crayfish as bait

[samson]

anyone use preserved crayfish on the ice?  just bought three bottles of them today.

[mod_auger]

I heard from In-fisherman to take the meat from the tails of crayfish and cut the meat up into small pieces and tip them on jigs. I'm going to give it a try this winter. I harvested 20 crayfish and still don't have much meat. If it works well, I'm sure that I'll be looking for more crayfish next summer.

[Kodiak Commando]

My friend tried baiting some crayfish in one of the rivers with several fish traps containg red salmon meat. He abandoned the project however when he came within 10 feet of a bear wrecking the traps that continued to follow him for about 30 yards. I guess having less bait is better than being mauled even if your only 2 miles from town!

[iceintheveins]

I have toyed with the notion of using live crayfish on tip ups for pike. However I think that since crayfish basically hibernate during the winter that they would die quickly in the cold water and lose their attracting and triggering power. I don't think dead ones work that well probably. Then again, dead minnows sometimes outproduce live ones.

Tyler

[samson]

read a post here a while back where a guy mentioned that he found crayfish in the stomach of some fish he caught, didn't mentions which ones though.  i also remember reading somewhere that crayfish are still active during the winter, worth a try. 

anyone know how to preserve crayfish?  caught a bucket full in a creek few summers ago, gonna try and get some more.

[Swift]

Use 1 1/2" plastic ones on a small lead head for shellcrackers on one of the lakes that they were stocked in. Cover them in a crawfish scent and thump them up and down on the bottom. When they turn on they smash 'em, when finicky I think they just pull them slowly around since they come up without any claws.

[FishHawk01]

i use crayfish when I come across them,  at the lake where i primarily ice fish its not uncommon if you have your hook on the bottom to have a strike and when you pull it up have a crayfish hanging on tight!  I usually just pinch the tail off and and use it, that seems to work best.  I caught a 10 inch small mouth last summer,  when I took the hook out I could see 2 pinchers sticking out of the throat and into the mouth.  It was about as full as fish could be but still chowing down!

[fastribs85]

only time i used a crayfish and caught a nice perch and some decent bass that was in thre summer though never tired in the winter will have to give it a shot

[scchase]

I caught a crayfish through the ice once so I know that they are still active. It just hooked its claws on my bait and hung on for the ride.
Scott

[TroutFishingBear]

cray fish are still active in weeds mostly in the winter I believe. I can't remember where I read this, but I heard that some people use a genz bug to imitate the crayfish for icefishing. Supposedly works well for perch!

[Lobes]

Samson -
I have nerver tried to preserve crayfish but I would think it may be similar to doing fish eggs. Try a solution with borax. At the very least I would think freezing them would work, but if you do that you would have to use all that you thaw out at once (I'd do small quantities). If either one works, let us know!

 
.

[fishuhalik]

I caught a bunch of perch in about 7 fow at winnie in the winter one time, and about half of them were stuffed w/ 2 inch crawfish.  Never tried any fake ones and never thought of preserving some, but I'm sure it would work.

[Water Wolf]

I have never tried live or perserved crayfish but have found that the 5 or 6 inch rubber ones great for pike and burbot. I just jig them on the bottom so it looks like a crayfish digging around in the mud. I have heard that if you take the meat off a crayfish's tale it makes a good tid bit for perch. I don't see why perserved cray fish should not work, just take some fluorocarbon line, attach it to a treble hook, thread the line onto a needle and stick the needle through the crayfish so the hook is in the center of it, and jig with it.
My friend has caught a few crayfish while icefishing. He  lets the minnow or smelt rest on the botton until he feels a tiny tap and then slow reels the crayfish up. If you have an underwater camera you can see when they grab hold.

WW

[seaweed01]

Like a lot of you, I have caught perch thru the ice that
had crabs in them. If they were availible in the winter,
I'm sure they would work great.