Missouri tournament pro Guido Hibdon makes his living with artificial lures these days. But as a young man, Hibdon, his father and brother made a living as guides on Lake of the Ozarks fishing with live crawfish.

"The best bass bait — bar none," Hibdon calls the live crustacean. "No other live bait can compare to a live crawdad, although the golden shiner in Florida comes close.

"Until you've ever tried it, you'll never be able to understand just how good crawdads are for catching bass."

The effectiveness of live crawfish for catching bass hasn't changed in the days since Hibdon relied on them as a dependable way for his clients to catch fish. "You can still take live crawdads and go down a bank and if there are 50 bass along that bank, I believe you could catch every one of them," he says.

Using live crawfish for bass is a popular live-bait method in the South, where many bait shops cater to these anglers. Many southern fishermen prefer to catch their own, which is a simple affair in rivers, streams and lakes where crawfish are abundant. A small seine can quickly produce enough crawfish for a day of fishing.

Since crawfish are most active at night, it is a natural bait for fishing after dark. But knowledgeable fishermen know that crawfish will produce throughout the day as well, particularly in the spring and summer.

The most productive size of crawfish is 2 to 3 inches in length, according to veteran anglers, who rig the live crustacean several ways.

Hibdon impales a No. 2 hook through the bottom of the second section of its tail. The hook point protrudes out of the top of the crawfish's shell. That seems to be the most common way to rig a live crawfish, although some fishermen simply attach the bait to the hook with a rubberband.

Since crawfish are bottom dwellers, the bait should be fished along the bottom. This can usually be accomplished without weighting the rig, but a couple of small splitshot can help on occasion.

When fishing around aquatic vegetation, some anglers remove the crawfish's pinchers, which can cause problems by grabbing the weeds and tangling the line.

Crawfish can be fished around a variety of cover and structure situations. Many fishermen prefer to anchor over submerged rocky ledges or along boat docks, but Hibdon says the most effective way to fish this live bait is to cast it to structure along select river banks. "You can cover a lot of water that way," he says. "And if there is a bass in the area, you'll find out in a hurry."

Hibdon advises anglers to set the hook on bass as soon as they feel the fish — if they plan on releasing a portion of their catch. "If you don't let the fish run with it before you set the hook, you'll never kill one," he says. "If you let the fish run with it, they'll swallow that crawfish out of sight and they'll be too deeply hooked to release unharmed."