How important are crayfish to smallmouth, really?
Central — in many rocky lakes and rivers crayfish are the single largest item in adult smallmouth diets, often a large fraction of total intake where the two overlap, because both are creatures of the same rock. Crayfish are calorie-dense, slow, and abundant exactly where smallmouth live, and the fish's bottom-tipping, follow-and-pin feeding style is built around them. This is why craw-profile baits — tubes, jigs, ned rigs, craw-pattern cranks banged into rock — are permanent smallmouth staples, and why molting periods (soft-shell crayfish) can trigger conspicuous bottom-feeding binges.
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