CO Crayfish AKA Mud Bugs!

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Treehouser
Joined
Feb 9, 2008
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760
Location
Steamboat Springs, CO
We have been slaying these bad boys up here! They are invasive in the lakes around these parts and are decimating the trout and native fish populations. Fortunately they are one of my favorite foods and are easy to catch. Our best numbers yet are 230 caught in three traps in 24 hours. Delish! The gubment are supposedly pulling out something like 5000 (almost unbelievable) a day but can't do anything with them but kill them on the spot. I think thats a pretty big waste of great food.

Our first batch we cooked came out bland. There needs to be lots of salt and spices to get these mud bugs to not taste so muddy. Also we didn't purge them before cooking them. I read online that these crayfish are big time in Sweden. We've got it down to a science now though, and are feasting like Cajun Kings!8)

Here's a few action shots taken by my friend Louis. My camera is still dead, but I ordered a new one today Panasonic Lumix TS 20 Waterproof and cheap! Hopefully it lasts.

big blue.jpg mud bug.jpg party pot.jpg trap.jpg me.jpg

Butch, you eat a lot of these down in your neck of the woods?
 
No, super-saturated salty water. It makes them barf and poop, cleaning them up internally. Orrrrrr, starve them for a couple of days and they'll purge themselves. Otherwise, you're eating their crap.
 
As the article pointed out in addition to many others on the subject the process is controversial .

It seems from what I gleened off the internet that salt water is the prefered method in La .I've never done it myself .Only rinsed the mess off in a 5 gallon bucket runnng cold water over them .---Then off to the steamer .
 
All you have to do is ship them to Sweden.Eating crayfish and drinking copius amounts of moonshine is a Swedish summer tradition, the kräftkalas ( probably not spelled quite that way, though. Ask Magnus!)

A woodturning friend of mine has a lake on his property where he raised them, he gets about $2,20 apiece when he sells then wholesale, and they go to Sweden each and every one.

I know that Canada export a lot to Sweden just get in on that market and you're golden.
 
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  • #18
We have been purging them now, just not our first batch. They are turning out fantastic. We will have to get a lot of traps in order to have enough to send them to Sweden, we be eaten dem mud bugs our selves round here!
 
As a kid, I used to catch crawdads and eat them from a little creek that ran through the Los Angeles basin. God knows what was all in that water, plus the mud, but I'm still here to tell about it. A piece of raw liver on a string makes an excellent bait. They don't want to let go. I still remember mom pulling them out of the oven on a baking plate.
 
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  • #21
MasterBlaster said:
Here's a good read.
Click to expand...

HAHA, I found that site a few days ago when I was looking for info on how to cook them, very informative.

As far as the gubment goes, I think they kill them on the spot to prevent them from spreading. Supposedly we are breaking the law by taking them home to cook them. They were introduced here to combat some sort of algae or something, and whoever got the crayfish bought the wrong kind that breeds out of control vs the ones that breed slow and are easier to contain. At this point they are a big problem around here. I still would like to see some effort to put them to use...they are Deliciouso!!!
 
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  • #23
Tucker943 said:
What is their flavor similar to?
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I would say shrimp or something like that. They taste like how you season them, lots of old bay, salt, and spicy stuff. When we cook them sometimes we add andoulie sausage, corn, onions, red potatoes, and garlic and have a big ol' boil. Party Down! Wish we had moonshine like Stig mentioned, but we mostly settle for ice cold PBR!

Never had lobster, but they look exactly like a mini one to me, not sure how similar they taste to one another.
 
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