05-31-2005, 11:14 AM
[cool][#0000ff]There have been crawdads in the Provo River, Utah Lake and Jordan River systems since I first started fishing it in the sixties. However, they have a tough environment in Utah Lake. The carp keep the vegetation down (where the young 'dads can hide) and the predators, like bass and cats, munch on any crawdad that can't find a rock to hide under.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]They have probably declined a lot while the lake has been low, with little cover, but they will explode again with the higher water and better habitat. In lakes with ideal conditions and little predation, they can swarm like locusts in a short time.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]What really surprised me was the big hellgramite I found in the one cat. I used to catch a lot of channels up in the lower Provo River this time of year, and they all had been feeding on those aquatic insects. In fact, I did quite well on river cats with a flyrod and big black or brown wooly worms or nymphs. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Pollution and other water problems have largely wiped out the sensitive bugs since then. I am imagining that the stray 'grammite washed into the lake from one of the many full flowing tributaries this year. Mrs. catfish probably did not stop to check the geneology of the hapless critter before slurping it in.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Anybody who can find a good source for catching crawdads might want to consider keeping the smaller ones (too small for the cooking kettle) for kitty bait. Freeze them up and fish them whole or just the tails. That is definitely a food that cats are genetically programmed to munch.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]They have probably declined a lot while the lake has been low, with little cover, but they will explode again with the higher water and better habitat. In lakes with ideal conditions and little predation, they can swarm like locusts in a short time.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]What really surprised me was the big hellgramite I found in the one cat. I used to catch a lot of channels up in the lower Provo River this time of year, and they all had been feeding on those aquatic insects. In fact, I did quite well on river cats with a flyrod and big black or brown wooly worms or nymphs. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Pollution and other water problems have largely wiped out the sensitive bugs since then. I am imagining that the stray 'grammite washed into the lake from one of the many full flowing tributaries this year. Mrs. catfish probably did not stop to check the geneology of the hapless critter before slurping it in.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Anybody who can find a good source for catching crawdads might want to consider keeping the smaller ones (too small for the cooking kettle) for kitty bait. Freeze them up and fish them whole or just the tails. That is definitely a food that cats are genetically programmed to munch.[/#0000ff]
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