Bass Fishing: Targeting The Crayfish Hunters: VFJ24 

Hi, Matthew. Thanks. Not sure where obsession leaves off and smart begins though. :) Paul

It’s called common sense + background in nature in biology

Hi, Justin. Thanks. It's the kind of stuff I always wanted to learn about. Sometimes... you just gotta do stuff yourself. :) Cheers, Paul

@@thenatureoffishing7591 I'm kind of obsessed with crayfish and shrimp patterns for Flyfishing but not many vids about it till this one. Thanks I'll try to apply to Costarican Guapote fish a cichlid fresh water fish.

@@bluerapper1 Guapote look very cool. Esp on the fly!

@@thenatureoffishing7591 its challenging more difficult on fly specially the big ones scientyfic name is Parachromis dovii

Hey, R. Great to hear. Be sure to share with friends. Cheers, Paul

Hi CJ. The line provides the most sensitivity. For slow presentations, “stitching” can be helpful.

Hi, Jpeace. Thanks for the encouragement. Cheers, Paul

Hey, GLF. Me too. But my wife wants to see it. So, we're watching too. I've already seen it lol. :)

Not all that sure it'll matter. I think they have to be clicked on. And then you may get lots more like em! Anyway, subscribers and supporters are the best hope, without my becoming a tackle salesman, which is not what this channel is all about. Looking into options. Thanks. Paul

@@thenatureoffishing7591 they do help. Skippable video ads (ads at the start of a video that a viewer can skip after five seconds) - you get paid if a viewer watches the whole ad (or at least 30 seconds if it's longer).

Thanks, Matteo.

Thanks, northCAL!

Hey, Ed. Thanks for the comment. Always encouraging. Paul

Thanks, UBS!

Hi, HT. Glad you like my bent on fishing. Really great to hear. Thanks for the encouragement. All the best, Paul

Hi, Brent. Thanks. Yeah, I guess I never succumbed to "why ask why". Drove my parents crazy. :)) Here's to a flippin' cool world. Cheers, Paul

Hi, Philip. Thanks. Glad to have you along. Cheers, Paul

Hi, Big Moe. You're welcome. I always liked the details too. Or... I hated it when important ones were left out. Feel free to share with friends to help keep me afloat here. Cheers, Paul

The Nature of Fishing this is why I appreciate your Videos, I’m 56 years old, did not grow up fishing like other people, started fishing at 50! The past time is Golden and It has made me a better Angler for sure! I’m Never stopping from here on!

@@bigmoemedina313 Great to hear. Fishing is darn cool. Even better when we have a clue as to what we're looking at. It gets even better the more we know. It may result in what looks like OCD. It's not! Just keeps our minds from wandering. :) Keep on keepin' on. Paul

The Nature of Fishing Amen!! 🙏

Hi, Pain. Thanks! Yeah... I'm a "do-er". I'm after those facts too, to the best of my ability. Feel free to share with like-minded folks. Cheers, Paul

Hi, Ed. Thanks. Trying to finish up a Fall Transition series.

Hi, Nick. Thanks. We likely may fish the same waters. These are pretty average public waters, regularly fished; The kinds of fishing most people have across the country. Maybe I'll see you out there. Best, Paul

Hi, Jon. Thanks! I'm not always slow and methodical, but sometimes the fish require it. Good luck with those CrawZ. They can do the job. Paul

Hey, David. Thanks. Feel free to share, to help keep me afloat here. Cheers, Paul

Hey, Duane. Awesome to hear of your 6lber, and a crawfish hunter too. There's stuff going on down there we just aren't privy to. I'll take every piece of intel I can get as I fish. Never know what's going to pan out. Guess, I never had the "why ask why" thing beaten out me; Sometimes it pays off, and then builds over time. Keep on keepin on. -Paul

Hey, Jamie. Thanks so much. Cheers, Paul

Hey, Ken. Sounds like fun. Great time for some bench time. On the water, if context is in place, pieces are there to suspect it, and we don't spook 'em, the fish should do the rest. At least, that's the plan. Good luck with your adventure. Let me know how it pans out. Paul

You actually have me thinking of Mid June when I go to Wisconsin for some much anticipated Bass Fishing. Here in MT the lakes are still frozen but are slowly coming on for open water, yeah. Ken

Hey, Ds S. Thanks. Glad you enjoy the details as I do. And, it’s good to hear that my explanations are understandable. IQ? lol… Maybe at fishing -mebbe. What IQ I have -whatever that is even- has been mostly spent with my head under water, and under bushes n such. :)) But thanks. BTW: To be fair to science: I’m not actually making fishing a science, as much as gleaning from existing science work. Science and fishing are quite different in practice. In the end, though, it’s all about figuring out… what the heck all this stuff is we’re surrounded by. I guess I just never stopped asking, “But… why???” My parents kicked me out of the house early. :))

Great to hear, silva. I'm sure there's plenty of crayfish munching bass in Presque Isle.

