Crawdad Baits/Jigs - Locations to Target?

[Dorado]

I'm already thinking about my 2018 New Year's Resolution and that is to fish with the other 1/2 of my unused tackle. This includes various jigs, crawdad baits (Netbait, Rage Tail, PowerBait Chiggers), tubes, and creature baits (Pitboss,RI Beavers). As a beginner kayak fishermen, my habitual ritual is to find schools of threadfin shad with my Lowrance Hook4 and use search baits like chatters, lipless to mid-depth cranks, grubs, and paddletails. It's been my comfort zone because schools of shad are easy to locate and are becoming more predictable for me to locate throughout various times of the year. Through experience, I'm finally starting to become successful using this technique and it's fun, but I'm neglecting the crawdad "stuff" due to a severe lack of confidence. 

 

As a kayak fishermen, equipping these types of baits, what structure, both underwater and above water, do you search for when imitating crawdads? I live in AZ, so our lakes are more/less flooded canyons. If I just stick to those baits next year to build new skills, I'll be more well-rounded and not feel like I wasted $$$ on proven baits that I know works exceptionally for others. 

[Bluebasser86]

Crawdads will live around any kind of cover, but you'll rarely find them in large numbers around open water areas that are featureless (mud flats). Around rocks, wood, and grass would be my favorite areas to target with craw imitations. 

[Catt]

One of the most overlooked lures are Crawfish imitators.

 

Many believe if there's none or a limited population of crawfish bass will not hit a imitations.

 

I'll throw "craw worms" in place of a Jig-n-Craw 

[68camaro]

I've recently made notes on how to fish crawfish as I also want to learn to use them starting in spring. I found the following useful:

 

https://www.bassmaster.com/understanding-bass-forage-crawfish

[NHBull]

@Catt, not to hijack, but what is your favorite craw worm?  Have never thrown one.

Thanks

[the reel ess]

I keep a jig or craw rigged and will pitch it to any cover around the edge. When the sun is out some fish will find a piece of cover and hunker down. This is a great way to drop something into their living room that they can't resist. I used to use them T rigged, which is great and they caught a lot of fish. But lately I started rigging a plain Arky weedless jighead with a Zoom Speed Craw. Mostly because I wanted practice with the jig hookset.

[Catt]

15 minutes ago, NHBull said:

@Catt, not to hijack, but what is your favorite craw worm?  Have never thrown one.

Thanks

 

Gene Larew 6" Salty Hawg Craw, Rage Tail's Lobster, & the one below 

[roadwarrior]

Rig these on a MegaStrike ShakE2

http://www.megastrike.com/megatubes

 

[Dorado]

2 hours ago, 68camaro said:

I've recently made notes on how to fish crawfish as I also want to learn to use them starting in spring. I found the following useful:

 

https://www.bassmaster.com/understanding-bass-forage-crawfish

I’m bookmarking this article. Answered a lot of my lingering questions. Looks like rocky shorelines will be my first start. Depending on where you live, Fall sounds like it could be dynamite for the Craw bite 

[NHBull]

42 minutes ago, Dorado said:

I’m bookmarking this article. Answered a lot of my lingering questions. Looks like rocky shorelines will be my first start. Depending on where you live, Fall sounds like it could be dynamite for the Craw bite 

For us in NH, craws are a post spawn, summer and heavy in the fall food source.

Spring is flukes, CB, JB

[Turtle135]

A jig with a craw trailer is pretty much my go to presentation. I find that it produces larger than average sized bass in the pressured waters I fish.

 

For my fishing in Maryland that is a lure I throw "into" cover. Fish it like you are trying to lose it. Early season my cover would be laydowns. Then as the season progresses (into post spawn and beyond) aquatic vegetation becomes the preferred cover.

 

I fish a lot of green pumpkin jigs in lakes that have a sunfish, perch and crayfish forage base. I suspect many of the bass I catch see that green pumpkin not as a craw but as a struggling sunfish or perch.

 

 

[Catt]

Dog days of summer & dead of winter is when I throw craw worms for Hawgs!

[WRB]

Having some experience fishing Arizona Salt River lakes; Saguaro, Apache, Canyon, Roosevelt and San Carlos, Alamo and Pleasant. Cover in the form of aquatic plants is very sparse. Soil transitions clay to gravel and larger size rocks with shade pockets and brush are places crawdads hide. 25' is the max day time depth to target until after Memorial Day when the day temps exceed 110 degrees. Summer is all about night fishing and determine the thermocline levels. 

Think smaller size craw jigs with trailers in the 3" size, on 1/2-3/4 oz jigs, no reason to fool around detecting strikes on the fall, keep working the bottom structure.

Tom

[Bankbeater]

Fishing in vegetation I like to use an 1/8 ounce jig.  The trailer will either be a ultravibe speedcraw, paca chunk, super hog, or a super chunk jr.  I fish it like a plastic worm pulling it across the top of the vegetation and letting it fall into holes.

