How do bass manage to make crawfish 80% of their diet, how do they catch them? I thought they are always hiding outside of spawning season

[Ohioguy25]

Another part of why I find bass forage fascinating is that crawfish are very timid and spend most of their lives hiding under rocks and in holes from predators, as literally everything in their ecosystem eats them. Outside of spawning, when they come out on rocks to find a mate and bass gourge, when is any sizable number of them exposed to be preyed upon?

[roadwarrior]

The primary forage on the Tennessee River is threadfin shad (yellowtail).  On the White River in

Arkansas river minnows, sculpin, threadfin, baby anything and bugs comprise the majority of the

food base. On both rivers worms come into play after a heavy rain.

 

Crawdads are a treat.

 

 

 

[Ohioguy25]

44 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

The primary forage on the Tennessee River is threadfin shad (yellowtail).  On the White River in

Arkansas river minnows, sculpin, threadfin, baby anything and bugs comprise the majority of the

food base. On both rivers worms come into play after a heavy rain.

 

Crawdads are a treat.

 

 

 

Interesting, I wonder why they say crawfish are 80% of their food source. Do you think that applies to most states?

[BigAngus752]

You have to take into account a millions years of predator instinct and hereditary learning.  The bass know where and when to sit and wait for the potential feeding crawfish.  There is a small lake nearby that is in the middle of a forest preserve.  My wife and I have both found carcasses of the largest crawfish we have seen in our lives on the dam rip rap in that lake while shore fishing.  Why?  Because raccoons come in the night, wade into the lake, and dig up huge rocks to unearth these giant crawfish.  They carry them to shore and eat the best parts. 

 

Now just sit back and think about that for a second.  This is a land mammal that has either learned through imitation or knows through hereditary learning that if it wades in a lake at a certain place at a certain time and does a specific, difficult thing it will be rewarded with crawdads.  In the waters around here the bass are usually the apex predator.  I can promise you they are better at finding craws than a raccoon.  

[scaleface]

As a kid I spent many , many hours on the Mississippi fishing from rip rap banks . When a barge would go by the waves crashing on the rocks would dislodge and stun  crawfish then  bass plus other species would try to nab an easy snack . I would be  catfishing but kept a rod with a jig handy for those occasions .

[Bird]

I was absolutely amazed at how opportunistic bass really are and how un-shy they can be when recently wade fishing in the river.

 

As i was shuffling my feet to keep traction had several SM all around my feet gouging themselves on craws paying no attention to me......fun to watch. 

[jimmyjoe]

   Whenever someone tells you "80% of this" or "62% of that" or "40% of the time", be verrrrrry careful. Some of that is crap that is made up on the spur of the moment, and some is psuedo-factual stuff from very earnest people who don't really know what they're talking about and don't realize it.

   So .... some facts are facts, and some facts aren't.

 

   That doesn't mean that when I die I want to come back as a crawdad!   ??     jj

[DitchPanda]

I've caught bass on a spinner bait...a few days later same fish on a green pumpkin swim jig...second time it had antennae in its throat. Which means in 3 days this bass fed on bluegill, shad and Crawdads. I'm not sure if the diet is 8% or 80% craws but I will say most bass are 100% opportunistic. My 4 biggest bass of the year...3 6s and 1 pushing 7 came on a spinner bait, chatterbait, jig and lipless. Those numbers alone show that the top end fish in my area eat shad,gills and craws. Alot of guys agree that a jig is one of the best big fish baits...many say its because they represent crawfish although they usually look just as much like a gill...but I think its more about the big profile representing a large easy meal.

[WRB]

Smallmouth bass are more selective feeders then Largemouth that are more opportunistic feeders. 

The old saying 80% of the "bass" diet may have come from Smallmouth bass anglers.

Like all bass prey it helps to know their habits so read up on Crayfish.

Crawdads don't spawn for starters and are more active during the night then day light periods. When you catch a bass feel it's stomach for hard lumps and smell it, crawdads have a strong crab ordor. Anyone who uses a livewell knows when bass are eating crawdads, the bass up chucks craw parts when stressed in the livewell.

Just because you don't see crawdads doesn't indicate they are there!

Tom

[Catt]

Don't know who came up with 80% but I highly doubt it!

 

I would say 80% is fish of some kind ?

[Ohioguy25]

23 minutes ago, Catt said:

Don't know who came up with 80% but I highly doubt it!

 

I would say 80% is fish of some kind ?

Based on my experience using minnows, I would agree. But why do most sources say otherwise?

[Team9nine]

28 minutes ago, Ohioguy25 said:

Based on my experience using minnows, I would agree. But why do most sources say otherwise?

Because in a lot of bodies of water, crayfish are the most consumed by far. It really depends on the environmental conditions. If you look at the Great Lakes, gobies have become the overwhelming favorite. Same with some alewife fisheries. But there are a lot of rivers and small natural lakes that don't have great prey diversity, or the invasive intruder is rusty crayfish, and in those places, crayfish are a large component of the smallmouth diet.

