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Posts: 59
| For those of you that fish Sucker Bay on Leech Lake, how bad have the Rusty Crayfish damaged the weed beds in that bay compared to Portage Bay? |
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Posts: 17
| Seemed to be down last summer. There are some decent beds but you have to know where they are. They weren't at the top of the water like 2 years ago. |
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Posts: 386
| Lot of my best weeds were gone last year for some reason but I found some new spots that just randomly popped up. |
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Posts: 1150
Location: Minnesota. | Vermilion got raped by those 8#$%!%!%$ rusty's.... |
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Posts: 410
Location: With my son on the water | My limited experience with Rusty Crayfish has always been that once they are present, they will continue to populate to the point that they literally eat all the food available to them (in the case of weeds, they eat/destroy them ALL) and when the food is virtually 100% gone they basically starve and the population then crashes.
But I am certainly not an expert. |
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Posts: 1270
Location: Walker, MN | It seems to me that some of the cabbage regenerates, but gets mowed down annually. I have found really nice cabbage the past few years in both portage and sucker bay in early June, but by the end of the month most is gone. I have stuck a camera down and noted nothing but the cut-off stalks in some areas.
Some of the last strong-holds of cabbage in Uram, Kabekona and Steamboat bays looked very good two years ago but got hit very hard last summer. There was probably only 30% left (by July) in some of these areas as well. It's sad to see but we just need to adapt, as the fish do. |
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Posts: 92
| Agree with Masqui-ninja,
I don't end up in sucker much but in portage all season and its been great early, but last year i noticed that the south end of it got mowed down really quick compared to years previous. A few patches that are super lush year in and year out were decimated by mid july for sure. Its good and its bad all at the same time because although the fish seem to concentrate more in the areas that are still lush so do the fishermen so its not quite as easy to spread out as it used to be. |
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Posts: 1270
Location: Walker, MN | Doing my part! I figure every boil we enjoy is one or two cabbage stalks saved from ruin lol.
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Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | That looks good.
How are you catching them ?
Traps ? |
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Posts: 8828
| In our area, there are lakes where you can literally just walk around during the day and pick up as many as you'd like. It's illegal to posses and transport them alive, but I'd bet my hat if a warden were to catch you and your answer was "we're gonna eat 'em!" you'd be on your way with the tip of a hat and a smile. And why not? The DNR and lake associations have limited funds and limited staff. If we go up for a weekend and eat a bucket of rusties, we're leaving the lake a better place than when we got there. I prefer just the tails myself in a good gumbo or just boiled and dunked in butter. If we've proven anything, it's that our appetite for seafood can certainly put a dent in the population of anything that swims.
If we could get a company or two to invest in the effort, even if it's just for making cat food, why not? We'll never eliminate the little buggers, but every one we eat is one less in the lake. "Crab boils" are becoming more and more popular. If you can't beat 'em, EAT 'em.
Edited by esoxaddict 3/19/2017 6:08 PM
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Posts: 558
| Tasty little guys they are!!!! |
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Posts: 1270
Location: Walker, MN | Top H2O - 3/19/2017 5:43 PM
That looks good.
How are you catching them ?
Traps ?
A minnow trap + a walleye carcass = all the rustys you can handle. |
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Posts: 17
| My wife and mother in law tie a piece of bacon on a string and hang it off the dock. The crawfish come from all around. There must be one blue (natural) crawfish for every 100 rusty. |
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Posts: 8828
| Does anyone have any tips on cleaning/preparation or a good recipe or two?? |
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Posts: 1425
Location: St. Lawrence River | Pretty neat. I'd love to give that a try, I wonder what kind of population we have.... |
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Posts: 1270
Location: Walker, MN | esoxaddict - 3/20/2017 2:44 PM
Does anyone have any tips on cleaning/preparation or a good recipe or two??
I just boil them until they are red, about 5 min. I like to rinse them in clean, fresh water first. It's all about the seasoning though. I use a lot of old bay or zataran's crab boil. I usually add red potatoes, corn, an onion, a couple of lemons, and a bunch of garlic. Really good, especially with beer.
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Posts: 410
Location: one foot over the line | I soak mine in cold salt water while they are still alive, this will make them purge themselves. Why eat their poop if you don't have to. Rinse well, and boil them up with some old bay. In a pinch, straight to the pot and an extra beer for myself.
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