Live crawfish on lake cumberland

[Howiefranktown@aol.com]

Was wondering if you could use live crawfish on cumberland lake and using them instead of shiner fishing , wondering about the results if any body has tried it

[Wormin]

I would think that they would work great I mean after all that what a jig is imitating. I would think they maybe hard to come across this time of the year. Never met a brown fish that would not eat a crawdad.

[jcb]

A long time ago we trapped our own creek chubs instead of using shiners. We'd get a crawdad in the trap every now and then. I never had much luck on them for smallmouth, but spots around wood cover would flat tear them up.

I suspect that the fact that the smallmouth we were targeting were likely suspended, not on the bottom, may have something to do with that.

[waterdog101]

I like using the crawdads in June fishing for Drum, rig two of them tail to tail and bottom fish, in the head waters of lake Cumberland around some big boulders. and the big Drum will bust them and check your fishing line for weak spots, a good size Drum will pull like a big striper...

[R19]

Years ago when I was primarily a live bait fisherman I almost always used crawfish on Cumberland. In the late summer or early fall I would catch as many as I could and keep them in a holding tank. I used them throughout the winter until I ran out. Once I ran out I would switch to live creek chubs.

When fishing crawfish I done it two different ways. My primary method was a 7 ft spinning rod with 8 lb line. I used a small hook and a small split shot. I would hold the boat far away from the structure I was fishing and make a long cast. I would pay very close attention to the line as it is sinking. If I detected any movement in the line I would reel up the slack and as soon as I felt resistance I would set the hook. Weightless they are hard to cast but if you put too big of a split shot on they sink too fast. Once they hit the bottom I only leave them there for a short period of time. If you let them crawl around much you will stay hung up. 90% of my bites were on the fall.

Another method I used a little was just like the float and fly...10 ft rod, 6 lb line with a 3 way swivel and a float and fly bobber. My leader would be 10-12 ft long. Cast it out and let it drift. If things were slow I would be fishing one rod the the float and fly method and one on the split shot method. Most of the time I could keep myself busy with the split shot method. Typically the split shot method had more bites but I have seen times when the float method was better.

Catching crawfish this time of year is hard. About mid to late October the water gets cool enough they become inactive but if you can find some bass will eat them year round. A friend I fished with liked creek chubs better in the winter but I always liked crawfish better. He had a saying ..."If its tobacco cutting time its crawfish time" "If its tobacco stripping time it creek chub time"