# 2nd Annual Crayfish Boil



## Anish

It's that time of the year again folks. Time to start planning our next crayfish boil :woohoo1:. So, for those of you who couldnt make it last year...
There are a number of us who got together last year over near Houghton Lake (Reedsburg dam area) for our first MS crayfish boil/meet n greet. We had a lot of fun, but I am REALLY hoping to go bigger and better this year. 
Here are the details for this years gathering so far.

Date: July ,6th, 7th, 8th

Location: Reedsburg dam campground (West side of Houghton Lk.)

Campground info: This is a small, rustic, State campground (beautiful place) where it is first come first serve on camp sites (no reservations are available). Camping is $15 for a night. What we did last year was we camped "together,but seperate". This means that you are responsible for your own camp site and your own food for the weekend (of course that excludes the boil). That seemed to work out pretty well, so that will be the plan for this year too. I am hoping to have this as a weekend long gathering however, if you can only make it for the day, then that is perfectly fine. The location of the campground is perfect for accessing Houghton and Higgins lake (both right near by) as well as fishing the Reedsburg impoundment, so there will be no shortage of fishing opportunities.

Boil info: We will be doing a pot luck type dinner, so be sure to bring a 
dish to pass (nothing formal, lol). 

Misc. Other: Last year was fun, but like I said, I would like to go bigger and better this year. Anyone who has any ideas or suggestions for this year, or who would be willing to lend a hand with anything, please feel free to PM me. I am open to any and all suggestions . 
Also, this is a family gathering, so please feel free to bring the whole family if you want. It will be a kid friendly atmosphere.
As a side note, eating crayfish is not mandatory. I realize that not everyone out there is a fan of crayfish, so even if you don't eat em, I'm sure there will be enough other goodies there that you won't go hungry. Feel free to come and join us anyway .

So, all that being said, lets get planning!!


----------



## JBooth

where do the crayfish come from?


----------



## mfs686

JBooth said:


> where do the crayfish come from?


The river below the Reedsburg Dam impoundment.

I think this year we need a crayfish containment unit that is raccoon proof. :lol:


----------



## Anish

mfs686 said:


> The river below the Reedsburg Dam impoundment.
> 
> I think this year we need a crayfish containment unit that is raccoon proof. :lol:


 
:lol::lol::lol:
Already working on that one!


----------



## boomer_x7

i used to go below there and get a few myself


----------



## ausable riverboat

Do you have to keet the crayfish alive or can you put them on ice ?


----------



## Anish

ausable riverboat said:


> Do you have to keet the crayfish alive or can you put them on ice ?


Sorry I didnt get back with you sooner. Been sick with a 24 hour bug (ugh!!). Anyway, yeae, they have to be kept alive. once you cook them, you can freeze them for up to 3 months (I've even gone a little longer).


----------



## mfs686

ausable riverboat said:


> Do you have to keet the crayfish alive or can you put them on ice ?


It's not hard to keep them alive either. As long as you keep them in a fur-bearing predator free zone.


----------



## Anish

mfs686 said:


> It's not hard to keep them alive either. As long as you keep them in a fur-bearing predator free zone.


Crafty little buggers!! :lol:


----------



## ausable riverboat

Do you think being 4th of July week, it will make it hard to find a campsite ?


----------



## Rat City Hooker

Anish said:


> Crafty little buggers!! :lol:


:lol::lol::lol:
Had 2 of those banty eyed bugger steal 2 packages of venison chops out my cooler at Ludington State Park.
:sad::sad::sad:

Put me in for this year but wounder about campsite availability due to the 4th.

Larry


----------



## mfs686

Rat City Hooker said:


> Put me in for this year but wounder about campsite availability due to the 4th.
> 
> Larry


Don't know about that.

Anish?


----------



## Anish

ausable riverboat said:


> Do you think being 4th of July week, it will make it hard to find a campsite ?


Well, I don't know about this year, but last year, as soon as the 4th was over, everything cleared out pretty quickly. If worse came to worse, we could probably double up on campsites if we had to. I don't think it would come to that though. We stayed there last year for a week and a half after the 4th and on the weekend of the 4th, the campground was not evven close to full. There were campers there, but there were still sites available. Thats the nice thing about where the campground is located. It's off the beaten path and it's rustic. With other "fancier" accomodations in the area, the place just does not fill up.


----------



## mfs686

Anish said:


> Well, I don't know about this year, but last year, as soon as the 4th was over, everything cleared out pretty quickly. If worse came to worse, we could probably double up on campsites if we had to. I don't think it would come to that though. We stayed there last year for a week and a half after the 4th and on the weekend of the 4th, the campground was not evven close to full. There were campers there, but there were still sites available. Thats the nice thing about where the campground is located. It's off the beaten path and it's rustic. With other "fancier" accomodations in the area, the place just does not fill up.


