip (crawfish-plate) performs well in slow currents and depths of up to 1.6 m.

Other designs are more complex; several rings or other geometric shapes made of wire of different sizes are used as the basis of the frame. To connect them together, a fine mesh is used.

Rakolovki are divided into two main types. These are open and closed. Let's look at them in detail.

Open

The already mentioned above-mentioned clamshell-plate belongs to this type. The main difference between open crayfish traps is also the method of attaching the main cord by which they will be lifted.

Ropes are attached around the perimeter of the circle, joining them together at a distance of 0.5 m from the center of the crayfish trap. The main cord is tied to them, thanks to which the tackle will be lowered into the water. To prevent the crayfish from turning to its side, the limiting ropes along the crayfish boundary are equal in length.

There are slightly supplemented designs where another hoop of the same diameter is used and a mesh 12-15 cm wide is fixed between the hoops.

Inkwell Improved plate Plate

Structurally supplemented crayfish-grips are also classified as open crayfish traps.

Improved crayfish-plates consist of a large and small hoop. Accordingly, they are attached parallel to one another, but the small circle is located slightly higher than the large one and is not covered by the mesh.

Another improved clamshell is the inkwell. Structurally, it already has three hoops, the smallest is fixed in the middle of the second upper circle. The result is actually an isolated subspace.

Closed

Such devices are cylindrical structures 2-15 m long made of hoops. This is in the case of a lying structure. Although they often use smaller ranches. Their shape can be round or rectangular.

So, the simplest design of this type will be one assembled from two hoops connected by a spring. Holes for crayfish entry are located at the ends. They are made from small hoops connected to large mesh and placed inside.

As an option, the rachevnya can be woven from aluminum wire in the shape of a large egg (up to 60 cm long), the blunt end of which bends inward and becomes a cylinder-collar. The hole at the collar is made 3-4 times smaller than the diameter of the blunt end of the egg. At the blunt end, slightly larger than the diameter of the hole, a solid disc-lid is made, in the middle of which a rope is tied and passed through the entire crayfish trap.

Rectangular Umbrella Plastic

The other end of the rope is brought out through the second hole of the rope opposite the sharp end of the same diameter as the blunt one. This shell is placed horizontally so that the bottom cover does not cover the hole. Raising the rack of this design does not require skill; just pull the rope and stand vertically at the rack and close the bottom with a lid. The version of the fishing tackle just described is an average in design between the crayfish catcher itself and another type of gear, namely a mesh.

Variations of closed ones include compact umbrella shells with several entrances. Their superiority is their small size and ease of removing the mesh from the base of the frame.

When fishing over a large area of a reservoir, long fishing rods are used. many entrances to the village. They are prepared on the shore and only then thrown to the bottom.

During winter fishing crayfish are used folding shells. Their design is designed to fit into a cut hole and is fully opened under the ice. When they are lifted to the surface, they are folded again, thereby making them compact.

Operating principle

The bait is attached to the bottom of the crayfish trap. One of the methods described below.
They lower her into the water.
They wait for the crayfish to climb onto its surface or inside. Approximately no less than half an hour. More time may pass. Trivial advice: large specimens of crayfish sneak up on the bait later, driving away the young ones. So it’s worth trying to leave the crust on the bottom longer.
Raise the crayfish trap sharply and carefully to the surface so that the crawling crayfish do not run away.

Methods for attaching bait in a crayfish trap

Let's look at all the ways to attach bait to a crayfish trap. The choice of attachment method depends on the type of bait. If the bait is combined, then to secure it to the bottom of the crayfish, appropriate methods for this bait are used. Only in this case, the main thing is that the various baits do not cover one another.

And another piece of advice - don’t pile up a lot of bait in the camp.

Tie with an elastic band

The most successful options for attaching bait with a rubber band are the following:

A rubber band is used, which is wrapped around the bait several times.
In the center of the shell, a rubber band is pulled like a string several times. The bait is placed under the rubber band and placed in the next one.

Put on a pin

Small bait (such as grasshoppers, worms and mole crickets) can be attached to a pin, which is threaded through the holes of the mesh.

Another option is to attach a piece of bait to a regular connecting small carabiner. Having previously made a hole in a piece of meat with a slate nail. The carabiner itself is attached directly to the mesh of the rachevny.

Place in a mesh bag

Bulk bait is placed in mesh bags. If it is not possible to use a mesh to sew the bag, then use gauze or old nylon stockings. In this case, additional holes are made. By the way, you can also use old fine mesh stockings.

Tie with wire

You can also tie the bait with wire or pierce pieces of meat, fish or other large and insoluble bait.

As an option, the intestines and large earthworms are put on a wire with a stocking. In this case, it is easier to attach them to a crayfish trap and combine them with additional bait.

Use a special hook to secure

It is convenient to place soft and medium bait, as well as rotten meat or, for example, a dead frog on a special hook, which can be found on sale.

As a replacement for a special hook, you can use fishing single hooks No. 14-16 or smaller tees. When using fishing hooks, take 5-8 of them per rack. Secure the hooks with fishing line to a wire wound to the bottom of the trap.

