Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Feeding Crawfish to Bass

I caught some small crawfish in a minnow trap that I had in the creek behind the house. I wanted to release them into the pond, but fear they could carry a disease?
Anyways, I decided to toss them in where our female SMB was sitting. She devoured them as soon as they hit the water! I tossed two in here...and the third one in where a juvenile LMB was sitting. He also rocketed about 6 feet to devour the crawfish as soon as it hit the water. Talk about instincts! This little guy has never seen a crawfish and yet he never hesitated to even check it out. WHAM!

I would think these crawfish are high protein food and imagine if I could give them a steady diet of these guys? I might see some real growth then.

Where I normally fish, I would say every Bass has a belly full of crawfish. LMB and SMB. It would be their main diet in that natural lake.

I can't remember where I read it, if it was here or somewhere else, but it described crayfish as being THE optimum forage for bass. Getting the right species and habitat established is key to them becoming this.

We have a ton of crawdads in our 2 ponds, the LMB do love them and they love the tadpoles, too. I've yet to really explore purchasing feed for the fish (the natural balance seems to be working quite well) but since summer brought a lot of grasshoppers, I've been catching them and throwing them in the pond for the bass and they don't hesitate to devour those, too. I read somewhere on the forum here that LMB will eat anything that fits in their mouth.

I caught one more crawfish last night and fed it to the SMB. She was waiting in the exact same spot for her meal! I have noticed that the LMB will actually follow us around the pond as we walk it. They know we represent food I guess. We stop, they stop. We move, they move with us! Amazing!

Man, that sounds like just great fun there.

Rattletrap2, do you know that your pond does not already have crayfish in it?

I've caught them, too. Before I gave them to the fish, I kept them in a tank for awhile, took photos and feed 'em some tuna. I had no idea, at first, that they were in the ponds. Once I discovered them, I was amazed at how many there are... and that I hadn't noticed them before.

Omaha, that is one of the great rewards of owning a pond. We thoroughly enjoy walking around it and seeing all the things that change.

Sunil, one of things that I think is unique about this pond, is that it is like a 1 acre swimming pool! When I snorkel around out there, I can see bottom 10 feet down clear as day. I spend a lot of time out there in the summer keeping tabs on everybody! That is why I know there are no minnows of any kind and no Crawfish.

Thanks. Are there no rocks on the bottom? I've been a firm believer that if you put a rock in the water, there'll soon be a crawdad under it.

Yes, there are rocks, but no sign of anybody under them!