What Is The Best Finesse Jig To Imitate A Craw Daddy

[JD96]

I fish here in GA, and I haven't had a ton of luck fishing my craw daddy looking jigs recently, I mainly fish a small private manmade lake, but can get to Oconee or Jackson pretty easily.

 

I like the smaller 1/4 oz jigs, but am not confident on how to imitate a crawdaddy with them as much as the big 1/2 or 3/4 oz football head jigs do.

 

 

Any suggestions on jig / trailer would be appreciated.

[BassAddict1911]

My favorite finesse jig presentation is a Strike King Bitsy Jig with a Berkley chigger craw for my trailer. Hope this helps ... best of luck to ya:)

[RyneB]

put a Yum Crawbug on the back of that jig, it will add bulk. But there aren't many craw imitations that do it better than the Yum Crawbug.

[Jolly Green]

I don't think they are as popular as a jig/trailer combination, but YUM CrawBugs actually look like a crawdad, as in a soft plastic replica of the actual animal, not something that has a couple big floppy claw-like things that you stick on a jig.  You can T-rig them with a bullet weight or on a weighted hook but I've had the best results taking advantage of their hollow bodies by rigging them on a 3/8 oz. tube jig.  (I like that weight because it helps keep them on the bottom in the river I fish; you could go lighter maybe in still water.)

 

They're killer around any significant areas of gravel or rip rap; I just slowly walk them around in the rocks with maybe a couple of twitches here and there. When a larger bit of rock holds it up you can rock it back and forth a little bit and the claws will actually appear to be working, opening and closing. Crawdad colors in the wild usually are similar to whatever habitat they're in, so pick yours accordingly.  

 

I've never used any commercial scents, but I have shoved pieces of fresh garlic into the bait before the tube, and interest seems to pick up somewhat.

 

Z-Man Crawdadz are another bait that looks like a whole crawdad, though less realistic. I don't do as well with them but they catch fish. Be warned that they are some different type of plastic that can't be mixed in with typical plastic baits or they will react and actually melt. On the upside they are super resilient and have a little groove along the back where you can let the business end of your hook hide, so it's still very weedless but easily emerges to stick the fish on the hook set.

 

Good luck!

[Blues19]

I really had some good luck with the Eakins jigs.  Or Look at Walmart or your local tackle shop for Jewel Finnesse jigs and pig them with a Zoom lil critter craw for the trailer. That will catch a bunch of fish

[Bankbeater]

Strike King bitsy bug with a Netbaits baby paca chunk for a trailer.

[Siebert Outdoors]

This little guy. http://www.siebertoutdoors.com/index.php/finesse-jigs with a 2" chunk trailer.