That's kind of what I was thinking. People like their comfort which is why I will be staying in a cabin with beds, hot water and indoor plumbing near by. :lol:


----------



## Anish

mfs686 said:


> That's kind of what I was thinking. People like their comfort which is why I will be staying in a cabin with beds, hot water and indoor plumbing near by. :lol:


Lol! I'm starting to get to that point myself! As much as I hate to admit it, if it werent for our old camper, I would never be able to do it.


----------



## HOSS48604

I do all the cooking for a big boil every year and we get our crawdads over night delivery (100lbs) from Louisiana. I never realized that they were plentiful enough to have such a boil with native critters. I'm not much of a fisherman but I love the outdoors and enjoy camping and meeting new people. I have all the gear to cook 150-200lbs in one pot without too much trouble. I'm thinking I should be able to commit to a nice weekend of kayaking and cooking.


----------



## HOSS48604

Here are a couple pics of my little cooker in action last June.


----------



## mfs686

Woo Hoo !!!

Hey Anish, looks like you may get to relax some this time around.

Thanks Hoss, hope to see you there.


----------



## GuppyII

Are you trapping them? If so, how about some trap pictures and what do ya use for bait?


----------



## mfs686

GuppyII said:


> Are you trapping them? If so, how about some trap pictures and what do ya use for bait?


http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=375563&page=17

Page 16 and 17 for pictures. The first one is a trap that I made. The other one is a Frabill Minnow trap with the hole cut out to let the crays get in. 7 bucks at Walmart. Anish showed me those and I bought the last one at the Houghton Lake Walmart.

I use fish for bait, usually left over pieces from the walleye I catch. 

Probably the most productive may to get them at Reedsburg is a hook, line, net and a piece of meat. Just dangle it in front of one walking around, lift him up and scoop with the net. Ridiculously easy and effective.


----------



## Rat City Hooker

We are not doing our usual campathon this year

I dont understand this statement. I plan on coming up for the weekend and camping ???
Larry


----------



## mfs686

Rat City Hooker said:


> We are not doing our usual campathon this year
> 
> I dont understand this statement. I plan on coming up for the weekend and camping ???
> Larry


Last year when we had the first one Anish and her family were at the campground for I think almost 3 weeks. This year she is planning on scaling that back a bit....lol

I'll be there for the day and spending the night in comfort at a home nearby.


----------



## Anish

HOSS48604 said:


> Well Anish, I don't know what you call "crazy amounts" of crawdads, but I call it CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. Even if I have to cook more than one batch, I can do so in relatively short order. The fedex guy will be dropping off a case of boil mix to my door tomorrow and I can't wait to get my hands on some of those Michigan Crawdads.


You have no idea how happy this makes me, lol! I am looking sooooo forward to not cooking! 
What other ingredients do you need? What can we pitch in on?


----------



## Anish

mfs686 said:


> Last year when we had the first one Anish and her family were at the campground for I think almost 3 weeks. This year she is planning on scaling that back a bit....lol
> 
> I'll be there for the day and spending the night in comfort at a home nearby.


You got it! This is going to be our big camping trip this year. I am planning to get over to Reedsburg on the Thurs. before the boil so that I can secure a good site and start trapping. Just to make sure we have enough bugs (and yes, I am designing a raccoon proof/turtle proof holding box, lol). 
Just for the record, for anyone who will not be camping over, you are more than welcome to make yourselves comfortable in our site and as soon as I know where we will be I will run down to Mc Donalds (only wifi in the area) and post our site number.


----------



## Anish

Rat City Hooker said:


> We are not doing our usual campathon this year
> 
> I dont understand this statement. I plan on coming up for the weekend and camping ???
> Larry


What day do you plan to come up?


----------



## Anish

Hey has anybody heard from Crappie1? I know last year he was really wanting to come to this, but he had other plans. I thought I had him in my friends list, but I guess not. If someone runs acrost him, drop him a line for me about the boil please.


----------



## Rat City Hooker

Anish said:


> What day do you plan to come up?


Plan on being there sometime Friday if you could could snag a site close to yours.
Larry


----------



## Anish

Should be no problem. I have two sites in mind that I am really crossing my fingers on. The 4th is on Wed. and if it's like last year people should start clearing out on the 5th.


----------



## Anish

Anybody else planning on camping? If I have an idea of who is going to be staying over and when they plan to arrive, I can try to secure some sites that are together. Might take a little creativity, but I suspect it can be done .


