Pass Lake crayfish

@Roper - a friend of mine used to commercially trap Lake Washington. He sold many of the mudbugs in Seattle's International District but always saved a big bunch for his annual boil. They were delicious!
 
I watched many you tube videos, and experimented with simpler designs, but this fly, (dragged across my bathtub) seemed to have a very enticing effect, with the fur "claws" spreading out and then contracting together as the line was tightened . I don't know about the fish, but this action looked enticing to me. My experience with fishing with crawdads is slow, and slower is best... It's not a reactionary strike, but instead a long patient contemplation from the fish... until he impulsively gulps it down.
 
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Man, they taste like mud compared to dungies! They are really thick in some of the Utah reserviors and some of the rivers. Strawberry Res, where I caught the largest cuttie of my life (28-inches with a full on Tennessee largemouth bass gut on it) on a mouse pattern, is full of them. I imagine that cutt had a belly full of crawfish. Here's fun little video a kid put out on Crawdad fishing and boil.
 
Long ago I attended the "gator fest". It was a blast, the zydeco music, dancing.. and, of course, crawdads. The little tails tasted sooo good.. but dang it was a lot of work to get a small amount of meat. The line was a mile long and the plate was not cheap. Years later I watched a guy haul in an enormous amount of very large "crawdads" at Pass Lake.
I thought to myself...this is pretty cool.
 
Apparently, live Signal Crawfish, when in season, sell for about $10 a pound in Seattle. So a sport fisherman can potentially harvest $100 worth of these tasty little guys. To me, that is an enticing fishery. I'm imagining a big plate of appetizers...or possibly an addition to clam chowder or crab cakes. The notion that our local crawdads are not worthy of a "foody's" respect is soon to be dismissed (IMHO).
 
Back on topic...these crawdads have indeed been "nicknamed" Lobsterettes. This is very cool, because "crawdads" have somewhat of a southern cuisine niche. To separate, and distinguish our crawdads by calling them Lobsterettes is kind of cool, IMHO. These Signal Crawfish have every right to be viewed as premium seafood, along with dungy crab, prawns, clams etc.. The price tag at a Seattle seafood market makes me believe this.
 
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I have a private lake I fish that just screams crawdads. I’ve always wanted to try it there.
Do they need to be put in water to purge and clean them prior to cooking? If so, for how long and is tap water ok?
SF
 
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Dennis Mitchell I believe you are correct...(Perhaps that's why I've never seen a "gator fest" up here.)
"Crawdads"... when you read that word what do you think? Probably not gourmet cuisine. Now.... Lobsterettes over angel hair linguine topped with a white wine sauce? Yeah mmm.
Every Crawdad in Washington State should truly be hating me about now.
 
Stonedfish...I did a quick search about how to cook a freshly caught Signal Crayfish. "Purging" (like is done with clams) does not seem to be an issue. Wash them off and boil em in pre-made "boil" spices...seems to be how it is done. I urge you to view this Youtube..

How to Cook & Peel Signal Crayfish

Lobsterettes. How fun is that? Think of the appetizers you could make with this on a Triscuit cracker. The you tube shows how to process this animal into a very clean, tasty piece of a seafood delicacy.
 
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