Why reds and blacks are never good crawdad colors

[CCbass]

I fished a local lake for 15 years, flipping was the main stay, 2 inch visibility all the time. The best colors were brown or amber or green or orange or a combitation of those. Tried red and back over the years but not much success compared to the other colors, even tough you caught crawdads while flipping. All huge, mostly red and black and about 6 to 7 inches, crawdads are the major food intake for the bass. Tie this into a green sunfish I had in a tank in my home for years. He lived very happily with a 6,7 inch crawdad ( Black and red ) for a year or so. The sunfish never bothered the crayfish, unless I did not feed him for extended periods of time. Even then he would only lash out with a gab or to at the crawfish, they were in fact almost the same size. One day I came home and saw the shell from the crawfish, he molted, I looked around to see where he was. No dice, then I noticed my sunfish, so fat you could see white between his scales. When crawfish molt they are greenish/brown, the sunfish saw this and ate a prey almost his size because he had an advantage. Just an observation I thought I would share.

[pig n jig]

I have caught thousands of bass fishing a black/red jig.Rayburn red or tomato colored rattle traps have done very good for me as well.I do thank you for taking the time sharing your experiences though. P n j

[aikenyounggun]

ummmmm yeah also i saw a link on another one of my forums to sent you to a marine bioligist website where it showed all the different crawfish species........... and amazingly a lot of our favorite colors were dead on with the crawdads

[cassidyta]

Out my way the Dad's change color over the course of a year. My experience has been that attempts to match the current color is best.

[JB]

Originally Posted by pig n jig

I have caught thousands of bass fishing a black/red jig.Rayburn red or tomato colored rattle traps have done very good for me as well.I do thank you for taking the time sharing your experiences though. P n j

I too have caught hundreds of bass on Pnj's hand me down rayburn reds too Rofl
plus a black craw is a stable around here when its murky, green punkin seed is to when the water is clear.
btw a 2 inch visiblity is really dark or muddy..did ya mean 2 feet? even in ohio at its worst in the 80s the murk level at its worst was eight inches visiblity, its really changed all over here in last ten years. The waters a lot cleaner or clearer

[3dkicker]

Sorry I can't agree. Black/red tubes do really well here in the fall. Ask Denny B. about his win here on the river and classic championship on the black/red tube in '98.

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by CCbass

I fished a local lake for 15 years, flipping was the main stay, 2 inch visibility all the time. The best colors were brown or amber or green or orange or a combitation of those. Tried red and back over the years but not much success compared to the other colors, even tough you caught crawdads while flipping. All huge, mostly red and black and about 6 to 7 inches, crawdads are the major food intake for the bass. Tie this into a green sunfish I had in a tank in my home for years. He lived very happily with a 6,7 inch crawdad ( Black and red ) for a year or so. The sunfish never bothered the crayfish, unless I did not feed him for extended periods of time. Even then he would only lash out with a gab or to at the crawfish, they were in fact almost the same size. One day I came home and saw the shell from the crawfish, he molted, I looked around to see where he was. No dice, then I noticed my sunfish, so fat you could see white between his scales. When crawfish molt they are greenish/brown, the sunfish saw this and ate a prey almost his size because he had an advantage. Just an observation I thought I would share.

interesting observation but i have to disagree about the red and black not being good colors.

[CCbass]

If you notice I never said the colors red and balck were bad for catching bass. I said if a lake has a major abundance of crawdads and its the major forage, maybe browns and greens would be a better choice. Black and red can easily be a choice for a given lake depending on the forage they feed on. Yes the visibility on the lake is 2 inches all times through the year.

[CCbass]

Yes colors change, but I bet you never saw a 6 to 7 inch crawdad be anything but a dark black and red.

[BassAddict]

I caught a bass this weekend on a black/red chatterbait.

[Bob Smith]

The reason your sunfish ate the crawfish was not because of the color but because he had just molted. Fish recognize this stage as the most digestible stage If they see that happen they will gobble all the crawfish they can while the shell is still soft. At this stage color has almost no affect.

[woody]

Why reds and blacks are never good crawdad colors

I disagree, reds and blacks are good crawdad colors. I have been successful using both colors when imitating craws.


~Mark

[jasonfish320]

I think that it's simply a matter of matching the hatch, different lakes have different food sources...Bass are one of the very few species of fish that can see color and many studies prove that they can see yellows and reds better than other colors..I have always had good luck with blacks..not so much reds...you also have to keep in mind that water has its own shade of color and can often change the appearance of your lures color.

[Jigger]

Originally Posted by 3dkicker

Sorry I can't agree. Black/red tubes do really well here in the fall. Ask Denny B. about his win here on the river and classic championship on the black/red tube in '98.

Ditto. One of my favorite Flippin' Tube colors on a lake that has lots of crawfish is Black/Red flake.

[Mac2]

Over 300 species in the US, all sorts of colors and some changing during the seasons.
It's also been proven that you don't have to match the colors on a lot of baits, including crawdads.

[Raul]

Make it even better, jig/trailer ( which in theory imitates crawdads ), craw soft platics, skirted double tail grubs ( which also imitate craws ) work consistenly ...... where there are no craws the fish can eat.

[Volman]

Thanks for sharing your observations CCbass

[garry_3000]

Man you are right red and black jigs suck dont throw them ,for some reason I only catch big bass on black/red jigs, you must like small fish.

[3dkicker]

Originally Posted by CCbass

Yes colors change, but I bet you never saw a 6 to 7 inch crawdad be anything but a dark black and red.

I'm confused. Are you saying that large crawfish are only black and red?

[rangerryan]

i have seen large crawdads that are black and blue. and some that are brown. black and blue is one of my favorite jig colors. i use a black gene larue that has red pinchers and have caught some of my best bass on it. one time i had a three pound largemouth puke up a 5" black and blue crawdad in my live well... so i tied on a imitation of the puke and didnt catch a thing.... anyway crawdads can be all sorts of colors.

[rangerryan]

Originally Posted by CCbass

If you notice I never said the colors red and balck were bad for catching bass. I said if a lake has a major abundance of crawdads and its the major forage, maybe browns and greens would be a better choice. Black and red can easily be a choice for a given lake depending on the forage they feed on. Yes the visibility on the lake is 2 inches all times through the year.

the title of this thread is..... "why reds and blacks are NEVER good crawdad colors."

[CCbass]

Bob smith your theory is far from any trueth, so in order for a sunfish to know to eat a crawfish when its molted, it needs to see it molt. So wrong, learned behavior, any molted crawfish will be a different usually lighter color then its hard shell version. If a fish feeds on lighter colored crawfish, whitch is and for the most part usually smaller and younger and easier to catch, it keys into those colors as far as an easy meal. Yes the size of the prey might be bigger but the color triggers easy meal.

[Bob Smith]

What color was the crawfish when it molted? Probably a light green or olive color. I think that the fish are more triggered by other stimula than color when the crawfish molts (pheramones, scents or something else). I think the color stimula in the water is dictated by water clarity, depth and general visibility. Why would a bass hit a Bubble gum crawfish or a white lizard? I have caught a number of bass on Black and Red Craws, Black and Red #11A pork frog tipped on a jig or a spinnerbait, Balck and red slider worms and so on. But I have also witnessed in one of the aquariums at lake Fork where they often keep some of the larger fish (most recently caught), gobble a large crawfish right after it molted. "Far from any truth" and "So wrong" are some pretty strong phrases when you are talking "theory". Don't pre-judge my experience.

[mont_lunker_hunter]

Bob is right dude.

[CCbass]

A basses number one, and maybe two I guess, prey finding instinct is sight and vibration.