MAKENZIE’S OUTDOOR ADVENTURES: Catching Crawdads

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) -For bait, or for boil...crawfish can be found all over Oklahoma.

In Makenzie’s latest outdoor adventure, she went hunting for crawdads...and shows us the best places to find them.

Crayfish, crawdads, or crawfish are native to Oklahoma.

They live on average 4 to 5 years, and are related to other very large crustaceans.

Whether used for bait, or food, they’re important components in the freshwater food chain.

“I know they like to live in low water areas,” said Carly Caldwell. “So like ditches, they like where the tin horns are.”

Carly is a boy mom. So taking her kids and their cousins out to catch crawdads is something they do often in the springtime.

“When it starts getting warmer in the late spring, that’s when we usually go catch quite a few of them.,” said Caldwell. “When it’s real rainy, and so the bar ditches are usually full of water.”

There are lots of ways to catch them, by hand, with bacon and a string, or with a net. They also use traps.

“Or we put bacon in the holes,” said Caldwell. “Like right after it rains, if we see some holes in the ditch we’ll put bacon down in there and then we’ll come out a little while later and see if they had come out to get the bacon.”

It’s something that anyone can do.

“We take buckets and nets, but if you don’t have that you really don’t need it,” said Caldwell. “Instead of sitting inside, if you’ve got bar ditches, take them outside, let them get some sun, and let them have fun catching something. All kids would like it.”

And for Makenzie’s next Outdoor Adventure, she’s going crappie fishing on Lake Ellsworth.

Be sure to catch that story next month, on July 14th.

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