Does anyone think it’s weird that bass eat crawfish?

[Ohioguy25]

I understand why they do, it’s like a little lobster to them. It’s just strange how different they are as organisms, yet they work in perfect harmony.  Crawfish are also very strange to begin with, and seem out of place in freshwater even though they are everywhere.  I am fascinated by it, which is why I catch and use them as bait in the small river I fish in. There is something primally satisfying about catching live crawdads and having the top game fish eat them whole.

 

I caught one today that was soft and slimy, I’m pretty sure it was a soft craw.  Does this mean it just molted?  Why are soft craws so much better bait than hardshell? Is it because they are easier to eat/digest and defenseless? How are they able to catch crayfish if they almost never expose themselves outside of mating season?

 

I threw it out and immediately my pole bent 90 degrees, had a great fight with a solid 2 pounder which is extremely large for the tiny river I fish. Awesome experience, I was reminded of why I go through the trouble of catching and using live bait. Anyone else have any stories of using live crawfish as bait? 

[soflabasser]

A bass will eat almost anything that can fit in its mouth. I have caught bass on bread, hotdogs, cutbait, and on a bare hook. Compared to this a bass eating a crayfish or any other animal is normal.

[WRB]

Abundant high protein food source bass have eaten for eons.

Tom

[Hammer 4]

Years ago, I was fishing a city park pond, the park had ducks, geese and the usual animals. Anyway, there's a Mom duck swimming with 4 little ducklings in tow. Out of now where there was a big swirl in the water, I just caught the very last of the little duck being pulled under water by a fairly good sized bass.

 

Needless to say, Mom got her little ones out of the water. As I fished this pond pretty often, I seldom saw any baby ducks swimming after that. So yeah, bass will eat most anything that looks good to them. 

[Big Hands]

1 hour ago, Hammer 4 said:

Years ago, I was fishing a city park pond, the park had ducks, geese and the usual animals. Anyway, there's a Mom duck swimming with 4 little ducklings in tow. Out of now where there was a big swirl in the water, I just caught the very last of the little duck being pulled under water by a fairly good sized bass.

 

Needless to say, Mom got her little ones out of the water. As I fished this pond pretty often, I seldom saw any baby ducks swimming after that. So yeah, bass will eat most anything that looks good to them. 

I knew a guy that swore they used to fish for bass with baby chickens.

[NHBull]

I think it would be weird if they didn’t ?

[Catt]

Does anyone think it’s weird that bass eat crawfish?

You asking a Cajun that!

 

10 hours ago, Ohioguy25 said:

 

I caught one today that was soft and slimy, I’m pretty sure it was a soft craw.  Does this mean it just molted?  Why are soft craws so much better bait than hardshell? Is it because they are easier to eat/digest and defenseless? 

 

Yes sir it had just molted & are easily digested.

[Spankey]

You keep doing what you are doing. It’s work for you. I really think you’d be pleasantly surprised by using some artificial craws but maybe in time. 
 

You are becoming one of the resident in house crawfish experts. 
 

I use both hard and soft plastic crawfish imitations. I could shoot you a few pics or post some if that helps but you know about them I’m sure. 
 

The day you catch a 15”-20” river smallie on something as simple as Rebel Wee Craw you’ll be hooked for life. 

[Ohioguy25]

6 hours ago, Hammer 4 said:

Years ago, I was fishing a city park pond, the park had ducks, geese and the usual animals. Anyway, there's a Mom duck swimming with 4 little ducklings in tow. Out of now where there was a big swirl in the water, I just caught the very last of the little duck being pulled under water by a fairly good sized bass.

 

Needless to say, Mom got her little ones out of the water. As I fished this pond pretty often, I seldom saw any baby ducks swimming after that. So yeah, bass will eat most anything that looks good to them. 

Yeah there are lots of YouTube videos of that happening, pretty wild 

7 hours ago, soflabasser said:

A bass will eat almost anything that can fit in its mouth. I have caught bass on bread, hotdogs, cutbait, and on a bare hook. Compared to this a bass eating a crayfish or any other animal is normal.

I know that’s true for largemouth, but what about smallmouth?

[galyonj]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

Does anyone think it’s weird that bass eat crawfish?

You asking a Cajun that!

I ain't Cajun but I will attest to the fact that crawdads are delicious.

1 hour ago, Ohioguy25 said:

I know that’s true for largemouth, but what about smallmouth?

Like half the fish I caught this weekend were puking up crawdad meat. Smallmouth, rock bass, spots…basically any fish that can fit one in its mouth will eat it.

[gim]

1 hour ago, Ohioguy25 said:

I know that’s true for largemouth, but what about smallmouth?

The primary food source for the smallmouth bass that reside in the inland lakes and rivers here is crayfish.  They will obviously eat other types of food too but a study was once done years ago revealing stomach contents and over 80% was crayfish.  In the Great Lakes, I assume they eat a lot of gobies, which are not present in the inland lakes/rivers here in Minnesota.

[DitchPanda]

Bass eat birds, turtles, snakes and other land animals when they make a mistake. So to me them eating anything that lives in the water seems completely normal.

[moguy1973]

I DO find it weird humans eat crawdads, but they sure are tasty little critters.  So in that regard I can see why bass eat them also.

[Big Hands]

Come to think of it I have seen a fish come out of the water to take a swipe at a low flying bird.

 

If you have fished long enough, you've probably seen bass hit a lure at the instant it hits the water. My interpretation is that they saw something coming as it was so instant that they couldn't have reacted that fast.

 

I have had them jump to eat a plastic worm that was dangling from a bush 6" above the water.

 

I saw a photo years ago of a bass that was caught, and when the angler went to grab the lip of the bass, he discovered a baby copperhead inside of the bass' mouth.

