Crayfish, also called crawfish, are freshwater crustaceans, commonly found across North America.
Why is Understanding Crayfish Important?
It is important to understand Crayfish to:
Find Bass: Knowing when and where crayfish are active.
Select a Lure: Knowing the color of the crayfish as it varies.
Understand Crayfish as Bass Forage
Habitat: Hiding in rocks will feed in their cave burrows if possible only exposing themselves in the evening or in low light conditions.
Behavior: A crawfish moving on a rock makes a tapping/clicking noise which bass use this sound to locate crawfish.
Low Lure Visibility Scenarios: Low light and/or low water clarity results in higher crawfish activity.
Varity of Colors: Brown, blue, dark green, green, red, where red depends on the level of vitamin A which depends on the grass growth.
Water Temperature Considerations:
45 degrees and below crayfish are dormant buried in mud burrows or rock crevices
50 to 80 degrees and above crayfish are active
Additional Considerations
Spring Spawn: Crawfish emerge from rock crevices into the great wide open and begin looking for to reproduce. Spawn on clean rocks (no silt or mud) with some current or waves that keeps rocks clean for example at a rocky point as the rocks must be clean to open up caves that can create endless lattices of spawning habitat. If no clean rock, crayfish will spawn in mud. Depth is not a major factor. After mating, the females burrow into a cave and fertilize their eggs with the sperm that has been deposited on them by the males. The males then molt, losing their calcified sexual organs, and quickly hide. This molt period has been attributed to higher bass activity due to crayfish higher vulnerability. Spring spawn when water temperature goes from 45 degrees to 50 degrees.
Fall Spawn: Fall when the water temperatures start to drop with same activities as in spring.
Crayfish Trap: Use a crayfish trap to identify size, color and potentially locations.
