What color are the crawdads in your lake?

[Needemp]

I learned from KVD that you should find out what color your crawdads are in the lake you are going to fish and match accordingly. In many lakes they are brown, but in one particular lake I fish, they were blue. I don'trecall blue crawdads when I use to catch them as a kid, but I might not have payed attention. BTW I live in St. Louis. What color are your crawdads in your neck of the woods.

[langs15]

I have no idea, havn't seen them around my lakes in ages!! But I use blueish crawdads...

And I am in northern NJ too!

[KU_Bassmaster.]

I found a few around the boat ramp the other day at one of my lakes.  They were a dark green on top, light green on the sides, and had orange/red coloring on the tip of the pinchers.

[RoLo]

Supposedly there are some 353 species of crayfish inhabiting the United States.

Depending on the subspecies, an adult crayfish may run from 1 to 6 inches in length.

Also depending on the species, crayfish display a variety of colors such as

brown, greenish brown, black, gray, blue, yellow, white, red and orange.

Roger

[Thatcher]

I also live in Norther Jersey and have yet to see a crawdad! Where in NJ do you fish?

[cart7t]

RoLo is right. There are many species of crawfish that inhabit different areas and in some lakes, several different species within a single lake.  They vary in color from species to species but also according to the time of the year.  

originally posted by KU_Bassmaster

I found a few around the boat ramp the other day at one of my lakes.  They were a dark green on top, light green on the sides, and had orange/red coloring on the tip of the pinchers.

Storm lures used to make a special wigglewart color for Bass Pro shops only distributed through their Midwest dealers that matched this crawfish specifically. The color is SV/SP53. Olive green back, Chart sides and flo. orange belly.  It's a very hot color in the spring.  The lures can be found on Ebay and usually run around $18-25 apiece when you can find them.

[Garnet]

Color of crawfish and baitfish are related to the general color of the lake. Just look in the water when you arrivve. If it looks Black,Brown,Green, white,Sand no matter what color I see the most of thats were I start. Doesn't matter to me if I think it's BlueGill lake,Shad Lake,or Crawfish I will start with baits like Perch with Black or Dark Green tones if I see White in a Perch lake I'm looking for lighter colored perch tones.

Garnet

[eyedabassman]

Our craws up in the lakes I fish in Wisconsin are like a greenpumpin with orange claws. A good way to find out what your color craws are,is to put the bass in your live well and the bass will spit up a craw or parts of them or what they are feeding on,shad ect.

[Guest avid]

I finally got a good look at a local crawfish.  It was darkbrown with reddish cast to it.  A greenpumpkin craw with red pincers should imitate it purty well.

[FL_fisher]

The ones in my lake change colors in cold water they tend to turn a little blue and in warm water they are brown with a little green. I have some in my fish tank and sometimes they will turn almost white.

[waraw]

In france i found 2 colours : red/brown and dark green. To know the color of the crawdads in your lake find the grass and bring some on your boat and you'll find some little crawdads...

[Captain Cali]

Brown/Red

Right now they are more red while during the Fall to early Winter months they are dark brown. Almost black. At one pond I've seen some that were dark green.

[CJ]

As Rolo said there are hundreds of different species of crawfish.There may be many of these species in one body of water.The most common on most rivers and resevoirs is the cumberland craw.They are dark green on top with a lighter side and orange on the belly,pinchers and sometimes sides pending on the time of year.One thing that alot of river crawfish have in common is that their belly and tips of their pinchers turn blue during the crawfish spawn.

[Whopper-Stopper]

Supposedly there are some 353 species of crayfish inhabiting the United States.

Depending on the subspecies, an adult crayfish may run from 1 to 6 inches in length.

Also depending on the species, crayfish display a variety of colors such as

brown, greenish brown, black, gray, blue, yellow, white, red and orange.

Roger

I think that they get bigger than 6 inches I found a claw in my lake today that was 3 1/2 in long.  I wish I had found the whole craw so I could have measured him.  

Ours are kind of a brownish green color.

[Brian_Reeves]

Want crawdads the easy way?  Take your dipnet and put it in the water close to the bank where you see some crawdad activity (ie holes, actual mudbugs, or whatnot) and put a turkey or chicken neck in the middle.  Go fishing for an hour or so then pick up your net.  Usually will work.

[splat_baseball51]

i went opening day trout fishing and i caught two monster craws a good 6 or 7 inches easy and they are always orange/red here in wnc

[Guest the_muddy_man]

YELLOW thats because we have grafitti mad beavers here with cans of yellow spray paint

[thevengenceaz]

I tend to see either grey or red here in arizona.  Grey up north, and red in the desert lakes mostly;  but i see grey in the desert lakes also.  

[BD]

NE OK.....I have seen some of the huge ones very dark blue-ish/black. In another area lake, they were bright red.

:-/

[langs15]

The chiken idea didn't work..would DNR know?

[airborne_angler]

In 2 lakes 300 miles apart here in Arizona, I noticed the "dads" were the same color. Bigger ones were Dark Grey with blue Pincers. The small ones were dark grey and had red or orange at the tips of thier pincers. Both large and small had white undersides,unless they were pretty old,then they had what looked like a dirty/stained underside. I have seen them with a light coat of green algae on thiem too.