How To #8: Catching Crayfish By Hand for Bait Fishing

Seining is my favorite method to catch hellgrammites and one of my favorite methods to catch crayfish, but when I forget my seine, I resort to catching the crayfish by hand. I surround a rock with my flat hands, slide them together, and pinch the crayfish between them while turning them upright. This trip, I was catching crayfish at a rate of about 180/hour, which is much slower than the seining method's 420/hour, but it's still a good backup method to know. I also caught two bait fish this trip with bare hands. I catch crayfish for bait fishing for most local river species: smallmouth bass, walleye, pike, carp, catfish, panfish, and more.

For more outdoors tips and tricks I've learned, check out the rest of my How To Fishing and Hunting series.