OKAY, NOW WHAT? AKA: What NOT to do with your Crawdad Catch!

What do you mean, "Now What?"  If you have been out fishing in Arizona, you probably have seen Crayfish.  You got bored with your kids and decided to catch a few.  You foolishly put them in a bucket of water and brought them home.

NEWSFLASH:  Crayfish don't breath water!!!  They breath oxygen!  Surprise!!!  They are just like fish and other shellfish, and yes they breath oxygen.  They have gills, so they extract the oxygen from the water, (JUST LIKE FISH).  However, unlike fish they can also extract oxygen from the air (as long as their gills stay wet).  In this picture, they are climbing over the top of each other to poke their heads out and breath, yes I am going to say it:  OXYGEN.  So the question of the day is: if you put them in a bucket of water, how long till they use up all the oxygen and drown?  Faster than you think.  Three days later when you remembered you had them (because you noticed a funny smell in your garage), you called me.  I hate to break it to you, that ain't jambalaya in that bucket.
"Now what?"  What do you mean, now what!  Have you never taken care of shellfish before????  Hello???  You would go catch 5 lbs of shrimp and then treat them this way.  Your wife would shoot you (along with my Mother) if ever such an offense happened with shrimp or lobsters.  Crayfish are no different.  Ice is your friend, super genius.  And GOOD JOB dingle-berry, she is completely turned off by you even thinking on catching anymore.  "Don't bring home any of those disgusting bugs-EVER again!"  Sound familiar??  If this has been you, you still have time to repent and make amends.  Let's start from the beginning.  Let's start with the Basics and do things right.  Be the hero and HELP PROTECT ARIZONA WATERWAYS!

AHH, now doesn't that look better?  Now let's get CRACKIN!!!

HEY, WHERE DID HE GO?

OK, I know.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, I have been away.  It has been a long while since I posted anything.  Some of you reading this are saying, "What happened?"

I guess you could say "life happened".  I don't want to say the "S" word happened, but that is probably a better description.  Also, I let work get in the way of the good stuff and OVER SILLY THINGS LIKE MONEY,
(who needs that stuff).  

So, temporary problem solved and on to the battle of freeing our lands and taking back Arizona from ALIEN INVADERS!!!!, (like Crawdads, Crayfish, or what ever you call them).

Ok, maybe they are not this big.  However, if they are make sure you bring a lot of butter!  

Let's get Crackin!

ARIZONA CRAYFISH MONSTERS

Don't be fooled by the calm water.

This is one of my favorite places to go.  It seems to have plenty of fish and the water is reasonably clear.  Last weekend, my family and I went up to the rim country to do a little fishing and help remove some crayfish.  I knew it had Crayfish in it, but I was not expecting to find what we did.  It has been a favorite spot of mine and I do not want it overrun with crawdads.  I have targeted this place to remove crayfish, so I can keep them in check and still have a good fishing hole for the kids.  Earlier in the year, I had pulled many six inch crayfish out of here and considered that to be the largest "large crayfish" I had ever seen.  I was not expecting this.  I don't know what is happening here, but I did not catch any fish over about four inches.  This was a little disturbing, but it is possible to not catch fish on a fishing trip, (just not preferred).  Not only did we surpass the six inch crayfish, but we caught a lot that surpassed the six incher.  They were large, aggressive, and they did not seem to have any fear.  

 This trap was in the water for only about half an hour.  To my surprise, it had several in it and they were big.

Here you can see my wife has one with the pliers for a reason.  You don't want one of those claws sinking into a finger! 


This particular trip we were able to take in over a hundred of these monsters and there seemed to be plenty more.  We are going back.  This lake belongs to us, not the crawdads.

This is what happened to those that found their way in our traps.  We dispatched them humanely as possible.

Yep, you are reading it right.  It was 8 inches.  These were monsters.

PARTY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INVASIVE SPECIES MYSTERY!

This wasn't me, but I thought it was appropriate for the fourth of July.

