Do crawfish live in the local lake?

[fish slayer 1]

I am always fishing at the local pond, and I was always thinking well, are there crawfish that live in this lake. i have never tried to use a crawfish imitating lure because I think that if there are no crawfish, they won't eat 'em. 

 

Thanks,

Fish Slayer 1

[roadwarrior]

I doubt there are any spinnerbaits living in your pond either.

[MN Fisher]

2 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

I doubt there are any spinnerbaits living in your pond either.

That's just mean, Kent.

 

56 minutes ago, fish slayer 1 said:

I am always fishing at the local pond, and I was always thinking well, are there crawfish that live in this lake. i have never tried to use a crawfish imitating lure because I think that if there are no crawfish, they won't eat 'em. 

If it looks like prey, they'll eat it - even if no real ones exist.

 

Easiest way to find out if there are crayfish in that lake? Contact your DNR (or what ever your state calls them) or a local university's biology department.

[Sphynx]

When you say lake, what size are we talking about? Most good sized lakes I have ever fished have crawfish in them, and even if I don't see them, the bass are usually pretty quick to hammer a jig. As a general rule, if a bass can reasonably attack/eat it, it will try, I've heard it said that if bass were the size of sharks, we wouldn't be safe to swim anywhere. 

[Captain Phil]

When I was a teenager living in Miami I was sitting with a friend on the side of a canal bank with our feet dangling in the water.  As we looked in the water, we saw a huge crayfish close to our feet.  It was about a foot in length counting the long arms with pincers on the end.  It scared us so bad we ran away.  Once we gained our nerve, we went back and my friend caught it in a bucket.  Up until that time I never thought about crayfish in a lake.  We took it home and my friend's dad cooked it and ate it.  He said it was good.  Back then you could buy live crayfish for bait just like shiners. A buddy's father caught a 10 pound bass on one. I haven't seen them in a bait store in years.  One of the best big bass baits I have ever used was a Gambler Craw.  My 11 1/2 PB bass was caught on this bait.

 

 

[WRB]

It is hard to find waterway where bass live without a Crayfish population, they are everywhere.

Tom

 

[Catt]

There are more than 500 species of crawfish found throughout the world, and more than 350 of those live in the United States.

Crawfish live on every continent in the world except for Antarctica.

 

[DINK WHISPERER]

I've never physically seen them in my waters but I know they're there. I've caught bass with pinchers hanging from there rear as they pass them out. 

Doesn't really matter as far as using craw style baits or any bait for that matter. I've used shiner swimbaits where there's only bluegill as bait and even trout pattern baits here in FL and they work if the fish are eating.  

[The Bassman]

Around here mud chimneys are everywhere right now if there's water close by. Makes one realize that indeed crawdads are amongst us. Would make a good B movie.

[Junk Fisherman]

I helped unroll a debris collector a number of years ago on this small inland lake in Michigan.  It was tight net material that cottage-owners would put on their lakefront beach about 10' or so out into the water so they could retrieve it at the start of the summer and they wouldn't have leaves all over their nice sandy beach.  I was absolutely amazed at how many crawfish was in the roll.  They were everywhere.  This was a relatively shallow, weedy lake and I had never seen a crawfish in the lake before.  Interesting note- all the small bass and bluegill that were in the roll were dead but the couple catfish were still alive and we could release them.

 

So to answer you question, I would be very surprised if there are no crawfish in your lake.  I would bet there are a lot more than you realize.  

[TnRiver46]

There are crawfish in there! If you want to see them in person, go down there after dark and put some little pieces of chicken in the water somewhere there Is cover and shine a light into the water. I learned that trick while camping and washing dishes with a headlamp on 

[hunterPRO1]

There's 30-40 holes from crawfish burrowing in my yard in the morning if it rains a lot.

 

I'd say it's safe to say they probably do.

[ironbjorn]

Bass will always eat crawfish. I've never seen a wiggly cigar natural food source in water, but a stick bait seems to catch bass. Crawfish can be found in roadside ditches, so I highly doubt your pond doesn't have any.

[gim]

The primary forage for smallmouth bass here in the lakes and rivers that have a reproducing population is crayfish.  They will obviously eat other things, but stomach content studies have been done indicating that up to 80% of their diet can consist of crayfish.  Quite often, when I catch smallmouth during certain parts of the season, they are literally spitting up bits of them.

[the reel ess]

I fished Lake Wateree, SC for 30+ years thinking there were no crawfish in it. I never fished craw plastics or jigs because I didn't think they would be effective. One day I caught a small bass trying to "pass" a crawfish claw. I took pity on him and helped the poor fellow out. But since, I've come to believe crawfish are in almost all freshwater. If they aren't the fish don't seem to care.

 

You also don't see 6-8" worms swimming around in freshwater. It's probably caught more bass than any other lure in history.

 

[Catt]

Do this little test ?

 

Get you a 1/2 dozen live crawfish, rig em up, & chunk em out there. 

 

If there's no crawfish the bass should ignore em right?

[ThatFishingGuy]

There was this neighborhood pond that I swore didn't have anything like crawfish in it. Just a big basin with no structure, some bluegills and bass. One day it was very low, and there's a rock pile that forms an arc around a large pipe the connects to the pond. I was walking along the rocks when I noticed two thin lines sticking out from underneath a rock - I lifted the rock, and lo and behold a craw with super long, thin antennae swam away. The more I looked, the more little brown crayfish with long, thin antennae I saw.

 

Moral of the story: never assume what's living in a body of water. I guarantee you, you could find some craws somewhere on that body of water, and there are some bass munching on them.