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I'm interested in taking advantage of the delicious, invasive and underutilized crawfish here in Minnesota. I recently purchased several minnow traps (they look like two metal mesh cones placed together) but once receiving them I noticed the entry holes seems pretty small (approximately 1" diameter). It would seem crawfish can get larger than this, I'm wondering if I should return them and try to find traps with a larger entry hole. What is the optimal range for this opening?

(I've checked with state regulations and there is not explicit size range, so I'm looking for the optimal size for catching medium to large crawdads, so basically can a large crayfish fit through a 1" opening?)

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    In the UK we actually have a government guidebook to trapping crayfish as the white-clawed crayfish are protected but the 6 none native species are trappable with permission from the Environment Agency, the book is Using the Right Trap. In some cases you might be expected to only catch larger ones so would require the larger hole, but I believe in the UK we actually wish to reduce the numbers of invasive species entirely.
    – Aravona
    Aug 1, 2014 at 7:08
  • What species are you after?
    – user2766
    Aug 1, 2014 at 15:34
  • I'm guessing mainly rusty crawfish but I'm not sure. I'll be fishing in the north Mississippi river.
    – Sam
    Aug 1, 2014 at 16:23
  • I've been messing with traps for most of my life, starting to make videos. This should help, and if you've any specific questions just ask. youtube.com/user/horsebackbob
    – user3782
    Aug 14, 2014 at 22:13

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I've got plenty of good sized crawfish in a minnow trap. I usually save my soda bottles and build crawfish traps out of them and I've got some large ones in that.

I think the 1-inch size will be fine.

How to Make a Crawfish Trap

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  • Thanks, for the good advice. I went to give it a shot over the weekend, but someone swiped my pot overnight! The joys of urban fishing...
    – Sam
    Aug 5, 2014 at 23:07
  • That's the main reason I build them out of old two-liters. If someone swipes them I'm only out a few minutes of my time.
    – thomasw_lrd
    Aug 6, 2014 at 13:13

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