I have read mixed stories on the matter.  It seems the different departments of state and federal agencies all have different versions, depending on who is writing the article.  We know that some spreading of Crayfish can and will occur when lakes, rivers, and streams connect.  However, There are too many lakes here that are not connected to make that be the complete conclusion.  I have not heard of the great crayfish migration as of yet, so that is out of the question.  With not a whole lot of choices left, it stands to reason that they have been planted, (whether it was mistake or on purpose).  We know they have been planted in the local canals for vegetation control.  However, the canals do not feed back to the lakes on high.  A good portion of the warm water lakes feed into the canal system here in the Phoenix metro, but not from the high mountain lakes.  So why are they there?  Why up north?  So far it does not make sense and the mystery begins!

COMING SOON:  We are going in the field!  We are going to practice what we preach!  We are going to go after these critters and see what kind of impact we can have.  Please send us e-mails on the lakes that are infested with Crayfish.  crawdaddyspecialist@gmail.com

INVASIVE SPECIES TAKEOVER!

 Okay, we have a problem.  If Arizona was in a 12 step program, the begining is to admit we have a problem.  In fact, it's one teensy, small aquatic, huge problem.  I can't tell you how many people I have talked to since my first post that said, " I didn't know that Crawdads were not native to Arizona!"  Half of the problem is making people aware that these mudbugs are out of place.  The other half is realizing  that crawdads being out of place and in the wrong place is BAD.  A lot of people in Arizona are from other places in the U.S. that have native crayfish. Seeing them here makes it seem like they belong.  I beg to differ with you, they are not supposed to be here.

SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT

This is not me.

OK.  We need to air a few grievances  Somehow people are under the impression I do not like Crayfish.  I have targeted them for Termination, and they are going to be eradicated.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Since I was a little boy, I used to catch crayfish in an irrigation ditch near the house where I grew up.  I was completely fascinated by them.  I have never stopped being curious about them and their part in the food chain and the whole circle of life.  I really believe they can have their place in our world, but not without being in check.  In their native lands (ecosystem), they are not running crazy.  

Snake keeping Crayfish in check.

They are an important part in the food chain and they have predators which is key to their control.  They are kept in check by their world that was built with them (as a key component and a food source to the ecosystem).  Arizona has a world that was built without Crayfish.  The introduction of them to this world makes them invaders and trouble.  If you have kids, you  know that walking into the candy store with kids means you are buying some candy.  No candy store owner in their right mind would ever leave the doors unlocked and open.  They wouldn't walk kids in and expect that they will only eat the candy that falls on the floor. That would be crazy!  However, that is exactly what happened here in Arizona.  The Crayfish were introduced for vegetation control and to be food for sport fish.  That seemed harmless because the greater effect was the canals would be clear and we would have more Bass.  In that day we were not so concerned with our ecosystems and endangered species, we were all about saving money and of course, making money.  

Racoon keeping things in check.

Once again we are now dealing with what it really cost Arizonans and we are dealing with the aftermath of the invaders, (or are we?).  The war with these invaders is still waging and we are scrambling on what to do.  The call to arms is in this instance is too late and we will never get back what was lost and taken.  Our lands are invaded, they are being destroyed, and being devoured.  There is not much hope of stopping that machine, unless we do something about it.  Our resistance is alive and well.  If you are reading this message; You are The Resistance!

ARIZONA INVASIVE SPECIES

The invaders in the flesh....or in the shell in their case.  The invaders were lurking in a small pond outside Forest Lakes, Arizona.  I was there on Memorial Day and had plans to take my children fishing.  The area was beautiful, right in the middle of the forest.  At this lake, there was a sign posted saying that the fish caught here were "catch and release only", which was perfect for me and my children.   The fish were slow to biting, but these little aliens were not.  Apparently, they will eat worms too.  These buggers hung on for their dear life (and also to their demise).  They were the largest sized crayfish I had seen in a long time and all of them were at least five to six inches long.  They were huge and from the looks of it, they were eating healthy.  We only caught one fish ( which was released), and I was not surprised.  I also noticed their was almost no aquatic plants growing in the shallows.  Little to no fish to catch, almost no plants, and I definitely did not see any amphibians near the grass or in the water.  As you guessed it, the invasion, was here.

No Arizona water is safe anymore.  Fish, aquatic plants, and amphibians are in an all out habitation war and they don't even know it.  That is how good this enemy is.  Do not be fooled in thinking it stops at the water.  Many species of birds and animals are just as effected by this war.  The war is real and they need help. No habitat left behind !

The war wages on.