Late Winter/Early Spring Chatterbait Colors

[hawgenvy]

Had a pet bass many years ago in a fish tank. I would dangle various baits outside the glass to see which one he liked. Red drove him crazy. He would dash at the glass to try to get at a red worm, or even jump out of the water to attack one held above. Other colors did not have that effect.

[Bluebasser86]

17 hours ago, ChrisD46 said:

*At what month after water warm up do you move away from the red / orange colors on to other colors such as shad , pearl white , green pumpkin , black & blue , etc. ?

It works year round, no reason to move away from it.

[long island basser]

On 3/9/2020 at 12:44 PM, Paul Roberts said:

Aha! So it is a TX thing! My craws are all brown or green. Many, actually come out of winter hibernation, black, having been down in the muck and leaves for some time. I've never seen a "red" crayfish -that wasn't boiled.

Gold black back! That's the one I just painted red! Do I need to go out and buy some gold/blk again??? :))

Thought you might be interested in knowing these live in a lake in Suffolk county N.Y. that I fished a lot before moving upstate. Don’t know exactly what the name of these are though.

 

[Paul Roberts]

On 4/27/2020 at 6:14 AM, long island basser said:

Thought you might be interested in knowing these live in a lake in Suffolk county N.Y. that I fished a lot before moving upstate. Don’t know exactly what the name of these are though.

 

Thanks, lib. Others in the past have commented on red crayfish in their northern waters. @J Francho posted such a scenario from Oneida Lake, NY. 

 

Two species that can be notably red-orange are the Rusty Crayfish, an invasive native in the upper Ohio River drainage. And the Red Swamp Crayfish, an invasive native in the mid-south states; Probably the one in @Catt's post.

 

The ones I've seen here, so far, are brown-ish or green-ish. The two species most common in my waters can have orange tipped pincers and leg joints, at least in fairly clear water. Big old ones, down in mucky bottoms, can be really dark, near black.

I threw a red crankbait a few times this spring, but caught on a baitfish color. BTW: That Pit Boss in "Big Texan" is a favorite of mine too. I'm always looking for craw patterns with pale bellies though. Here's a pincer I recovered from a 4lber just last week, that took a "Dirt" (brown/olive back) colored Ned grub. 

[txchaser]

In central texas about mid-may bluegill started producing better. The adults (over 4 where I am) were the last ones to stop biting, so towards the tail end it would be no fish at all except that one big bite.