The title says it all... How do I know if the lake I am fishing has crawfish in it? What are things to look for or what kinds of lakes hold them? Thanks!

Local and state conservation departments have all kinds of information on it (species, largest population, ones that fish eat, how long they live, when they're active, etc), but as far as lakes go I would imagine 99% of them will have craws in there.  You can also dissect any fish you catch to see what they're feeding on (that's if you plan on keeping them for filets).  When it's not 10 degrees out you can go to the lake and flip rocks to see what's hiding under them too.

Turn a few flat rocks over in the shallows, you should find out pretty quickly. Walking a shoreline at night with a flashlight is another good way. 

You would be hard pressed to find any body of water that has a bass population without a crawdad population.

Tom

Most every body of water including ditches, ya don't even need a body of water down south they are every where!

1 minute ago, WRB said:

You would be hard pressed to find any body of water that has a bass population without a crawdad population.

Tom

X2 ~ I agree with Tom

Pretty much any lake you fish.  

A-Jay

http://iz.carnegiemnh.org/crayfish/country_pages/state_pages/indiana.htm

 

All of them! There are crayfish developed for just about anywhere there is a wet spot: They live in lakes, rivers, streams, swamps, ditches, and soggy fields hiding in vegetation, under rocks and wood, and burrow into mud.

One way to find crays is to explore the shallows at night with a flashlight. The sheer numbers of active craws can be astounding.

20 minutes ago, Paul Roberts said:

All of them! There are crayfish developed for just about anywhere there is a wet spot: They live in lakes, rivers, streams, swamps, ditches, and soggy fields hiding in vegetation, under rocks and wood, and burrow into mud.

One way to find crays is to explore the shallows at night with a flashlight. The sheer numbers of active craws can be astounding.

This !!! I even have crawfish in my back yard. Parts of it is low and stay at least damp. After a big rain and I can see crawdad holes !!!

Crawfish can be found in most lakes and make great bass bait.You can keep them alive in a small bucket with a air pump or in a bucket with clumps of aquatic vegetation.

Y'all ever see this in your yard?

On top of all this, A craw pattern will work EVERYWHERE!

 

8 hours ago, WRB said:

You would be hard pressed to find any body of water that has a bass population without a crawdad population.

Tom

Come here to long island, every lake I fish here has no crawdad/crawfish. Nada

The ones with water

Crawfish are everywhere.  And if they aren't.  There is still freshwater species of Aquatic  shrimp that live in most lakes as well. 

In South Florida our crawfish are blue, and not easy to spot. Sometimes in the Everglades they are seen migrating over land, over a small levee with a dirt road, for instance, and at night, in large numbers. We often have success with blue jigs. Maybe this is why.

 

Blue crawfish

2 hours ago, Weld's Largemouth said:

Come here to long island, every lake I fish here has no crawdad/crawfish. Nada

what is the deal with that?

Might be true. I see that only 2 species of crayfish are listed for Long Island drainages: one is introduced, the other it is not known if native or introduced. Might be explained by the glacial retraction pattern that formed Long Island.

Daniels, Robert A. 2004. Crayfishes, Shrimps and Crabs of New York's Inland Waters. New York State Biodiversity Clearinghouse, New York State Biodiversity Project and New York State Biodiversity Research Institute. http://www.nybiodiversity.org/

9 hours ago, Catt said:

Y'all ever see this in your yard?

One lake I fish (50 acres ) has thousands of these burrows...when I was a kid, we called them snake holes! 

From what I beleive , quite a few but not all Long Island lakes have craws.

but until you see evidence, your not sure they are there.

2 hours ago, hawgenvy said:

In South Florida our crawfish are blue, and not easy to spot. Sometimes in the Everglades they are seen migrating over land, over a small levee with a dirt road, for instance, and at night, in large numbers. We often have success with blue jigs. Maybe this is why.

 

Blue crawfish

   I have caught similar looking crawfish and other types of crawfish down here.The main ones I have caught had different shades of brown with claws that have orange,blue,green,and even red in it.I use to have a aquarium where I raised crawfish,they are quite interesting pets.

i thought that pile in my yard was from my neighbors dog

Ive yet to find a creek without crawfish...and creeks feed most bodies of freshwater. 

Crawfish are found in the kind of lakes that are wet.

On 1/20/2016 at 11:39 AM, Sevi316 said:

The title says it all... How do I know if the lake I am fishing has crawfish in it? What are things to look for or what kinds of lakes hold them? Thanks!

They're there

On 1/21/2016 at 8:01 PM, Weld's Largemouth said:

Come here to long island, every lake I fish here has no crawdad/crawfish. Nada

Not to argue, but when I was growing up, my parents had a lake house. I NEVER saw a crawfish in that lake until I was over 30 and I caught a bass with a claw hanging out of its rear end. They might still be there.