One of the most overlooked walleye forage options, especially in the late summer and early fall, is crayfish. As the calendar flips to August and into September, in many walleye fisheries crayfish can become one of the top forage options.
In the late summer and early fall, walleye will often be keying on deeper, main lake rock piles and humps. Large boulder fields and other scattered rock can also attract fish. A big reason for this is because of the presence of crayfish, which can play an important role in understanding late summer walleye patterns.
Crayfish present an excellent forage option for walleye of all sizes, but anglers can expect to find a majority of walleye keying on crayfish in the “eater” size class, or 14-18 inches. Generally speaking the largest walleyes will focus on the largest baits, when available, which include yellow perch, ciscoe, smelt, or other larger bodied preyfish.
These eater caliber walleyes are the perfect size to consume crayfish, and in many times can find crayfish in great numbers. This also sets up a consistent bite for anglers, as unlike baitfish that may be roaming across a main basin, crayfish will be in predictable locations such as these rock piles, humps, and boulder fields.
Walleyes feeding on crayfish will be bottom concentrated, which means that both jigging and bottom bouncing are effective techniques. In fact, many times walleye will rarely come up off the bottom because they are used to digging around for their meals.
Anglers also shouldn’t be surprised when they think they have a bite, but instead reel up a crayfish as they will attack minnows or minnow looking baits. Anglers that find the occasional crayfish on the end of their line can fish confidently knowing their bait is right in the strike zone.
Anglers who consider crayfish as a forage option for walleye, and focus their efforts on rocky main lake structure, will likely find excellent, and most importantly consistent, late summer walleye fishing.