Thanks, Bulldog. Yeah... that's pretty much what fishing has been like for me. And more so after every outing. There are gems everywhere. I just have to notice them. One of my favorite quotes (paraphrased): "There's only as much beauty available to us (in nature) as we are prepared to appreciate. And not a grain more." HD Thoreau

@@thenatureoffishing7591 You're an amazing guy. Love the quote...thank you for sharing.

Thanks axps6457. Wish I could get back to production. Other priorities have taken over. First things first. Best, Paul

Thanks, GT.

I've thought about that too. Big crays can indeed fend off bass, at least smaller ones. And I've seen them pinch small bass making them spit em out! Smallmouths, being crayfish specialists, are built for it, and use their shorter jaws to bite and extract crayfish from the substrate. And they will repeatedly bite, crush, and spit. LM's can bite but are better equipped for suction feeding. There was some interesting research done looking at your very question. An anatomically correct crayfish lure was presented to many groups of bass: intact, no claws, no appendages at all, just the head, just the tail. When the dust settled, the bass nearly overwhelmingly chose the no appendages lure. that lure was pretty much a cigar, think Senko or Ned. Interesting.

How is the water clarity and pressure on that body of water?

Erik Lindquist what state are you in?

@@HookLife I'm in Cali northern but not a huge body of water

@@peteunknown7835 crystal clear and shallow and it gets pressured heavy at certain times of the year it's a drinking water resivour.

Hi, Erik. It can be tough to do. Luckily, we don't always have to do that. Like... pink flukes and worms! Fishing pressure is not heavy here, but pretty continuous. And it doesn't take much to educate bass. This one was esp neat bc I was able to sneak into teh food chain pretty directly, with the whole context covered. At least for those two fish. I shot one this in between my main video journal goals for the end of summer. Didn't spend much time at it. Just enough to demonstrate it. Paul

Hi, Freddy. Glad you liked it. Working on more. Just need to clear the time. Best, Paul

Crayfish munching goes on all over. This particular one was just a cool to be able to get in on. Keep your eyes peeled! Cheers, Paul

Thanks, Wes.

@@thenatureoffishing7591 no problem bud

Hi, Morty. Thanks. You have to click the card that appears at the top of the screen. I didn't see how I could embed a vid.

@@thenatureoffishing7591 i saw it, A for effort

@@striperhunter-ic2wt Yeah, for sure! :))

Hi, Gary. Welcome aboard! I don't and must say there's not a lot to it. It's simply holding the line in your fingers, the most sensitive way to detect, since we're bypassing the rod altogether. "Stitching" is moving the lure, a bottom contact bait, forward inches at a time. Slack is picked up with a turn of the reel handle. Hope this helps. Bill Murphy describes stitching in his book "In Pursuit of Giant Bass". Hope this helps. Paul

Hi, Mat. I don't know either. Their stomachs are quite elastic, and pleated, so they can really stretch. I think they eat when the eat'n's good!

Hi, tmk. I lie on my belly in the mud with a straw in my mouth for hours on end! :)) I use GoPro's. The trick is knowing where, when, and how, to put them. I know water bodies, those fish, aquatic ecology in general, so I also know what I'm seeing as I review those literally hours upon hours of video. It eats up a lot of otherwise "fishing time", but I've done a lot of that, so I can usually decipher things pretty quickly when I do go, hence my Video Fishing Journals. And, video fishing is a lot like angling, but requires much more effort and patience. Much of my video work is for documentary length pieces. If you haven't seen them, I have released two. See my "Playlists" for them. Yeah, "stitching" is a common method, esp for line bait fishers, going directly to the line being so much more sensitive than through the rod. The term comes from Bill Murphy, a CA trophy bass hunter who used to (he's passed now) fish live craws, as well as artificials to moody FL strain lunkers in clear water. I used the term in homage to Mr. Murphy. You bet. Feel free to share with friends so I can keep this effort going, at least for YT. Cheers, Paul

