Like everyone I'm itching to get out fishing and living vicariously through reading trip reports and having conversations about wilderness fishing. In my latest trip report that I wrote up, I shared a technique that one of my friends tried that I had never thought of before. I did not get a whole lot of comments on it so thought I would throw it out on this forum to get people's thoughts and responses.

I am genuinely curious how many people have done it.

We had a fantastic fishing trip to Knife lake this year. I tend to get stuck on tried and true methods of catching Smallmouth. Knife Lake water is stunningly clear and we could see multiple smallmouth bass swimming around shore all the time.

One day after we all got done swimming from and island our friend Zack said he wanted to show us his go to method for Smallies. He waded into the water and caught a crayfish. He hooked it on a 3/0 EWG hook and cast it out into the water. It twitched through the water for no more than a couple seconds before a Smallie raced out from the rocks and inhaled it. I did not realize he had been doing this, but this immediately got my interest peaked to this method. He caught several more in short order convincing me to give this a try for future trips. I suppose you can’t get more realistic/ natural than a crayfish twitching through the water column. I am curious if other fisherman have tried this technique?

When I was a kid we caught them and put them under a bobber and did very well. I’m sure the number and size of fish we caught have grown in my mind since then but it definitely does work. I haven’t tried it in 20 plus years, too lazy I suppose.

Whether or not it works better than other finesse live bait presentations (leeches) is an open question.

I remember a trip 10 years or so ago we met a group portaging out of south arm of knife lake of all places. They said they could not catch any bass. I noticed they had a spinnerbait and large crankbait rigged up on their rods. We fished leeches on slip bobbers that same night and caught more bass than we could count.

Hammertime: "When I was a kid we caught them and put them under a bobber and did very well. I’m sure the number and size of fish we caught have grown in my mind since then but it definitely does work. I haven’t tried it in 20 plus years, too lazy I suppose.

Whether or not it works better than other finesse live bait presentations (leeches) is an open question.

I remember a trip 10 years or so ago we met a group portaging out of south arm of knife lake of all places. They said they could not catch any bass. I noticed they had a spinnerbait and large crankbait rigged up on their rods. We fished leeches on slip bobbers that same night and caught more bass than we could count."

Crayfish have always worked well for me. I'm working on some crayfish fly patterns, homemade-style, and will post them when they are completed. Tied flies work for me now because I tend to hook fish in the lips more frequently and it is easier to release them with less harm. At least for me.

Either way you do it, have fun and...tight lines!

Bass definitely love crayfish! Smaller crayfish are better to use as bait, I used to catch them all the time as a kid. Now i tie flies to imitate them and catch far more using that method. Bass are easy to catch and using bait seems like cheating to me. But to each his own.

Yes Smallmouth bass love crayfish. I have a few crayfish lures. Just open a stomach and they are full of them. But if you want live crayfish next trip take along a minnow trap, the one that is mesh and fits together. They are very light and take up no space because you fill the area with other gear when traveling. After you catch and clean fish put some of the fish guts in the minnow trap and tools out with some paracord attached. Next morning when you pull it in it will be full of crawfish. No worries about taking them because they are an invasive species, rusty crayfish.

Just don't take them from lake to lake.

I just used my mesh net and put a carcus in and propped it open with a heavy stick.
Tied a rope to it and couple hours later I'd sneak down and yank the rope toward shore.
Bait and camp fire snack.

Yes, I definitely will not transport them anywhere just use them on the lake I am fishing. I know Smallmouth bass love them was just curious how much people have used or expereimented with them over the years. I have rippin raps and crankbaits that are crayfish patterns and I know that is what tubes tend to mimic is the crayfish as well. I just had never seen someone just TGO style method a crayfish like our buddy did. I think he did it quite a bit during out trip. He would just wade out into the water and catch a bunch and throw them in the canoe and use them as bait until he ran out.

I do not believe this would be a time effecient method but could be fun to pass the time and experiment with from camp on future trips. Could help coax finicky bass to bite probably at times as well.

Heck yes! Do it all the time. Here in Ohio we catch them by hand in the creek where we are fishing and can hammer the smallies. Don’t ignore using them in moving water. We will rig them shallow under a bobber and let them run through riffles into the tail water. Bingo!

yogi59weedr: "Just don't take them from lake to lake."

Very good point lakes up there have the exotic rusty crayfish and one other. Don't transport.

The bellies of the brook trout we ate were full of them. They surely are a dietary staple of most BWCA residents.

Has anyone caught crayfish on Iron?

Heres a hungry crayfish eater from yesterday here in PA.