catching crayfish in MA

[oniriggers]

Hey guys, i tried to find info on catching crayfish in mass and i cant? I have some good intel on sources for crayfish in local ponds around my area. But i cant find any info on the legality of catching crayfish from .gov sites. Im thinking of setting up some old fashion coffee can traps, that worked out well for me in PA. I just dont want a run in from fish and game over this.

 

[In God We Trust]

I don't think there are that many of them around. I used to see a single one once in a while when I lived in the Berkshires, but hardly any since moving back to the eastern part of the state.

 

[Kevlar]

Contact member "JWPaolilliJr".

As a former MA EPO, he would know the answer.

 

[davemata]

I remember the book said it was good to go, just read the book.

More importantly, where the hell would you find clean water to pull from?

 

[Sputa Arms]

I catch them all the time around here.. no coffee cans, I just quickly stick a net into the shallow weeds all the way down till I hit mud and pull it out.. then dump the weeds onto the shore and usually find about 2-3 every couple of scoops.. never heard of any regulations on it.

 

[shootback]

I don't know about regulations but I catch the in a bunch of places. I use a shiner trap and chicken bones as bait. I can usualy catch a dozen or two a day. Of cours I only use these as bait since I don't trust the water enough to eat them.

 

[Sputa Arms]

I guess the ones that they catch down south are in nasty bacteria filled stagnant water.. I saw it on dirty jobs . Mike Rowe had rashes on his legs because of the bacteria.. a lot nastier than these ponds around the south shore

 

[mac1911]

I grew up in whitman MA. Hobarts pond @ the waterfall was easy pick'n from crawfish and few small trout here and there. 20+ years ago anyway. Heck I dont even know if the DAM is still holding ?

SE end of pond....off pond st access

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=hobart's+pond+whitman+ma&ie=UTF-8

Back in the day there where some monsters there. My dad liked Cfish for bait for bass.
I never had much luck fishing there. Bullfrogs,turtles,crawfish no problem.

 

[gvd0006]

The dam is still holding up at Hobarts. Last year it was full of garbage, tires and old rusty bikes. Not sure if Whitman DPW cleaned it up or not this year..

 

[mac1911]

Ahhh nothing has changed...surprised there was scrap metal in there.

 

[mcb]

Move to ME and try Moosehead.

 

[Sputa Arms]

I caught some there at hobarts last year.. DPW just cleared the whole left side of the pond now you can walk down that side of the pond without feeling like someones gonna jump out at you .. too bad they cant do that to the rest of the town..

 

[mac1911]

I where all the people are comeing from,,,,,,heck its 4 square miles and theres a TON of people there now.