American River Crawdads 3/19/14

Been loving the beautiful weather we've been having recently and I do my best to try and spend as much time in the sun as I can every day. Being outside so much aside from aggravating the hell out of my allergies has got me more and more excited for summer and probably one of my favorite things to do in the summer is dive for crawdads. It's been warm and nice enough to maybe go for a swim so I thought what the heck I'll try my first scouting trip of the year and see how conditions are. I checked the charts online and it said the water temp was 55 F now which shocked me because I am used to seeing it around 49-51 this time of year, but with the low water conditions its no surprise. The low flows actually makes it really nice for this because there is no current and I can access deeper spots much easier so it makes for some easy pickings down there.

Jumped in about 1300 and I've always been really resistant and tolerant against cold, but man when you jump in that water it hurts. The feeling starts by sharp pain throughout your whole body and your really short of breath, then when your breathing finally slows down and you can focus the cold starts to set in and you realize how cold the water actually is. The hardest part is pushing through this stage. Your body gets colder and colder and you hit the point of saying to yourself its too cold I'm getting out, but push past that for just a couple minutes and then the cold eventually turns your whole body numb and you can no longer feel the temperature, then your good to go. That process usually takes me about 5 mins till I can properly function and get some good dives going.

Once it did though I was having a field day. No current and easy water to work in and I was finding dad's under every rock I flipped over. Water was really dirty for the American with only about 5ft visibility, but I made it work. I've got an action camera I'll have to bring with me on one of these dives soon. I didn't bring it today cause I wasn't even sure if I was going to be in the water for more then a couple of minutes. I stuck it out for about an hour though working the rocks bringing em up. After so long depending on the water temp for me after 1-2 hours your numbness goes away and it gets cold again and once you start to feel that cold it doesn't go away. I started getting a chill and I know my girlfriend sitting on shore watching me wasn't exactly having a blast so after an hour in the water I called it. Deni said my skin was starting to turn red when I walked out of the water. The second I got out and hit air I started shivering and couldn't stop for another hour.

Got the catch home and ready for the pot.

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Final count was 61 with sizes ranging from about 4-7 inches long, not too bad for an hours work. I ended up throwing a lot back that had eggs in em. I know plenty of people love eating the eggs and I have had them, but I'm not that Asian to love em so I let them go to keep the population up.

Sorry I didn't get more pictures of the day, hopefully I'll have a video for you guy's next time. Even with the almost unbearably cold water you can bet I'll be back to get more soon.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark