Fall Crawfish Spawn

[LrgmouthShad]

Hey y’all,

 

Yet another fall post from me in summertime. Yeah so I’m not totally sold on my own idea to only toss buzzbaits for the entirety of fall. I might still do it, purely to see what happens, but I hate missing opportunities and that’s kinda what it feels like I’d be doing. Maybe not. Maybe I’d up my odds at a lunker or two. Anyway, I digress.

 

I done heard from some place somewhere that crawfish spawn in the fall? Who pays attention to this and throws jigs and other crawfish imitators in the fall?

[Nelson Delaney]

If I’m not standing on ice there’s a jig tied on one of the rods.  
 

 

[Team9nine]

21 minutes ago, Nelson Delaney said:

If I’m not standing on ice there’s a jig tied on one of the rods.  

Pretty much this ^^
 

Crayfish are in the water and available year round, so they are potential prey at anytime. When they mate doesn’t change a thing in my book. If anything, they may be less available or targeted then as numerous diet studies show baitfish like shad (when they are available in a body of water) tend to make up the majority of a basses diet that time of year. 

[Cbump]

Luke clausen finesse jig in Alabama craw in the fall. 

[Catt]

24/7/365 ?

[bowhunter63]

6 hours ago, Catt said:

24/7/365 ?

X2

[river-rat]

 

I'm kind of like Tommy Biffle - he stated that when bass quit eating crawfish, he would stop throwing a jig. It's been my experience that crawfish imitators, whether it be jigs, plastics, or crankbaits, will produce year round.

[GoneFishingLTN]

On 7/10/2023 at 9:32 PM, Team9nine said:

Pretty much this ^^
 

Crayfish are in the water and available year round, so they are potential prey at anytime. When they mate doesn’t change a thing in my book. If anything, they may be less available or targeted then as numerous diet studies show baitfish like shad (when they are available in a body of water) tend to make up the majority of a basses diet that time of year. 

Don't they sorta hide out in the summer though making other pray the Main forage 

[Team9nine]

3 hours ago, GoneFishingLTN said:

Don't they sorta hide out in the summer though making other pray the Main forage 

 

This is one of my local lakes yesterday - crayfish burrows galore. Bass are opportunistic and will take advantage of the most prolific or optimally available food supply at the time. This will obviously change or be different between various bodies of water or sections of the country at any given time, but around here, it’s still the tail end of bluegill spawns and crayfish on the menu until all of the newly spawned fish grow larger.

[GoneFishingLTN]

8 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

 

This is one of my local lakes yesterday - crayfish burrows galore. Bass are opportunistic and will take advantage of the most prolific or optimally available food supply at the time. This will obviously change or be different between various bodies of water or sections of the country at any given time, but around here, it’s still the tail end of bluegill spawns and crayfish on the menu until all of the newly spawned fish grow larger.

If they are in burrows, how are they on the menu? 
How long does the newly spawn bluegill take to where they are not easy snack size?

 

[Pat Brown]

2 minutes ago, GoneFishingLTN said:

If they are in burrows, how are they on the menu? 
How long does the newly spawn bluegill take to where they are not easy snack size?

 

 

Crayfish are active during lowlight periods.  ?

[Team9nine]

2 minutes ago, GoneFishingLTN said:

If they are in burrows, how are they on the menu? 
How long does the newly spawn bluegill take to where they are not easy snack size?

 

They have to come out to eat and mate sometime ? plus dig the burrows and push out all that dirt at some point. There was no hole in the ground when they started - lol. They are often nocturnal with their activities, and some bass become that way, too. The bluegill fry won’t get big enough until late fall - same with the shad fry that just hatched last month. Right now they’re just crappie food.

[GoneFishingLTN]

How big would the bluegill fry roughly be from last year spawn?

[casts_by_fly]

6 minutes ago, GoneFishingLTN said:

How big would the bluegill fry roughly be from last year spawn?

If it was from last year's spawn it wouldn't be fry now.  it would be a small bluegill.  2-3" at least.  Could even be 4" by now depending on food.

[GoneFishingLTN]

20 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

If it was from last year's spawn it wouldn't be fry now.  it would be a small bluegill.  2-3" at least.  Could even be 4" by now depending on food.

Do the young 2-3"inch bluegill hang out in the same locations as the normal size ones or in different locations?

[Pat Brown]

@GoneFishingLTN

 

In my experience they hang in different locations.

 

The young ones school up like crazy and suspend near hard cover and shade in very very skinny water.

 

The bigger ones seem to disappear after the spawn and move back to deeper haunts.

 

Of course things like a mayfly hatch will radically change this on your lake for a few days.

[casts_by_fly]

@GoneFishingLTN what pat brown said.  Around here this time of year we have plenty of 2-4" bluegills in all of the lakes.  Almost always they are in <1' of water and often the skinniest of it where the bigger fish don't come.  Maybe they are also deeper and we just can't see them.  But a lot are very shallow.  The big bluegill (7-8") this time of year are out of sight for me.  That's 4'+ in most lakes.  They are foraging for insects on the bottom and eating fry.  They are big enough to survive 'out on the reef' so they can search for better food.