Quote:
Originally Posted by Grant
For years (probably 65+ including my dad), we tossed a bait trap in our boathouse opening, baited with fish heads, bones, the occasional gutted sunny. Within hours, that trap would have 10-12 or more crayfish inside, and we'd use them as bait when fishing from the dock. Fast forward to circa 2012, the numbers had dwindled significantly. As kids, we'd snorkel and catch them under the rocks all around the dock and in the shallows. No more. And agreed re: overall population...been scuba diving the lake for years and have noticed a decline in the overall population -- unless you're talking rock bass, in which case the numbers are exploding. Still, I've had some decent luck (not great, like circa '70s-'90s) kayak fishing with lures. But definitely hit or miss. Sad.
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I've got two theories going:
1) "Ice-Eaters" have opened areas free of ice. Predators such as mink can feast on sluggish crayfish during the long period of "Ice-In". These are the adult crayfish that were expected to spawn next season's crop of baby crayfish.
2) Our lake's surface waters have been variously described as "turbulent". Winter Harbor, for example, is fully-ringed with ideal rocky habitat for crayfish, but recreational use of oversized boats shake and flush those crayfish' hideouts relentlessly. The one crayfish I saw in late September allowed himself to be caught easily as he crawled drunkenly near shore. Wave action was only moderate at the time.
The only life among our rocky shorelines are the invertebrates who can physically cling to rocks.
Although crayfish can snack on plantlife, their mainstay diet is dead fish. Incessant wave action propel dead fish out of reach and towards other predators--including mammals and birds.
Winter Harbor's crayfish traps were beaten into obsolescence by ~1985.