----------



## HOSS48604

Anish said:


> You have no idea how happy this makes me, lol! I am looking sooooo forward to not cooking!
> What other ingredients do you need? What can we pitch in on?


When we do our yearly boil for 40-50 people, while the crawdads are "gettin happy", we throw in a bag of taters (reds cook the best) a bag of onions, usually a couple dozen ears of corn (shucked and halved) and since we have a fair amount of non-crawdad eaters we usually throw in 20-25lbs of some sort of smoked sausage. The real beauty of this kind of cooking is that you really can't go wrong with whatever you want to throw in (everything ends up being tasty as hell), so whatever anyone wants to contribute to the pot is welcome.


----------



## Anish

Sounds good! Right now I'm starting to wonder how many of us are going to show. I went through last years forum and sent a PM to anyone who showed an interest in last years boil. So, hopefully it's just that the word hasnt gotten out. It really stinks that I got hung up on all the crap that was going on here. I didnt get a chance to spread the word the way I would have liked to. Oh well, we'll see what happens.

Thanks again Hoss!


----------



## mfs686

I'll pick up the corn to throw in the pot. Couple dozen ears ought to do it.


----------



## Rat City Hooker

Put me down for the red taters & onions. Also for friday nite munches, will bring my home smoked salmon, venison meat sticks and jerky.
Larry


----------



## Anish

Mmmmmmmmm! This just keeps getting better and better, lol!!


----------



## wyldkat49766

I was thinking about coming but my son and I are going with a troop from Mt Pleasant to scout camp in Mio and we start the 8th. 1 week in a tent is enough for me. Have fun guys.


----------



## Petronius

Besides Anish, who else is planning on catching crawdads and when are you going to start doing it? I should be able to stop by for a bit with a couple of friends on Saturday or Sunday. Hopefully, we'll have some bugs from Backus Creek. I'm going to have to get out my smelt net.


----------



## mfs686

I plan on showing up Saturday noonish to set traps and while they are doing their thing I will also catch them the Anish way.


----------



## Anish

wyldkat49766 said:


> I was thinking about coming but my son and I are going with a troop from Mt Pleasant to scout camp in Mio and we start the 8th. 1 week in a tent is enough for me. Have fun guys.


 
Oh! That is SUCH a bummer!!! I have been really wanting to meet you in person. I sure understand, but I really wish you could make it .


----------



## Anish

petronius said:


> Besides Anish, who else is planning on catching crawdads and when are you going to start doing it? I should be able to stop by for a bit with a couple of friends on Saturday or Sunday. Hopefully, we'll have some bugs from Backus Creek. I'm going to have to get out my smelt net.


 I'm going to get over there as early as possible on the 5th and I'm going to go on a crayfishathon. I have 4 new traps in addition to the 7 I already had and I will be hand fishing them while I'm waiting on the traps. I want to see how many of those little bastards I can pull out of there in two days !! I'm going to build the holding pen tomorow (yes, it should be racoon proof). Other than myself, I'm not exactly sure who else will be bringing them.


----------



## Anish

mfs686 said:


> I plan on showing up Saturday noonish to set traps and while they are doing their thing I will also catch them the Anish way.


Lol!! So youre gonna give it a try, lol. It's fun and really addictive. Almost worse than standard fishing. I can't tell you how many nasty sunburns I have gotten from spending crazy amounts of time bent over and walking around that dam. 
Important: You absolutely have got to use a GREEN kids net to scoop em. I don't think they can see the green. Or if they can, they think it's grass or something, because any other color spooks them. Also, if you can find a net bag with a zipper top or drawstring, something with a strap so that you can throw it over your shoulder. In a pinch, I have gone to the dollar store and picked up one of those net laundry bags, but ideally you want a zippered bag. Those stinkers are escape artists!! :rant: 
That's about it for specialty equipment. The net is crucial though! 
Lol! It's going to be nice to not be the only person walking around in the river looking like a dork!! :lol:


----------



## Rat City Hooker

Keep the pics coming. 
Wished I could have made it this year. :sad:
After almost 5 days Maple Rapids has been restored to full power today. :woohoo1:
Hope to see ya all at the next one. 
Larry


----------



## Ralph Smith

Rat City Hooker said:


> Keep the pics coming.
> Wished I could have made it this year. :sad:
> After almost 5 days Maple Rapids has been restored to full power today. :woohoo1:
> Hope to see ya all at the next one.
> Larry


5 days is pretty quick for that speck on the map:lol:


----------



## mfs686

More pics

I have a video too but I am having problems with it.


