A crayfish hides below some wooden debris in a small feeder creek. In spring and summer, these crustaceans are targeted by species such as bass and walleyes. Simonson Photo.
By Nick Simonson
The ups and downs of spring will eventually give way to solid weather and good fishing, as species of all stripes and scales home in on their favorite prey items and recover from their respective spawns. Even in the meantime, they’ll pick up whatever’s available for food, and one such item on the crustacean side of the menu is often a draw as spring waters warm and crayfish begin to move about in their rocky regions where species like rock bass, smallmouth bass, and walleyes snatch them up. So, while you stave off the last of the cabin crazies as the weather straightens out, consider plans for targeting those fish that eat crayfish this spring and summer.
As a youngster, I can recall angling the gin clear waters of opening day at the cabin in front of the small creek that drained into the lake. While the bright conditions and crystalline water weren’t conducive to catching walleyes, I did observe a number of crayfish scuttling along the sandy bottom, leaving slight brown trails in the substrate coated with a dusting of spring darkness from dirt and detritus the flow deposited at the end of its delta. In summer, I’d spend many days flipping rocks at the little dam in my hometown to net crayfish of various sizes, from inch-long specimens to the big-pincered four-inchers that reminded me of freshwater lobsters. As I became a more serious angler, both instances stuck out in my mind.
Any hungry fish will take down a crayfish if the opportunity is right, and especially for bass, there’s a market of baits designed to imitate what is a preferred food source. From crankbaits in ultrarealistic patterns with segmented tails and bright orange eyes as part of the paint job, to soft plastic creature baits with claws, shellbacks and legs there are many ways to imitate a crayfish. Even on those lakes where walleyes target the abundant crustaceans, anglers have go-to summer lures and harness patterns – such as dual butterfly blade spinners tied up in tandem along with orange, brown, purple and olive beads to imitate the easy meal in those rocky and gravelly stretches. Find those places where crayfish live, and odds are you’ll find the predator game fish you’re looking for too.
In addition to imitation baits, crayfish are generally useable as live bait in most jurisdictions including North Dakota and Minnesota, however they often aren’t for sale at commercial bait vendors as a practice due to difficulty or as regulation to prevent the spread of nuisance species. However, as a general rule, any crayfish caught from and then used in the same water are considered legal bait, but anglers should be wary of those introduced species, such as rusty crayfish, and not transport them to other fishing locations in their chosen bait buckets accidentally. When in doubt about where you’re fishing, be it a whole state or an individual lake, check the regulations pertaining to live bait in the most recent regulations.
Typically, live crayfish can be hooked through the top of the carapace (the big back segment of shell) and cast out, fished slowly along the bottom on a weighted rig. As a dead bait, many anglers simply pull the tail section out, thread it on a hook, and utilize that prime piece of meat for large rock bass, smallies, walleyes and other species with great success, as the meat is an easy grab without all that shell and those annoying raised claws and escape tactics getting in the way.
While certainly a niche food item for species like walleyes and panfish, the crayfish is a headlining piece of prey for smallmouth, largemouth and rock bass that they will readily key in on once the crustaceans become active as spring waters warm. Have a stash of soft plastics, crank baits, and if the opportunity allows for it, a few live options available when angling for these species this season.
Simonson is the lead writer and editor of Dakota Edge Outdoors.