Saturday, July 11, 2009

Pinch the Tail, Suck the Head


Good thing I have a family of foragers to back me up or I might starve.

We're on the last leg of our Western Odyssey, near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, visiting my parents. My friend Bill, who hooked us up with ice fishing gear last winter, was at the ready when we pulled into town with several crawfish traps and a bucket of bait. Thanks Bill!

I had big designs on a pond that turned out to be a bust, but meanwhile my boy Riley was already scoping out another spot and caught a crawdad by hand, making him the envy of several other neighborhood kids trying to net the feisty little beasts.

This one crustacean may be hardly a meal, but it was a big deal to an 8-year-old kid, who demonstrated good form in devouring his catch with Cajun gusto. And this one crawdad is also a sign of things to come. Stay tuned...

4 comments:

Jon Roth said...

Very nice! I can't wait to see what you do with a big 'ol bucket of those little critters. I can tell its going to be GOOD!

Anonymous said...

I've been wondering about foraging for crawfish . The Uwijamia fish seller told me the other day that his live specimens came from lake Wa. it seems like it might be an untapped freezer filling resource since there appears to be no regulations.

Anonymous said...

just found this article regarding lake wa crawdads; apparently there are regulations [at least on lake wa]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/othersports/2003296943_crawfish10.html

Langdon Cook said...

Live to Hunt - Dropping the traps again tonight. Hope to get enough for a Nawlins-style boil.

Chiefseth - Thanks for the tip. I'd never considered Lake WA for crawdads. BTW, your web address was truncated, but I'll search the Times for info...