On my home river, Smallies love crawdads. I don't like to take live bait with me, but I do like to catch a few crawdads for bait when my artificial lures are not working well. Are there plenty of crawdads and places to catch a few when taking a break in the BWCA?

What about leaches? Are there plenty of leached floating around to dip up and use when artificial baits are not producing?

Yes there are lots of Crawdads, I bring a Minnow trap the size of a mason jar, and I catch more Crawdads than Minnows.

Tip: Sometimes if I forget my Minnow trap. I'll use a plastic Pepsi Bottle, cut around the Bottle just as it starts to narrow. turn the mouthpiece around so it's pointing into the Bottle. Tape the edge put some food in it, and in a few hours you'll have Crawdads or Minnows.

Catching Leaches never tried that, However, I guess you can wade in the lake till they feed on you, then pick them off when they swell to that perfect size.

same basic method for catching leeches. But some kids in the area who trap them use old coffee cans, holes made in with names, sharp side on the inside.

Put some chicken parts/dry dog food inside. (don't forget to put the lid back on)

the fish don't really bite on blood sucker leeches, they like the ribbon leeches which are the ones we sell.

Sometimes you'll get a blood sucker in the batch, but mostly you get the "user-friendly" ones!

Thanks guys. I guess I will take a bag of ribbon leaches and catch crawdads when I run out of leaches.

I believe it is illegal to transport crawfish to another lake. So, trap them; fish with them; then release the ones you don't use before moving to the next lake.