When I'm fishing a deep drop off like a ledge, I'll up the size of the jig to 3/8 ounce.  I'll use the same trailers, but I will pitch the jig to a part of the ledge that is shallow.  I'll let it sit for a couple of seconds then drag it off the side, and let it drop down to the bottom.  I'm trying to get a bass to watch it drop.  The bite usually comes right after the jig lands on the bottom, and I start to move it a little.

[bowhunter63]

I really like the Rage Craw on the Rage rig.I keep it moving on the close to the bottom banging off rocks.Most the craw dad's in the river move pretty quick not to be a meal.

[Dorado]

On 11/17/2017 at 9:18 AM, Turtle135 said:

Fish it like you are trying to lose it. 

 

 

Great advice right there! As @WRB stated, here in AZ, our aquatic vegetation is sparse so I'll look for rocky shores and cliffs. The theme from all the responses sounds like I should cast towards shore and work it back like I'm working sets of descending stairs. 

 

Thanks all for the responses. 

[WRB]

Having some experience fishing Arizona Salt River lakes; Saguaro, Apache, Canyon, Roosevelt and San Carlos, Alamo and Pleasant. Cover in the form of aquatic plants is very sparse. Soil transitions clay to gravel and larger size rocks with shade pockets and brush are places crawdads hide. 25' is the max day time depth to target until after Memorial Day when the day temps exceed 110 degrees. Summer is all about night fishing and determine the thermocline levels. 

Think smaller size craw jigs with trailers in the 3" size, on 1/2-3/4 oz jigs, no reason to fool around detecting strikes on the fall, keep working the bottom structure.

Tom

[WRB]

The lakes around Pheonix on the Salt river have tremdous number of water sport boats from Easter break to Labor Day with high day time temperatures. The bass become nocturnal and suspend during the day, moving over to feeding areas at night. You can intercept some of these bass late afternoons and very early morning during low light periods. 

What you want to do is determine at what depth the bass are suspended at during the day, this tells you what depth to target at night, they move at that depth into feeding areas. Let's say it's 12' for this discussion. Look at the lake map for any flat areas with deep water at 12', the further out from the bank the better it will be, i.e. points, multiple points close together for example with small flats is what I look for. These lakes have Threadfin Shad that move into shelter areas at low light periods with something to hide under or in, brush is your best bet because few docks are availble. Shoreline brush close to points with flats or humps and you will find bass there.

I would start with a 1/2 oz spider jig using a plain painted head with GYCB double tail 4" Hula grub #021 night, 221 & 330 days. If the bass are deeper around 25' use the 3/4 oz size jig with same trailers.

Tom

[Dorado]

@WRB Appreciate your details - as always, Tom. This is very location-specific and insightful. I'm jonesin' to try these tips out! I was checking out the Yamamoto hula grub head below in 1/2 oz. 

 

 

 

[WRB]

You can paint plain jig using Testors enamel model paint, I use gloss black 1147 and brown 1140. Keep the paint out of the hook eye if possible as it tends to weaken the knots when clinched tight.

Yamaoto weedless wire gard football head w/Gamakatsu hook also work good with Hula Grubs in deep rocky structured lakes you fish.

Good luck.

Tom

[Catt]

Y'all missing the effectiveness of the craw worm!

 

Throw the jig in the bottom of your tackle box & Texas Rig that craw!

 

Don't worry about where crawfish prefer to live throw that craw where the bass can find it!

[Dorado]

On 11/21/2017 at 3:19 AM, Catt said:

Y'all missing the effectiveness of the craw worm!

 

Throw the jig in the bottom of your tackle box & Texas Rig that craw!

 

Don't worry about where crawfish prefer to live throw that craw where the bass can find it!

That begs the question. What advantages do Craw worms and Craw imitations have vs. spider Jigs or jigs with Craw trailers?

 

Ive been watching a lot of BassResource videos and he emphasizes why a jig is so effective due to the duel action from the skirt flaring mixed with the water displacement from the appendenges. It seems that the Craw worm is a lot more subtle. 

[JustJames]

Just for you @CattI'm gonna pickup some hudd bug this weekend.

[WRB]

Hudd bug isn't a craw worm, it's a life like imitation pre rigged and weighted crawdad.

Craw worm is a crawdad body at the end of a worm body instead of a tail end.

Spider jigs offer a built on skirt and grub combination with a Hula grub or spider skirt and grub as 2 separate components allowing Giving you a change colors when put together, both are Yamamoto products. Spider jigs are very simple, inexpensive and effective jigs, my favorite soft plastic jig for catching numbers of bass. Spider jigs look like a lot of different prey to bass both baitfish and crawdads.

Try a craw worm, it's another forgotten soft plastic that works. 

Tom

[Chance_Taker4]

On 11/21/2017 at 7:13 AM, Dorado said:

That begs the question. What advantages do Craw worms and Craw imitations have vs. spider Jigs or jigs with Craw trailers?

 

Ive been watching a lot of BassResource videos and he emphasizes why a jig is so effective due to the duel action from the skirt flaring mixed with the water displacement from the appendenges. It seems that the Craw worm is a lot more subtle. 

Here in Ohio I used to get routinely out fished by t-rigged craws when I was pitching  jigs. So I took what I saw and now I throw plain t-rigged craws 95% of the time.