hey

anyone want to explain to me how to do this? i plan on using some tonight at a local lake...i plan to throw them on piers that have lights on them....do you think this would be a good idea? i usually fish big worms and lizards and catch fish so i figured i should be able to catch fish on the crawfish....how i plan to do it is carolina rig and us a live bait hook(the one with the wire over the point) and put a rubberband around the crawfish and then slide the hook under the rubberband.....is this the correct way to fish them? if not wat should i do? once i cast it out how long should i let it sit? should i just real it back in and throw it back out or "fish" it back to the boat? any and all tips will be apreciated

thanx

Here is a good article form Fish Chris' web stie

http://trophybassonly.com/id47.htm

I,ve always just hooked the littl bugger in the nose area with a owner mosquito hook and fly lined him out there,only lifting it occasionally to make sure hes not in a tree or under a rock somewere.
If your going to use a weight be carefull in your casting they can come off easy using my nose hook technique.let us know how you do.
tight lines, brian

This isn't going to immediately help you but I remember in reading Bill Murphy's book, "In Pursiut of Trophy Bass", he tells how one method he used was to throw live crawdads. Don't remember how he hooked them though.

http://www.lunkercity.com/sth.html

That's where you can get it if so desired.

Dan

Be sure and use a circle hook when using live bait so the fish dont swallow the hook.

well i fished with the crawfish wed night....i only caught 1 fish and it weighed 4lb 4oz....i had several bites though but everytime i would set the hook my line would break....why do you think this was happening? it was brand new line..my main line was 50lb tuf line plus and my leader was 20lb suffix elite...i broke both lines..and i use palomer knot...i would have used more crawfish but i ran out of hooks...lol....but it was still a good night of fishing...our five heaviest fish went 26-27lbs....if anyone has any input on why i kept breaking my line i would appreciate it

thanx

your line would break? was it breaking at the spectra/mono connection? if it broke there it is from a bad knot. otherwise, it shouldnt really break.

i dont think it was the knot because the line was straight at the end...if it would have been the knot it would have been curly at the end where it broke...next time i think im going to try it without a leader....do you think i will get less bites? i fish worms in the same spot with no leader and still get plenty of hits

At night it shouldnt matter. Also if you have a lighter action rod that may help you. I used to use hevy or med heavy but now I use a med action when fishing live bait and lighter line (12lb test and below) and I dont break off on the hookset anymore.

It is definatley your line they must be 2 different types sometimes they will cut into eachother.

I use Seaguar's Carbon Pro 100% fluro(15 or 20# test) and havn't had it break. You won't need a leader with it as it's almost invisable underwater.

Dan

yes im fishing at night but i am doing most of my fishing under lights...so do you still think it wouldnt matter with the braid being visible? and how many people use circle hooks when using live bait? what kind/size? ive tried circle hooks before but i could never hook the fish...the only fish i ever caught was one that got the bluegill lodged in it mouth....the lines were not cutting into each other because i was using a swivel to connect them...i dont know why i kept breaking off

thanx

Stumpy you have stumped us all :o

where exactly was your line breaking? Was it the braid or the mono?

it broke all but once on the braid....ive got me some more crawfish and im going to try them out again tonight...hopefully i will do better this time

Btw, you don't "set the hook" if using circle hooks. You should just start reeling and it's suppose to catch the fish's mouth/lip as it slides out.

Dan

thanx for the info....but that is how i was doing the circle hooks...i dont know why it wouldnt work for the bass...ive caught many saltwater fish on circle hooks

how have you guys done sight-fishing with crawfish ?? seems like it sure would be exciting !

I've sight-fished with craws a couple of times and came across a couple of problems.
It was difficult for me to keep the 'dad in the nest. As soon as he saw Big Mo', he was motoring his butt out of there.The other problem is associated with the first. Your 'dad doesn't have to get very far off of the spot the bass is protecting before Mr./Mrs. Bass will only posture instead of strike. That leads to my final problem...I never got a bass to hammer my 'dad. They would chase it, they would strike AT it...they would even grab it by the ass, but they wouldn't strike it in a fashion to allow for a quality hook set.
My solution was to throw a very realistic artificial crawdad and just keep shaking it until I really pissed them off. The artificials worked much better me.

Happiness is a tight line and a stiff pole.

i was reading a thread on a saltwater forum (wont name it since i dont know this forum's policy about revealing rival names...) and a guy said his 30lb spectra was breaking at 12lbs of pressure. they concluded that it was a bad batch of spectra and i guess that happens once in a while. maybe thats what your problem was.