[Bird]

Maybe it's 80% of crawdads that come out of hiding get eaten up by bass.?

[Catt]

57 minutes ago, Ohioguy25 said:

Based on my experience using minnows, I would agree. But why do most sources say otherwise?

 

29 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Because in a lot of bodies of water, crayfish are the most consumed by far

 

Crawfish because of its high protein are the most preferred not necessarily the most abundant. 

 

3 minutes ago, Bird said:

Maybe it's 80% of crawdads that come out of hiding get eaten up by bass.?

 

That would be Cajuns not bass ?

[Ohioguy25]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

 

 

Crawfish because of its high protein are the most preferred not necessarily the most abundant. 

 

 

That would be Cajuns not bass ?

I thought crawfish were relatively low protein?

[BigAngus752]

3 hours ago, jimmyjoe said:

   Whenever someone tells you "80% of this" or "62% of that" or "40% of the time", be verrrrrry careful. Some of that is crap that is made up on the spur of the moment, and some is psuedo-factual stuff from very earnest people who don't really know what they're talking about and don't realize it.

   So .... some facts are facts, and some facts aren't.

 

   That doesn't mean that when I die I want to come back as a crawdad!   ??     jj

"Sixty percent of the time it works every time".  Brian Fantana

[gim]

5 hours ago, WRB said:

The old saying 80% of the "bass" diet may have come from Smallmouth bass anglers.

In the Great Lakes I think the primary forage for brown bass are gobies.

 

However, in many inland lakes and rivers that have smallmouth bass here in Minnesota, the primary food are indeed crayfish. They have done stomach content studies on smallmouth in Mille Lacs here and they confirmed that up to 80% of the food they ate was crayfish.

 

So while that saying may not be accurate everywhere, it is accurate here. Confirmed by science.

[WRB]

The 80% crawdad diet dates back into the 50's as I recall. Gobies invaded the Great Lakes in the early to mid 90's or 40 years later.

Threadfin Shad are now a main forage but didn't arrive out west until the late 50's. 

Tom

[Vilas15]

2 hours ago, Ohioguy25 said:

I thought crawfish were relatively low protein?

Same. Theyve got to be a lot of energy to digest with the shells compared to a minnow or small perch. Ive also heard the invasive rusty crayfish are bigger with harder shells thus more difficult to eat for smallies which only helps them proliferate. I hate those d**n things, ruined the cabbage weed beds in every northern lake so we mostly have milfoil.

[Ohioguy25]

43 minutes ago, Vilas15 said:

Same. Theyve got to be a lot of energy to digest with the shells compared to a minnow or small perch. Ive also heard the invasive rusty crayfish are bigger with harder shells thus more difficult to eat for smallies which only helps them proliferate. I hate those d**n things, ruined the cabbage weed beds in every northern lake so we mostly have milfoil.

The only logical explanation for them being so desirable to smallmouth over minnows (if true) is that the meat is tastier. Sort of like preferring a lobster to a generic piece of tilapia.

[Team9nine]

There are studies out there suggesting bass in some cases appear to preferentially target rustys.

 

Here’s a good piece on the value of crayfish to bass:

 

Crayfish and bass

[Catt]

3 hours ago, Ohioguy25 said:

I thought crawfish were relatively low protein?

 

Nope extremely high in protein ?

 

I don't know any body of water that has enough crawfish to supply 80% of a bass's diet, not even in Louisiana. 

 

Y'all need to understand the are 350 different species of crawfish in America alone. 

[DitchPanda]

3 hours ago, BigAngus752 said:

"Sixty percent of the time it works every time".  Brian Fantana

I always thought the smell in BANG attractant was crawfish...didn't know it was Sex Panther

[Cdn Angler]

9 hours ago, Ohioguy25 said:

Another part of why I find bass forage fascinating is that crawfish are very timid and spend most of their lives hiding under rocks and in holes from predators, as literally everything in their ecosystem eats them. Outside of spawning, when they come out on rocks to find a mate and bass gourge, when is any sizable number of them exposed to be preyed upon?

 

I, slow witted and slow of foot, have as recent as one month ago, caught a crayfish with my ball cap and another with my bare hands. In most clear water lakes around here, especially those with big bass, you can find crayfish in shallow just standing there. When you go to grab them they just scoot back into my fat. They aren't geniuses.  

[TnRiver46]

8 hours ago, jimmyjoe said:

   Whenever someone tells you "80% of this" or "62% of that" or "40% of the time", be verrrrrry careful. Some of that is crap that is made up on the spur of the moment, and some is psuedo-factual stuff from very earnest people who don't really know what they're talking about and don't realize it.

   So .... some facts are facts, and some facts aren't.

 

   That doesn't mean that when I die I want to come back as a crawdad!   ??     jj

 

7 hours ago, Catt said:

Don't know who came up with 80% but I highly doubt it!

 

I would say 80% is fish of some kind ?

I also don’t believe 80% of their diet is crawdads. People can claim anything they want, I wouldn’t get hung up on that piece of info.