Hi, Jose. A-yup. I thought so too. Paul

Hey, Johnny. Fishing the bottom is a pretty important skill in bass fishing. Knowing where your bait is in the water column, and being able to fish around snags, is important. That's a video I really need to do. Moving that one up a notch. Thanks, Johnny. Paul

Hi, Lanny. Yes, I would guess so. Take flashlight and do a crayfish check on your streams! Part of brown trout's nocturnal habits has to do with crayfish activity. I assume the same would be at work in SM waters too, although I've never pursued that. I have night fished for smallies in lakes though, and that can be pretty exciting. One very good telemetry study following SM's in a large lake, found those bass making substantial moves inshore to feed at night. I would guess that crayfish had much to do with that. SM's, like other LM's, respond well to overcast skies, and crayfish may be a part of that. Paul

@@thenatureoffishing7591 thank you for the info! Now just have to wait for the weather to break so I can get out

@@lannyseals2084 I got out yesterday for my first run. It was cold and rotten out there. I wasn't dressed for it, forgot a few things! That's what those first runs often end up being, shaking off rust. When I got off the water, my hands were blue and I was nearly chilled through. I'll get my schtick together for the next outing. Cheers, Paul

That reel is particularly stiff to trip too. I might be able to fix that. Another project for some spare time.

Hi, u. No worries. Always appreciate comments and advice. Lots to know out there. I do both, depending on what's called for. I manually bail trip when I don't mind the line laying on the water. But, in certain circumstances -notably high visibility conditions- the line on the water can be a major fish spooker. (If you haven't seen it, see my “Line 1” video in my Tackle Know How playlist. Also, see Video Fishing Journal #1 “Bluebird Blues”. Watch, or skip, to the end to see the “Blue-pers”; They are pretty telling.) Esp with active/moving baits, where the line will be moving/cutting the surface, I’ll close down while the lure is still in the air, keeping the rod tip up. That way, I don’t let that line either crash down onto the surface, or cut across the surface as I go to engage the lure. Or, leave 10ft of line cutting through the surface film ahead of my supposedly-discrete lure as I am retrieving it. Also, engaging my lure the second it touches down allows me to take advantage of those fish that strike right at splashdown, and those that take on the initial fall of the lure. Both can be major triggers. Some baits, like jigs, the fish just don’t hold onto very long. I hate missing those aggressive hits on moving baits. I’ve come to be as concerned about why fish DON’T bite, as to the why, and what, they DO. In fact, that’s often the first hurdle -not putting them off. Again, if you are of the curious sort, and don’t mind entertaining the “why’s”, check out the two above vids I mentioned. Long explanation, but hopefully worthwhile. Cheers, Paul

Yeah, me too. But, it can be part of fishing. We do our best. And, they never go to waste. All the best, Paul

Hi, NorCal. It’s possible to get hooks out, but research on esophagus hooked fish suggests that outcomes are very poor, often due to delayed mortality via infection. I actually did release that fish only to find it floating an hour or so later. I actually gone to barbless hooks for lightly weighted soft plastics bc of the likeliness of them being swallowed. Barbless works just fine in that case.

@@thenatureoffishing7591 You do a great job on your channel. I am a big fan.

Many such techniques are "discovered" by anglers, over and over, bc they work. Pinching the line provides the most detection sensitivity, as well as subtle controlled manipulations of a lure, or bait. Live bait fishers use it a lot. "Stitching", though, is doing this for an entire retrieve. A technique described by Bill Murphy in his book "In Pursuit of Giant Bass", to crawl baits, esp crayfish mimics, to large difficult Florida strain bass. It's not known how fine a line a bass can actually resolve. I remembered some research I'd read about some years back, in which bass could see lines as fine as .009, the finest used. But, I've been unable to re-find that research. The article I thought I'd read it, I re-found and purchased, only to find that actual diameters weren't mentioned. So... I don't know where I got that. Anyway, you are right that they don't know a line is associated with "fishing" or fisherman. What appears to be the main thing that alarms spooky fish, is the presence of a large object that is too close for comfort. Fishing lines appear large bc of disturbance/displacement of water, from a length of line's total surface area. The thicker the line, the greater the possibility of disturbance. Secondly, thicker lines can overwhelm a lure both by action, and by making a lure send larger signals than a prey item should. I believe these are the main issues. Fish seeing an inert line should not mean much. But if it moves, or disturbs/displaces much water, a fish is likely to notice, esp under high vis conditions, esp when a fish is already "spooky". This is what I (currently) suspect is going on around fishing lines.

