match the hatch....crawfish

[mblk181]

One of the locals today at the bait shop told how he keeps current with the crawdad coloration changes. The day before going fishing for smallies, he makes up a few craw traps and on the morning to be fished, he picks them up to study the current colors of the crawdads in local waters.
He then matches his jigs and tubes as closely as possible to gain an edge.

Making the traps is very easy...... Take a 2 liter Coke bottle and cut off the top making a funnel. Set the funnel aside for the moment and put two small holes about halfway down the side of the bottle making them about an inch apart.
Take some mono line, go into one hole and out the other, then tie off. At random, drill or punch a few holes here and there to let water circulate through the bottle. Add a few stones for weight, bait the trap, invert the funnel so it's sticking inside the end just like the hole is placed in a minnow trap and use a little duct tape to fasten the funnel to the main body. Baiting can generally be most any meat, some prefer a fish based catfood, some like crumbled sausage, mashing a piece of chicken or hot dog.... Anyhow, bait the trap. Lower it between rocks, along rip rap, on a gravel and rock bottom......anywhere craws are likely to be.

Try to be as inconspicuous as possible on tying the mono to secure the trap. If the line is a clear 6lb line, just leaving it lay out in the rip rap might be good enough. Against the gray stone, hard to see. After picking up the traps and viewing, he lets them go.....but again, If you want to use them for live bait, that's up to you.

[Rich]

Mac, once again you come up with a great idea. Thanks!

[jglassguy]

AS long as your catching them to study their color and softness of the shell, You should
cash in on the soft craw craze that will be comming soon.
They sell for over 5 bucks a dozen here.
When we first started bass fishing after working 3rd shift at the stainless steel plant, all the guys would go ape when soft craws were in seaon, all I ever got on them were cats lol
Any creek or stream is full of craws and we always used the above method with frozen chicken ...
I'm glad I use plastics n lead these days lol

[mike0062466]

[quote author=Mac10 link=board=news;num=1118689438;start=0#0 date=06/13/05 at 15:03:58]One of the locals today at the bait shop told how he keeps current with the crawdad coloration changes. The day before going fishing for smallies, he makes up a few craw traps and on the morning to be fished, he picks them up to study the current colors of the crawdads in local waters.
He then matches his jigs and tubes as closely as possible to gain an edge. [/quote]
Mac, it's thunderstorming here, so I'm stuck at home in front of the monitor with the time to do what I do best, which is to be an irascible, argumentative old codger.

I have never bought into the "match the hatch" philosophy because bass take too many lures of every conceivable size, shape, color, action and whatever other characteristics lures have.

From the time I caught my first smallies so many years ago, it appeared that they were particularly attracted to chartreuse (as well as a full range range of colors), hardly a common crawfish color.

So while what this bait shop guy is doing sounds great, does he or anyone else have evidence that it actually results in more fish?

[n2b]

well i would think so because it would provide a more realistic presentation.

[Infisherman1]

$8 for a crawfish trap at BPS, picked one up two days ago.

[coolman]

Hula why did you buy a crawfish trap in Florida?????

[Bassin_Dude]

why not?

[Infisherman1]

[quote author=christopherkeene9 link=board=news;num=1118689438;start=0#6 date=06/13/05 at 23:07:57]Hula why did you buy a crawfish trap in Florida?????[/quote]

Crawfish live in fl, just like anywhere else.

[fastcat]

I beleive that I read some thing like that in a Field and Stream Mag. Sounds like a good idea. Save you a couple of bucks.

[Rich]

does he or anyone else have evidence that it actually results in more fish?

Couldn't hurt ;D

[Mikey]

question- is there crawfish in florida or may i say craw dads

[Mikey]

nvm i read on k srry abotu that

[Mikey]

Do u guys think i would be able to cath craw dads in a pond thats been a round for about a year

[Mikey]

hey have any of u used this craw fish before
http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catal...=SearchResults

[mblk181]

Marty.....

Personally not sure if his catch rate increases.....just something he believes in and probably one of those things that works for him, but could be a myth to others.

Cheap way to get craws, if nothing else. I really don't know if matching really pays off or not. Getting similar responses on Bronzeback.com from the respected gang there as well. Thanks for your thoughtful reply....Good Fishing, Mac

[profishermenkid16]

Mac10, Its good to see you on the board again. Well I went to my local bait shop last week on my lunch break. They were just getting a new shipment of craws in from a local guy. I was looking at the craws and seen three diferent colors of craws mixed in with each other. I asked him if he trapped different lakes for them all and he said they al came from the local lake.Trying to acess the color difference , I asked him if he had three crab traps going, thinking the 3 colors differences were from 3 traps in different areas of the lake. He said he had 20 traps out on the lake total.He must have seen where I was going with the conversation and said the craws were all different colors in the same trap, they are always that way ,never the same colors for each specific area of the lake.Help me draw a conclusion, there are 3 basic dominate types of craws in the lake or they travelled a distance in each direction to get caught in the traps feeding at night ?What is your take, providing the guy told the truth about dofferent colors mixed in the same trap. :-/ P N J

[Mikey]

thats like us theres blacks whites and hispanics and albino people

[FishinMommy]

One time I was down at Lake of the Ozarks and this guy won a tournament buy matching the Hatch and he said that they were not getting Sh*T until he looked down in the water and saw what the crawfish looked like and matched his lure