Crawdad colors and info all you need to match the hatch

[Blue Streak]

As much as science can study it I don't think we will ever know if or how a bass sees colors.

[Fishing Rhino]

I'm going to talk a bit about their larger brethren, Homarus Americanus.  They also have color variations which some attribute to diet.  But I noticed slight, but distinct differences in color from one area to the next.

Some had a bit more red.  Some were brighter while others tended to be more of an olive drab in their green coloration.  Some had bright red edges on their claws, others cream color and offshore lobsters had more of a tan edge to them.  Yet others were darker on the claw edges. 

The color differences seemed to be more related to bottom coloration particularly the resident lobsters.  This tells me that they have a chameleon-like quality to them in order to blend into their surroundings. 

I have caught blue lobsters which, according to biologists, lack certain pigments in their shell.

I've also caught a lobster that was bright yellow with brown/black polka dots.  It was of legal size so I brought it in.  The dealer held it in his tanks so the biologists could get if for their studies.

This coloration mattered not at all to the species of fish that fed on them, notably cod and striped bass.

Having said that.  I'd still try to match the coloration of the local crawdads.  That one extra fish it might catch could be a trophy.

[Lund Explorer]

If memory serves me correctly, there could be one reason to choose a color that I haven't seen here yet.

Like I said, it has been many years ago that I read an article concerning the color change some species went through when they had shed their older and harder shells.  The article continued on to discuss how bass were wired to recognize this color phase as an opportunity as the softer shelled crawdads were somehow easier to catch.

Now I haven't run across any article lately that discussed this topic, so maybe it is just an old wives tale.  But if it were true, then I would consider trying to discover what coloration your local species had during this stage of the crawdad's life.  This would seem to be the color that would trigger the best response.

[Blue Streak]

Cast a soft craw into a small mouth stream and they will hit it as soon as it hits the water. How do they know? What do they see?. I know there is a difference in the colors and shades of coloration between a hard craw and a soft craw. But at times it has seemed to me that the bass see this while the bait is still in the air. I have had days when 3 or 4 smallmouth are waiting for that bait to hit the water. One old friend always said the soft ones are shinier. Whatever it was he could see it too because when we picked craws at night he never picked up a hard one. I tried to catch every craw I found.

[BassThumb]

People should try dropping a crawfish trap in their home lake or river if they're curious about the critters that live in the depths.

I started doing this as a kid when I would wade the Mississippi River and it's tribs for smallies, and I would use the craws for bait on Lindy Rigs. There is NOTHING that can trigger a bite like a live crawfish. I used the Frabill Crawfish Trap baited with a can of cat food that I stabbed up with a screwdriver. The buoy I tied to mine floated away last year, but I had some fun before it did. I found that the craws in the weedy little lakes around here were mostly green with hints of blue and purple, drastically different in shape, color, and size from what's in the rivers.

These sometimes go on closeout at the end of the year in local retailers.

http://www.sportsmanswarehouse.com/sportsmans/Frabill-Crawfish-Trap/productDetail/Minnows-and-Crawfish-Traps/prod72046/cat101118

NOTE:  Check local regs before doing this.

[BobP]

If you google crawfish colors for your state, you often get a state university website that has pics of the species common to your area.  Most craws in most areas are a shade of brown most of the time.  But lots of them also have accent  colors (orange, red, bright blue, etc) during certain times of year.  Surest method?  Turn over a few rocks before you put the boat in.

[Fishing Rhino]

Here's a monkey wrench regarding color.  In the case of most, if  not all critters, their coloration serves at least two purposes, one to attract those of the opposite sex, the other to make themselves less visible to predators.  It's why most fish are dark on the top and light on the bottom.

Other colorations would make them more vulnerable to predators.  There may be times when going against the grain, such as the pink color, work better.

The moral to this story is that if the old tried and true, going by the book ain't working, throw out the book and do something "radical", presentation and colorwise.

[Catt]

Color expression in crawfish is regulated largely by special pigment containing cells (chromatophores) located beneath the exoskeleton, and color is normally a function of two factors, developmental stage and the environment. Most crawfish species are generally greenish or brownish as immature animals and begin to take on the characteristic colors as the approach maturity. Color manifestations is intensified in sexually mature individuals. The aquatic environment and diet also influence color.

Individual specimens of crawfish vary in color from the normal population. Color variants are almost endless with respect to degree and/or pattern of expression.

LSU Ag Center > Crawfish > Biology & Stocking > Color Variations in the Red Swamp Crawfish

[J Francho]

Nothing beats catching a little critter in the lake you're fishing.  And really, you want to catch a vulnerable, freshly molted crab.  Those are the ones the fish want - less work.  Up here, "soft shells" often have quite a bit of blue in them.

[brushhoggin]

Looking over every Dad on that first page, I'd pick this one.... A nice little small-clawed female

in about a 2 1/2" size... nose hooked, and live lined

Whoo Hooo ! Live dads are SOOOO much fun

Fish

looks like a huddle bug!

I played in ditches and creeks my whole life growing up here and i never saw a crayfish in my state that wasn't a deep red color with some black on it, but I've thrown jigs and craw worms of all colors (mostly black and blue and other shades of earth tones) with great success. I'm with Raul though, it's all about matching behavior. Now that doesn't mean I'm gonna go out and start throwing turquoise/pink jigs and craws.