----------



## Anish

mfs686 said:


> Pics....


 
Great pics! Thanks for posting!


----------



## Anish

Rat City Hooker said:


> Keep the pics coming.
> Wished I could have made it this year. :sad:
> After almost 5 days Maple Rapids has been restored to full power today. :woohoo1:
> Hope to see ya all at the next one.
> Larry


Wish you could have made it! We'll be looking for you next year .


----------



## Anish

mfs686 said:


> More pics
> 
> I have a video too but I am having problems with it.


More great pics!! Thanks!! Glad to see you got a pic of that mammoth cray you caught  :lol:.


----------



## junkman

I was only there for saturday but it was still a good time and I will be back next year for sure.Hoss did a great job with his crayfish cooker.It is a very tasty way to eliminate some invasive rusties from the ecosystem.


----------



## Anish

junkman said:


> I was only there for saturday but it was still a good time and I will be back next year for sure.Hoss did a great job with his crayfish cooker.It is a very tasty way to eliminate some invasive rusties from the ecosystem.


Glad you could make it up and I hope you can make it next year. Would be great if you could bring your family too! Cant thank you enough for the chickens, that was an excellent addidition. You are right, Hoss did an amazing job with the crayfish!! That cooker was beyond impressive! I was pretty impressed when I saw him setting up the cooker, but when he pulled out that huge propane tank, I knew it was on! Lol!


----------



## mfs686

Anish said:


> Glad you could make it up and I hope you can make it next year. Would be great if you could bring your family too! Cant thank you enough for the chickens, that was an excellent addidition. You are right, Hoss did an amazing job with the crayfish!! That cooker was beyond impressive! I was pretty impressed when I saw him setting up the cooker, but when he pulled out that huge propane tank, I knew it was on! Lol!


When someone uses a shovel as a ladle you know you are in for a bunch of food.


----------



## HOSS48604

I had a great weekend and met some great people. Thanks to everyone who was there for a really good time. Good people, good food, and I learned a new skill "crawfishing". I never thought I could have so much fun antagonizing those critters to attack a chunk of hot dog (thanks for the learning experience Anish). By the way, to anyone who hasn't met Anish and/or her family, GREAT PEOPLE! And I think she is one of the few people on the planet who can make a fanny pack look good! :lol: Thanks again to those who showed up and I look forward to putting the next batch in the pot.


----------



## HOSS48604

A few more pics.


----------



## junkman

Hey Hoss what was the name brand of that boil mix you used.I'm thinking it might make a pretty good dry rub for bbq.


----------



## Crayfish Trapper

Great pics! 

Looks like a blast.


----------



## HOSS48604

junkman said:


> Hey Hoss what was the name brand of that boil mix you used.I'm thinking it might make a pretty good dry rub for bbq.



It's the same boil mix they send when we order them from Louisiana Crawfish Company. Go to lacrawfish.com that's where I order it from.


----------



## Rat City Hooker

Ralph Smith said:


> 5 days is pretty quick for that speck on the map:lol:



Thanks Ralph.
Larry


----------



## Anish

HOSS48604 said:


> I had a great weekend and met some great people. Thanks to everyone who was there for a really good time. Good people, good food, and I learned a new skill "crawfishing". I never thought I could have so much fun antagonizing those critters to attack a chunk of hot dog (thanks for the learning experience Anish). By the way, to anyone who hasn't met Anish and/or her family, GREAT PEOPLE! And I think she is one of the few people on the planet who can make a fanny pack look good! :lol: Thanks again to those who showed up and I look forward to putting the next batch in the pot.


Thanks for all the compliments! I can't thank you enough for doing the cooking! Not only doing the cooking, but doing an amazing job too. Crayfishing, like I warn everyone, is really addictive! I guess if there is an addiction to have, that's one of the better ones :lol:. It was great meeting you Hoss and we all really enjoyed your company for the weekend. I hope you will join us again next year, maybe I'll let Keelan tell you that punch line to the joke I stopped him from telling you :lol::lol:.


----------



## Anish

Crayfish Trapper said:


> Great pics!
> 
> Looks like a blast.


It was!! Come join us next year !


----------



## mfs686

I wrote up an article for my blog and added a slide show. Just click on the signature line below.


----------



## chasin tail

That looks awesome, I hope I can go next year. I will be walking down the road to see you shortly Hoss, hopefully you have a couple leftovers.


----------



## HOSS48604

mfs686 said:


> I wrote up an article for my blog and added a slide show. Just click on the signature line below.



Just checked out your blog and it was pretty cool seeing myself and my little cooker as part of someone else's slideshow. Nice article.


----------

