Crayfish for eyes any ideas?

[lildsm15]

I have been wanting to try crayfish for bait for awhile now for walleyes. I searched and could not find any good threads. I will be fishing Kinzua lake if that helps at all. What would be some good methods for fishing with this bait and how to fish it?

[ShadTaxi]

I have been wanting to try crayfish for bait for awhile now for walleyes. I searched and could not find any good threads. I will be fishing Kinzua lake if that helps at all. What would be some good methods for fishing with this bait and how to fish it?

I have never used crayfish for walleye, but have used them for bass. We would snap off the pincers, put a hook through the tail and then cast and freeline them. This resulted in some 8 and 9 pound largemouth.

[Xswab]

Where I fish there are a lot of crayfish in the river system (Mo), and at certain times of the year I find plenty in the fish I clean. Color ranges from blue, purple and orange. I use curlytails behind a bouncer to match what color stage they are in ......and it works well.

[S.Larson]

Make sure you check the local regulations to see if it is a legal presentation

[FSH4EYZ]

My experience last year was great. The walleye in the lake I was fishing were full of crawdads mostly 2 inchers. I tried live crawdads and tails or just the meat in the tail. Truth was I did way better with plain plastic imitation crayfish. Gulp crawdad imitations that were doctored up worked well but so did fuzzy grubs. I tiped jigs with leeches but I did much better using plain plastic imitations because the fish were turned on and it took to long to rebait. Double tail Mister Twisters were good also, I just believe you need to match color and size to match the crayfish. I was just pitching jigs up against the shore into 1 foot or less water and hopping them back to the boat. hope this helps.

[RJmjZ]

Cut one live pincher buit not both. Use small rubber bands like they do on lobsters---only smaller. Hook artificials through the tail --- hook live ones through the collar just rear of thr head on their backs. They move backwards---don't cha know.

Split shot rig. Don't fish them deeper than they should be for the time of year. Crawdads migrate deeper seasonally. Deep weed edge is always good, but try to find transition areas from hard to soft bottom. Craws will also cling to weeds.

Want craws in your planned area of the lake? Pitch raw chicken wings into the water as bait. The craws will be there virtually over night.

[lildsm15]

Thanks guys. Hopefully this works out good tried everything thing last weekend and did not do to good only got 3 and a few pike. Good day on Kinzua i guess.

[Raybob]

On my home lake I call C'dads "eye-candy" ~ even nitetime shad-stuffed sUMo's have a lil' sweet-tooth room for C'Dad's...

[stinkycat]

I have heard that they are best when they are molting...shedding their shell getting ready for the new one. I would guess that they would be easier to digest at that time. But I am not sure when that time is? Does anyone knows the time of year for this in N Central MN area?

[Terroreyes]

I've never used crayfish as bait, but will tell you that when I had a big ole walleye in my tank at home, it would go NUTZ for crayfish! I could throw 5 or 6 in there and it would stuff every one down the hatch even if they wouln't fit and had it to swim around with half a crayfish sticking out of it's mouth for a day. LOL Definitely worth giving it a try.

[Stoic Cynic]

I just got a 24" walleye and a 21" smallmouth in the same afternoon freelining crayfish a few days ago. Got a 27" channel cat the next night doing the exact same thing. They are better than crawlers; at least as far as never knowing just what you are going to hook up with;)

[Stu]

RJmjZ made a good point. I only cut off the pincher that is "hinged". This keeps them from holding onto cover when you try to reel them in. Some of the bigger ones will die quickly if you cut off the entire claw. We use them a lot here and catch everything under the sun. I hook mine under the tail w/ the hook protruding out the top. This seems to prevent them from swimming backwards. We caught some up in Canada, and used them for smallies.
From what I have read, they don't neccessarily have a "molting season", they do it when they outgrow their shells. Good luck - Stu

[Backwater Eddy]

Most all fish at one time or another prey on crayfish, or at least see them as a forage of opportunity. Be it bluegill, perch, catfish, bass, pike, or a walleye, they all appear to love them.

A rig I have used on many species is a Lindy Rattling Bottom walker with a 3-4' Snell rigged with a 4 O/T EWG Gami bass hook through the tail of a med to large crayfish.

The noise factor of the Lindy Rattling walker I feel adds to the draw to the craw. Crayfish are noisy critters on rock and gravel bottom and a fish can pick that up through its lateral line and inner ear.

A plastic crayfish jig imitation worked on a football style stand-up jig has it's place too..dragged or bounced off the bottom. A crayfish scent added for a strike inducing stimulant may often help out here.

I have used them largely on rivers with good results on walleye.