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How to Fish With Live Crawdads

They are called "mudbugs" and "little lobsters," and some call them crawdads or crawfish. They are found in freshwater creeks and streams in many parts of the country and are a favorite meal for many Southerners. For those with less of a taste for boiled crawdads and more of a taste for bass, crawdads make natural bait for largemouth bass, which are known to consume them.

Things You'll Need

Crawdads
Container with cool to cold water
Small lead weight
Tackle
Cutting tool

Instructions

- 1
  Put your purchased or caught crawdads in a container with cool to cold water. They are particularly sensitive to warm temperatures. If you are fishing right away, you can use the water from the trap you caught them in. It is still possible to fish with the dead ones if you are fishing for catfish or drum, but if you are fishing for bass, you want them active on the other end of line. The drum is a fish that some call a sheepshead or a grunt. They are great fighters, but as for taste, they leave much to be desired.
- 2
  Add a small lead weight to the fishing line about 12 inches from the hook. The weight will keep the crawdad on the lake floor and give them enough line to move around and struggle, attracting the bass.
- 3
  Rig the live crawdad in one of two ways. The first method is to insert the hook 1/2 inch from the end of the tail up from the bottom of the crawdad and up through the second or third scale on the crawdad's back. This method allows for more natural movement of the crawdad as it seeks to crawl away from you and the hook in his back. The drawback to this method is that the crawdad can crawl backwards under a rock and get your hook hung up. The second method is to insert the hook through the bony horn of his head behind his eyes.
- 4
  Remove the pinchers from the crawdad with a cutting tool so that it cannot grab weeds and other underwater obstacles and tangle the line. This would be especially important if you were fishing near grass mats or heavy vegetation.
- 5
  Cast gently. Whipping the fishing rod as you would with artificial lures can rip the hook right out of the crawdad.
- 6
  Wait until you can feel the bass swim away with the bait before trying to set the hook. Sometimes a bass will mouth the crawdad without actually swallowing it. Since the bass will typically swallow the crawdad head first, the tail area with the exposed hook should be deep enough in the fish's gullet that the hook will have something to grab on to. Yanking immediately will pull the bait right out of the bass's mouth without setting the hook.

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