Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Living in California I'm pretty sure its illegal but I have to ask. Is it legal to catch and transport live wild fish and crayfish for my system with a sport fishing licence?

check with your department of wildlife.. it varies from state to state

Not legal here. Usually local species can be had at a hatchery though.

You should always follow the law. I transported live fish, but I did not bother finding out how legal it was.

From what I can tell fish is a definite no crayfish is iffy. It's illegal to transport live finned fish without a permit. Invertebrates are not included in the definition. Since crayfish can be invasive I'm assuming that they are illegal to transport live as well.
I've already found a breeder a couple of hours away from me but was hoping I could save some money by catching a few fish on my next trip to the lake.

It occurs to me that people who catch crayfish for food usually bring them home live if they intend to cook them at home. Why would anyone catch fresh wild crayfish only to put them on ice?

Other than the legality, I would also be concerned about introducing unknown pathogens, viruses and or dieses into your system, the "aquacultured" fish may have no immunity to these.

We cook the wild fish and crayfish to kill the unknowns to protect ourselves from harm even death.

Could be the case but it works both ways. Often the cultured fish have more diseases because they are packed in and they can be transmitted more easily. I think Enteric Septicemia of Catfish (ESC) might fall into this group of diseases. Sometimes it overwinters in the brain of infected catfish and is then spread to other fish when the temp rises. Fortunately it's specific to Catfish.