 

I saw a deckhand load up a 10 hook gagnion with pickle chips from the galley, and then fill it with bluefish in a very short time.

 

I was part of a group that emptied a veggie platter piece by piece over the stern of the Queen Mary just to watch 5 to 8 lb calico and sand bass chow down on clumps of broccoli and cauliflower.

 

I saw people at Lake Mead Marina buy bags of popcorn the size of a king size pillow and then empty them into the water to watch giant carp and stripers form a giant meatball going crazy devouring popcorn.

 

I knew a guy that had a 10" largemouth in an aquarium. I saw him drop chunks of sand bass meat in and the bass inhaled as many chunks as he could to the point that he couldn't close his mouth and had a chunk only half way in. Then he went and stuck his face into a corner of the tank to keep the other fish from possibly stealing the meat hanging from his mouth.

 

That stuff is a little weird.

 

Most fish in general are opportunistic predators, and bass are no exception. Some are even omnivores. Bass eating crawdads seems totally normal.

[Ohioguy25]

5 minutes ago, Big Hands said:

Come to think of it I have seen a fish come out of the water to take a swipe at a low flying bird.

 

If you have fished long enough, you've probably seen bass hit a lure at the instant it hits the water. My interpretation is that they saw something coming as it was so instant that they couldn't have reacted that fast.

 

I have had them jump to eat a plastic worm that was dangling from a bush 6" above the water.

 

I saw a photo years ago of a bass that was caught, and when the angler went to grab the lip of the bass, he discovered a baby copperhead inside of the bass' mouth.

 

I saw a deckhand load up a 10 hook gagnion with pickle chips from the galley, and then fill it with bluefish in a very short time.

 

I was part of a group that emptied a veggie platter piece by piece over the stern of the Queen Mary just to watch 5 to 8 lb calico and sand bass chow down on clumps of broccoli and cauliflower.

 

I saw people at Lake Mead Marina buy bags of popcorn the size of a king size pillow and then empty them into the water to watch giant carp and stripers form a giant meatball going crazy devouring popcorn.

 

I knew a guy that had a 10" largemouth in an aquarium. I saw him drop chunks of sand bass meat in and the bass inhaled as many chunks as he could to the point that he couldn't close his mouth and had a chunk only half way in. Then he went and stuck his face into a corner of the tank to keep the other fish from possibly stealing the meat hanging from his mouth.

 

That stuff is a little weird.

 

Most fish in general are opportunistic predators, and bass are no exception. Some are even omnivores. Bass eating crawdads seems totally normal.

Wow that’s crazy. Why are they so voracious?

3 hours ago, gimruis said:

The primary food source for the smallmouth bass that reside in the inland lakes and rivers here is crayfish.  They will obviously eat other types of food too but a study was once done years ago revealing stomach contents and over 80% was crayfish.  In the Great Lakes, I assume they eat a lot of gobies, which are not present in the inland lakes/rivers here in Minnesota.

How are they able to catch crayfish if they almost never expose themselves outside of mating season?

[Big Hands]

They are hardwired that way. The gettin is not always good, so when the gettin is good, they have to get to gettin!

[crypt]

I'm not surprised.......I like em....

 

[DaubsNU1]

Evolution / natural selection. LMBass have survived and thrived through the years because they can and DO eat pretty much anything they can get their mouth on.

 

Sometimes we think too hard about WHY something happens vs. just appreciating THAT it happens, and using that to our advantage.

 

Two weeks ago I couldn't keep bass off my line (1/4 oz lead-heat, white 3" twister tail). 

This Saturday caught just a few bass on that rig, but hammered the crappie

Sunday couldn't catch either bass or crappie on that same rig...

 

It is what it is...

[Bruce424]

i think bass are at a buffet. a lil of this a lil of that.they eat whatever they can get their mouths on. ive seen snakes, mice, perch, craws, shad, bluegill, you name it in their mouths.

[Ohioguy25]

1 hour ago, Bruce424 said:

i think bass are at a buffet. a lil of this a lil of that.they eat whatever they can get their mouths on. ive seen snakes, mice, perch, craws, shad, bluegill, you name it in their mouths.

How come whenever I look in a smallmouth’s mouth I can’t see anything? The worm or crawdad is always gone. Do they swallow it whole?

[J Francho]

Bass usually have manners.  They chew with their mouth closed.

[bigbassin']

7 hours ago, Big Hands said:

 

If you have fished long enough, you've probably seen bass hit a lure at the instant it hits the water. My interpretation is that they saw something coming as it was so instant that they couldn't have reacted that fast.

 

 

We wound up in the middle of a feeding frenzy one day while fishing live shiners that lasted about 20 minutes.

 

We’d toss the bait into the school and have a fish on before the bobber hit the water.

[Columbia Craw]

Absolutely. Totally weird.

[Shimano_1]

Blew my mind back in the spring and early summer. Every bass I put in my livewell in tournaments puked up tons of crawfish parts and a couple times whole crawfish.  Yet we fished jigs in every shape and size imaginable with every craw trailer with little success.  Slayed em on jerkbaits tho. Best we could figure maybe they were chowing on them at night and went looking for shad or other baitfish during daylight.  Ive had em do this before but never the amount and every lake we fish like this year.  One things for sure, they were definitely eating the heck outta some craws.

[cheezyridr]

i know you guys love to hate on googan squad, but peric caught a 4lb smallie by drop shotting lettuce.  

 

 

i caught a 3 lb largemouth once on a spinnerbait,  with a balsa bee on one side of his lip, and a huge sunfish tail sticking out of his throat. i had that  lure for a couple years before i lost it to a snag.