Live crawdads, to use as bait. Large or small?

[dsw1204]

I found a pond that looks very promising to fish. It looks pristine and there’s tons of cattails.  There’s just not a lot of access.  However, I have fished it a few times without even a bite, not even once.

 

There are, however, tons of crawdads.   And I mean lots, and lots of them.  I can’t walk 10 feet without almost stepping on skeletons of them. And, they are quite large!  At least, I think they are large. They are about the size of my hand and I wear an extra large glove.  When I say they are the size of my hand, that’s NOT including the pinchers.  And, they are almost as wide as my hand.
 

I have never fished with live crawdads. I have seen videos on how to hook them up, but I’ve never done it myself. My concern is, are these crawdads too large?  They are a dark red/purpleish color, just to let you know.

 

I can easily catch them. But, should I be looking for a smaller crawdads? What do you guys think?

 

 

[A-Jay]

First I would encourage you to read up on your states regs regarding live bait 

https://ohiodnr.gov/static/documents/wildlife/laws-regs-licenses/OhioFishingRegs_English.pdf

Next those sound like some mutant large crayfish.

As a kid up in New England, I used a minnow trap with almost any type of dead panfish in it to catch crayfish for bait.  They were definitely smaller than you described and we would free line them on a #4 bait holder hook.  Using med spinning gear, Hook them through the tail cast them out to a likely area with the bail open, and just wait for the line to start running.  It was fun and we caught some nice smallmouth bass doing it. 

A-Jay

 

[Hammer 4]

I agree on using the smaller crawdads. A good size would around 4" long, bass really don't like the big ole pinchers on the large craws.

[dsw1204]

I am fine with the fishing regulations with live bait, just can’t have more than a hundred of them.  A friend of mine said they may have been transplanted from Louisiana, because of their color.  That doesn’t matter. I just know that there are lots of them and that they are pretty darn large.  I’ve seen YouTube videos of anglers fishing with crawdads. And their crawdads were considerably smaller than the ones that I am talking about.

 

I just think they may be too big for bass to eat. Am I wrong? I hope so, I would like to start fishing with them. But, I also don’t want to waste my time if they are too big.

7 minutes ago, Hammer 4 said:

I agree on using the smaller crawdads. A good size would around 4" long, bass really don't like the big ole pinchers on the large craws.

If I do use them, would pulling off their pinchers improve my chances of catching bass?  Or, is that just cruel to do?

[Hammer 4]

No need to pull the pinchers off the small craws.

[Dan N]

A crawfish as wide as your hand???

that seems crazy to me. But maybe just none like that around here. I used to catch some bass on small ones years ago. Had to be from same waters as fishing in.

I think I might just boil up the crawfish! ?

[Big Rick]

Freshwater LOBSTER?? A crawfish as wide as your hand is......impossible? I've grown up in Louisiana and have caught some monster crawfish, but your description outdoes any crawfish I've ever seen. 

 

Gotta have some pictures!  Take a scoop net and harvest a couple. 

[Deleted account]

1 hour ago, Hammer 4 said:

I agree on using the smaller crawdads. A good size would around 4" long, bass really don't like the big ole pinchers on the large craws.

You take the pincers off if they are really large, we do this with crabs as well...

 

[dsw1204]

I took a picture but the file size is too big and I cannot download it to show you guys. I will have to go out and get some more and take pics that are smaller file sizes.

 

I may have been exaggerating about how wide the crawdad was, but it was very wide. Maybe it was half as wide as my hand. Maybe.  But, I was not exaggerating about the length of the crawdad.  I’ll try and see if I can find some tomorrow.

[WRB]

Buy and read a Bill Murphy’s In Pursuit if Gaint Bass, it’s worth it.

You probably have Raccoons eating the large crawdads you see on the bank.  

The ideal fishing size is similar to soft plastic craws you see being sold everywhere, about the size of your thumb.

Try using a 5” Senko fished weightless wacky rigged.

Several colors will work, #330 is a standard for me.

Useca size 1 weedless wacky hook of your choice, I use Owner Jungle Weedless Wacky hooks.

Tom

[BigAngus752]

Don't overthink it.  I posted a pic in the "photo a day" thread that you can look at.  I fish a small lake that has rip rap littered with huge craw carcasses because the raccoons gorge themselves just as @WRB said.  A couple weeks ago I caught the fish in that pic.  I saw that the craw was dark brown this time of year and I tied on a 1/2 oz @Siebert Outdoors G2 jig that has a lot of brown in it and I've been hammering them ever since.  It won't work forever but it's lights out right now.   

 

[txchaser]

2 hours ago, dsw1204 said:

I just think they may be too big for bass to eat.

If they can fit in in their mouth, and they are hungry, they'll try. Somewhere there's a video I saw of a bass inhaling a turtle that just barely fit. No way he could swallow it, so spit it right back out. 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Big Rick said:

Gotta have some pictures!  

+1

[GreenPig]

I'd fish the 2 - 4" crawfish and I'd eat the bigger ones.

[Dan N]

I always have problems posting pics. Something wierd that says every photo is too big. Not sure why a photo from a phone won’t work. 

Would like to see a photo of these giant crawfish 

[MN Fisher]

5 minutes ago, Dan N said:

I always have problems posting pics. Something wierd that says every photo is too big. Not sure why a photo from a phone won’t work. 

Would like to see a photo of these giant crawfish 

Photos are limited to 1.46mb total per post...if you post 2 photos, that's 730kb each.

 

My phone takes photos at 3000x4000 pixels - which depending on other factors can range from 2mb to almost 5mb...so I gotta shrink them.  On my Galaxy, I go into Gallery, pull up the photo, click on Edit, then Resize...usually I shrink them to 1200x1600 or even 900x1200 to get the file size small enough.

[JbroBass]

Just open your photo, use the snipping tool to copy it, and then paste it into the posting window. 

[dsw1204]

Here’s a pic of one of the crawdads.  It is the only one I have, currently.   I will try to get some better pics later.

[Drawdown]

On iPhone, once you select the pic, tap where is says “actual size” and pick “medium.” Then it should work.

[Bluebasser86]

I fished live craws a lot as a kid and the little 2-3 inch craws were always the most effective. 

[garroyo130]

 

[dsw1204]

Didn’t find any live crawdads, today. But, I did see a very decayed and very large portion of a skeleton of a crawdad.

 

I dropped my keys next to it to show scale.
 

There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of the skeletons all around. I also did see lots and lots of raccoon tracks in the mud. They are the ones that must be causing all of those skeletons.

[Captain Phil]

Years ago (maybe 50 or so), you could buy live crawdads in the bait store.  I remember when a friend's Dad caught a ten pound bass on one. I haven't seen live crawdads for sale since.  Around here, live bait fishermen use shiners.  I agree the raccoons are what's eating your crawdads. I have seen Florida crayfish that are 12 inches long counting the pincers. I wouldn't use one for bait over 4 inches myself.  If you did, you may wait a long time before you get a bite.