Crayfish (as bait)

Smallmouth bass and crayfish share the same rocks, and anglers have long counted craws as the fish's favorite meal - so a live one, hooked through the tail and crawled over the rocks it came from, is as close as bait fishing gets to a sure thing on rivers. The modern caveat is serious though: moving crayfish between waters has spread invasive species catastrophically, and many places ban it. The craw you use must come from the water you fish - or stay home.

What it catches

Smallmouth above all, largemouth around rock, channel and flathead cats (a peeled tail is catfish candy), big trout, walleye occasionally.

Getting & keeping it

Catch them WHERE YOU FISH (flip rocks, dip net at night - check legality of harvest too) - transporting crayfish between waters is banned in many jurisdictions for hard-learned invasive reasons - the National Park Service calls rusty crayfish, popular as bait among anglers, an aggressive invasive species that can displace native crayfish and destroy aquatic plant beds. Keep damp and cool in a ventilated container - not submerged in a sealed bucket (they drown in dead water).

How to rig it

Through the tail (second segment from the fan, point up) so it crawls naturally backward when pulled; light jighead or split-shot; softshell (freshly molted) ones are premium - fish inhale them.

When it shines

Summer smallmouth rivers, dawn and dusk on rocky lake points, and pre-spawn bass working craw flats; peeled tails for catfish anytime.

Field tips

Fish it ON bottom with slow drags and hops - swimming craws mid-column read wrong; pinch off big pincers of jumbo craws (fish grab the tail anyway, and a pinch-free bait can't hold rocks); softshells are the premium bait.

Mistakes with this bait

Importing bait craws to new water (ecological vandalism + tickets), fishing them under floats mid-depth, and hooks through the carapace that kill them in minutes.