The Woodsmans Lobster

 

 It was a warm evening in September, wading out on a gravel bar in a swampy mountain lake, as the last of the summer sun painted the mountain tops in a warm glow. Crayfish traps in hand looking for a promising place to drop them and signs of my intended quarry. Like a kid on Christmas Eve, it was hard to contain the excitement of the hard shelled bounty they may contain. Growing up catching small crayfish in creeks was a fun way to pass time on a hot summer day. Twenty or so years later the idea of eating them crossed my mind.

From muskrats to timberwolves, trapping often comes with a learning curve. Success may not always come easy but empty sets are part of the experience. The first traps I set only held one small crayfish not even close to the nine centimetre recommended size, so it was promptly released. After a change in tactics and bait, success was found a few weekends later. In B.C. crayfish can be caught with any size or number of traps but there is a twenty five crayfish a day limit per fishing licence. That limit proved hard to fill with the nine centimetre or greater suggested size. While I may not have limited out, the next day after checking traps we had enough for a small crayfish boil the following evening. A large stock pot was filled with water, seasoned with cajun seasoning and heavily salted. Once boiling , a few handfuls of baby potatoes and quartered onions were dropped into the pot. After 10 minutes, cut up corn cobs, a few sprigs of asparagus and the crayfish were added to the pot. Five minutes into their hot water bath, the crayfish were fire engine red and ready to eat. The tails twisted off and peeled contained delicious meat as well as the claws.

Well there may not be a lot of meat per crayfish, a limit of 25 would make a fine meal for two or three people when prepared as a traditional boil. The funnel traps are like the crock pots of the fishing world. Bait, set and come back  later. I am yet to find the perfect bait and trap design for local waters, I will be making a few traps styles over the winter to test the following summer. I have been freezing the carcasses and scraps of filleted fish for bait, as the canned sardines I originally used were not very interesting to the cray fish, some traps were picked clean and others left alone. While dropping the traps out in the lake as the sun faded for the day, and the following morning while retrieving traps larger crayfish could be seen on the edges of weed patches and other underwater structure. Here is to hoping the right bait will encourage the more mature crayfish to venture into the traps.

As fall turns to winter and the lakes begin to freeze, ice fishing ,trapping, skiing will take hold of my free time, but crayfish will still be on my mind. Traps will be made, and come spring hopefully a crayfish boil will be on the agenda.