Hey guys, my buddies and I heading to the BWCA area in mid October this year which is latter than we've been before by almost a month. I like to catch crawfish to make a fun snack/campfire gumbo. I was wondering if anyone knows if crawfish are still abundant/catchable that time of year?

Thanks!

Per Minnesota DNR, as long as you have a fishing license you can take up to 25 pounds of crayfish as long as they are an inch long at least, and they are invasive I hear. Season goes from 1 April to 30 November, so October isn't too late. Probably should take a crawdad trap with you and toss it out overnight with a bit of bait and see what you got in the morning. I have seen them in many lakes I have been to. I think you can get a good trap on amazon for about 10-20 bucks.

A minnow trap takes up almost zero space because you can fill the voids with other gear. Set the trap with some fish guts and you will catch a lot of them.

i've caught them in January Ice Fishing I'm sure you can catch them in October

Thanks for the feedback all. I already have a decent trap so I should be all set for a nice crawfish fry!

I have found baiting the trap with some dry dog food has worked very well in other areas. If you put it in a bait bag it lasts much long than fish guts or other 'fresh' bait and crawfish and minnows seem to love it.

The good news is that there will be as many crayfish in October as the rest of the year, but the bad news is that they will probably not be in the same locations you may have seen them throughout the summer. A little bit of searching through the scientific literature indicates that the Northern Crayfish (Orconectes virilis), the most common species in northern lakes, migrates seasonally from shallow to deep water. By mid-October much of the population is concentrated at depths from 6-9 meters (20-30 feet).

Citation link

This may or may not apply to the invasive Rusty Crayfish that is now appearing in many lakes. I'm not certain if much research has been done on the life history patterns of this species in northern lakes.

Great info, thebotanyguy! Very helpful article. We are looking at Saganaga and its connected lakes for this trip so we shouldn't have trouble finding deep spots. Earlier in the season I've found the best luck in 2-4 feet of water, but expected October could change habits. I was kind of hoping I'd just be able to toss the trap 5-10' offshore, and maybe if our campsite has a deep drop off I still can (with a lot of rope!), but worse case we could make a makeshift buoy, weight the trap down with a rock, and paddle out to a slightly deeper spot to leave it overnight.

We are planning for six days on this trip base camping at 2 or 3 sites so that gives plenty of time for experimentation. I'll report back with my findings in three months :)

I think if you play around with depth and location you should be able to find some. Usually you want to let them soak in clean water for awhile to flush their system so make sure to have a plan for that. Also if you only catch a few a day you'll want a way to keep them alive until you've collected enough for your crawfish boil.