Cray Fish

[Young Gun]

I catch alot of crayfish in my minnow trap. I normally throw them back. Do they make good bait. Ive never fished with them before.Do any of you guys fish with crayfish. How do you rig them and for what species.

[Mark Christianson]

Yes they do work, but one thing to note.

You CANNOT transport live crayfish.

[rosspj59]

Young gun, they work well for catfish, smallies, and even walleyes. You can cast them out on a jig or a plain hook with a sinker and let it sit on bottom. I used to hook them in the tail from the bottom to the top.

[The Grebe]

Y G....If you use them for bait while bottom fishing, given the chance, the first thing they will do is crawl under a suitable snag and hang you up,....same as a hellgramite.

If they can move the sinker, they are apt to give you trouble if there are alot of snags, rocks, or timber.

They can be sectioned and the tail can be used that way, threaded onto a suitable hook. You are not supposed to transport them.

Just about any freshwater fish will eat a Crayfish, littler fish eat the little ones, bigger fish eat the bigger ones and the little ones.

[FOOT]

Young Gun, I have used crayfish for years with great success.

I've used them on smallies and walleye. If you site fish for smallies they are dynamite.

If you can find a sand bar or rock reef located next to a dropoff try fishing them in the evening for walleye.

Tulaby Lake near Detroit Lakes has a nice sand bar where I first tried the following technique.

One hour before sunset I anchored just off the sand bar and pitched a crayfish out. I used a #4 hook with NO sinker or extra weight. I just let the weight of the crayfish float it down to the sand. About 30 minutes to sunset I got the first walleye. From then on it was one right afte the other. As soon as the line went straight I'd set the hook. If the line didn't snap straight I'd reel in and pitch the crayfish out again.

Once they started biting it took about 10 minutes and I had my limit. I let the 6th one go and kept catching walleye up until 20 minutes after senset. It was a blast.

I've tried it numerous times since and it's worked about 60% of the time.

[TonkaBass]

I like to eat em, haha. Limit is 25 pounds a day.

[ZOKU]

Quote:

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I like to eat em, haha.

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*nod* Forget the bait... that's the po' man's lobster we're talking about!