Tactics and techniques for catching crayfish

Choose a bottom that is more or less flat, rocky, and rich in a variety of shelters. There may be a flooded snag nearby, steep clay banks, and thickets of water lilies are excellent landmarks.

The waiting time depends on the population of crayfish in the reservoir.

On average, the shells are raised after half an hour. When using open cone crayfish traps, they are left on the bottom a little longer.

There is no need to inspect inkwells often. The round crayfish trap is installed vertically and checked 2-3 times a day.

Cancer is a ten-legged representative of the animal world, living in bodies of water almost all over the world. It has a very tasty delicacy of meat called kuliin. The popularity of this product is confirmed by literary classics - just remember Citizen Pivoraki from Leonid Lagin. The most common use of boiled crayfish meat is with this foamy drink.

In Russia, crayfish is widespread both in lakes and rivers. It should be looked for in bodies of water with clean, clear water, preferably with a gentle current. It prefers to settle on a rocky bottom, where it is easier for it to find or build a shelter in the form of a hole. Also, a favorite habitat is areas of a reservoir with a hard clay bottom, where crayfish settle in burrows. You should look for them in the walls of clay slopes at a depth of half a meter. For crayfish, muddy bottoms and hard sandy bottom formations are unacceptable, as is stagnant water in ponds and lakes. They live here extremely reluctantly. Catching crayfish in the spring is productive due to their increased activity at this time.

Behavior of crayfish in spring

For the winter, these animals go into the depths of the reservoir, looking for holes up to 5-8 meters, and lead a sedentary lifestyle. And only with increasing daylight hours do they begin to go out into shallow water.

The optimal water temperature in summer for crayfish is 18-22 degrees, so shallow water is attractive to them, where the river bottom quickly warms up. This also contributes to the rapid development of river vegetation, which accounts for 50-80% of the crayfish’s diet. Females actively wash and ventilate the eggs laid under their own tail since the fall - the gestation period is up to 8 months. Therefore, the reason for moving to shallow water is also the need to place the offspring in more favorable conditions. In total, the clutch contains from 80 to 150 eggs.

Catching crayfish in April causes serious damage to the population of these animals, so going out to a reservoir with a crayfish trap is fraught for such a would-be hunter with troubles not only from the fisheries authorities, but also from fishing enthusiasts. Cancer is a delicacy, not an essential food. In the southern regions, where spring begins earlier, fishing begins in March, after the ice cover disappears. Here, catching the first crayfish on crayfish traps begins in early spring.

Crayfish fishing becomes most productive in May and early June. By this time, the eggs of the females have ripened and they, sometimes in unimaginable quantities, crawl out into shallow water, where aquatic vegetation, the main nutritional base of these animals, is already rapidly developing. In addition, the water here is saturated with oxygen, which is important not only for adult fish, but also for juvenile crayfish.

Active behavior of crayfish is observed immediately before spawning. Hunting for larvae and insects attracts crayfish so much that they often crawl ashore in search of prey. These animals are most active at night, from approximately 10 pm to 3 am.

Ban on spring crayfish fishing

In Rus', the people have always been sensitive to the world around them, protecting it in every possible way from their interference. During the spawning season, no one thought about fishing, and churches didn’t even ring their bells. Nature generously responded to this attitude with an abundance of animals, birds and fish. And, of course, crayfish.

Female crustaceans mate in the fall. Males deposit containers of sperm under their tails, after which females lay eggs there. The incubation period is up to eight months, during which fishing is prohibited. After spawning, these animals begin molting, which lasts several months. During this period, crayfish fishing is also prohibited.

Thus, the duration of the ban period is up to 10 months. Fishing is possible only in August-September. However, these standards are set at the regional level and may differ significantly.

Attention! In ponds, lakes and rivers of the Moscow region, catching crayfish is prohibited all year round.

Each fishing region sets rules for catching crayfish based on the actual state of the resources taken into account:

In the Astrakhan region, fishing is prohibited from April 1 to June 30.
Bryansk and Vladimir regions - you cannot catch these animals from October 1 to June 30.
In the region of Volgograd and the region and on the Tsimlyansk reservoir, the ban was established from January 1 to September 15.
In the Vologda region, fishing is not permitted during the gestation period and during the molting period, as well as from June 15 to July 31.
In ponds, lakes and rivers of the Kaliningrad and Kirov regions, the ban is valid from October 1 to June 30.

As an example, here is a video about the ban from Saratov:

A restriction on the size of trophies has been introduced everywhere - the crayfish must have a length from the tip of the head to the tail of at least 9, less often 10 centimeters.

From the data presented it is clear that the approach to preserving the population of these arthropods is the same almost everywhere. The period of gestation and molting of animals, when they are weakened and most vulnerable, is protected.

There are also restrictions during the periods of time when crayfish fishing is permitted. Thus, the size of the crayfish should be more than 70 centimeters, and the maximum number of them per hunter should be no more than three.

Private entrepreneurs who breed crayfish in specialized farms have the right to independently determine the policy for the sale of their products, including the time of catching. But it’s hard to believe in their profitability, because the growth time of a commercial specimen is at least 8 years, and very impressive specimens can often be found on the shelves.