Hi, Alan. Cool! No! Maybe yes. I have fished the Lake Ontario bays and seen good numbers of American Eels. We assumed they were spawning but they are known to spawn in the Sargasso Sea, not in freshwater. I guess I never have looked up whether there are landlocked populations that may spawn in fresh. Adult American Eels are very large. Maybe your bass are eating young ones? Or, one of the small lamprey species? Curious. Cheers, Paul

Yeah, that was a cool scenario. Every water, every trip, has cool scenarios to uncover and explore.

In part… It was a real cloud I saw while bass fishing. Pretty cool. I then photoshopped it, rather crudely. Always meant to redo it, but there are plenty of other things to do. My wife would like to make a TNF sticker of it. Anyway, first things first.

@@thenatureoffishing7591 your wife is right😃 it would make a great sticker and I guarantee your subscribers would buy you out.

Hi, Ziggy. Hmmmm... There are crayfish there, something like a half dozen species or so. Some of those are invasives though, so not sure how that's panning out. You do have a lot of infertile geology there, I believe. Crustaceans do need calcium for their shells. If the substrate doesn't offer it, there will be few crustaceans. Saving grace is, if you have bass, they are eating something, and crays may be one less critter you need to think about. But, don't write them off, many waters have them without people, even fishers, knowing about it. Paul

Yes! And we catch plenty of bass on... pink flukes! Over the years, my focus has gone from "what makes bass bite" to "what makes them NOT bite". An often more telling story. Paul

Hi, Edward. I don't sell lures. But the components are readily available. In this case I used the Kalin's Spot Stalker jig heads, and the Z-Man CrawZ lure. But, many jigheads and soft plastic craw bodies could work just fine. I liked the CrawZ bc of the buoyancy provided by the Elaz-tech plastic. But, it's not entriely necessary to spell "crayfish" to the fish. You'll want to match appropriate jighead weight to the depth you'll be fishing, just like in any jig fishing. Hope this helps. Have fun experimenting. Best, Paul

Hi, bluerapper. Yeah, maybe I just started fishing before I saw it on TV? :) I'm respectful, and careful, with my fish. Heck, I like them. Cheers, Paul

@@thenatureoffishing7591 yes Paul your work is clean and respectful to the fish, when I saw you feeling sad for that little bass you gained my respect.

Hi, sc. Mostly bc I most enjoy duping fish with artificial's best. It's just a neat game. Paul

I am probably a little different from most of your viewers, I am a avid tournament bass angler and fish several tournament trails. I really enjoy your videos as they provide me with more information about the fish I love to chase. I live in Central Kentucky and fish huge man made reservoirs such as Lake Cumberland and Kentucky Lake. I have won a lot of money on baits like, jigs trailed with zoom chunk style trailers that which in no resemble anything natural. Would like to hear your thoughts of why these baits work and have worked for well for so long all times of the year. Also what are your favorite “go to baits” and do you think it is always better to use natural colors and profiles or go big and bright sometimes. Would appreciate you thoughts and insight greatly. Keep up the good work and love the videos, a breath of fresh air compared to the product endorsed videos of the professionals in our industry.

Hi, SS. I would LOVE to. My longer-term plan is to finish bass, then move on to trout. Dying to do it. It's going to be a while yet though. My kind of content is darn labor intensive so it takes time to produce. Paul

Hi, Michael. Yeah, cute phrase. Sometimes.!But ripping line through the water can also spook fish, and snag cover.

Well... time, mess, satisfaction. One such lure fits in my pocket and may catch 20 or more fish. And I done made it myself -mostly. (Although I have invented a number of awesome crayfish fly and jig patterns, along with many other darn cool critters.

@@thenatureoffishing7591 Well I'll give ya that, if I want the real deal I do have to seine them myself out of our local drainage ditches, and on top of that I choose to use only the ones that have molted or shedded out as we call it, however, I have seen many a big large mouth taken on artificial crawfish....by the way , I think that's darn cool u make ur own....keep on fishing!

We used to catch them from rock and wood crevices with a piece of bacon fat tied to a string. They grab hold and get lifted out. Worked like a charm. Yeah, keep on fishin’! It’s all good.