need crawfish advice

[GarFisher]

Guys my local bait hole is full of big red mudbugs. I'm thinking of boiling some and I'm wondering how to purge them? I've used brine water in the past with 50/50 results. Anything better?

[WT427]

That's the only way I know how. If you want em really clean, purge and rinse a few times.

[rambunctious]

I use one can of salt per 10lbs. rince 2-3 times.
Good eating.

[jhj415]

it is a flavor thing, but i think purging them ruins the meat and makes it a little tuff and chewy. but if you are gonna purge them use a lower level of slat and curculate the water more to clean. but like i said just my $0.02.

[jasonglenn]

When purging your crawfish use salt of course and put some crab boil in the water. It helps with the flavor.

[fishoholic]

Here is I do it.
Put in salt water, I use regular table salt. You can use a cooler or something I use a small kiddy pool when I do my boils. This allows them to swin freely. The is what I would use as a guide, one sack (35-40 lbs), 1 cup of salt to about 6-8 gals of water.
This has nothing to do with the flavor, if you don't purge them they will come out tasting sandy and muddy, they are just nasty. Also rinse very good several times (if using a cooler just pull the plug) with water pressure. You can also check if you did a good rinse by putting the plug back in and fill the water till you can see it, if it is clean you good.
The reason for purging is so that the crawfish throw up what they have inside them.
If you have any questions about crawfish I can help you just PM me.

[nasakid]

The amount of salt really doesn't matter past one round box of salt per ice chest. If you put in too much, it can kill them. Just pour the bugs in an ice chest that will accommodate them, fill it with water and pour the salt in. Let them swim around for an hour or 2, drain the ice chest, spray them down with the water hose, then fill it up again and let them purge for another hour with plain water. Drain and rinse again, and they're good for the pot. I do this process every time I boil 'em, and it works great. The meat is not affected, and they are clean. Make sure when you use the water hose that the water isn't hot from sitting out in the sun. That will kill some of them if it's too hot.

[fishoholic]

Nasakid,
I have never heard of any one purging longer than 30-45 mins and my dad's side of the family is from LA.
You are right tho the amount of salt is not that important as long as it is not to much.

[nasakid]

It works, so I have no reason to change my procedure. The more bugs I have the longer I usually purge them. If it's pushing 100lbs in a big ice chest, I give them plenty of time to clean out. Last batch I did last spring had almost a 0% death rate.