Has anybody here ever had any luck catching trout on crawfish imitators? I was fishing in Colorado a couple weeks back and most of the fish I caught were full of these little craws (pictured).
I was thinking about trying a Rebel Craw crankbait or some of the soft plastics they use for bass fished slow on the bottom. I picked up a three-pack of the Fresh Water Basics brand. I don’t see why they wouldn’t work, but I’d be interested to know if anyone here has any experience with these type of lures and how effective they are in the right areas.
You bet that they work for trout. The largest rainbow that I have ever caught was on the Rebel crayfish lure. It was just over six pounds and we picked it up trolling the narrows at Strawberry. I couldn’t even count how many we have picked up at Deer Creek with that lure.
ive caught some browns on hula/spider grubs, which are just double tail grubs at jordanelle fishing for bass, also ive gotten em at little dell like that, just put them on a 1/4 oz jig head. gary yamamoto brand are my favorite.
I have caught a ton of rainbows at Fish Lake with the rebel crawdad lures.
My twin has caught cutts with Archy’s Crawdads lures at Little Dell.
+1…although the name of the soft plastic crawdads are “Arkies” which I have only found at Wallmart.
Here is a picture of a Little Dell Cutthroat Trout who took the bait. Have yet to try a Reble at that lake but we did REALLY GOOD with them at Fish Lake!
My main fly for Strawberry is a Crawfish pattern…a go to fly.
I bought one of those at Sportsmans to try at Miersville. Had some followers but no takers. Thinking of trying them at East Canyon this summer on the bass. Bass on the fly sounds fun! Might have to give it a crawdad scent splash to sweeten the deal.
What I want is a wacky rigged fly. Might be impossible though!
the funny thing about east canyon is the best rig for bass is a bobber with about 4 feet of leader to your hook with just a plain old worm. caught a few 4 pounders there, its almost time to go there for crappie to in the tube with the same rig.
I’ve caught browns off of the YUM craw bugs, they look exactly like a crawfish and they work dang good. Here’s one I caught at Hyrum last spring. I’ve used them in the river as well when the water is lower in the summer.
**Marabou jigs and wooly bugger flies usually do a great job of representing small crawdads. If you have an assortment with various shades of greens and browns you can imitate most color phases. Then the key is to impart the right motion…at the right depth. **
A crankbait that is colored and shaped like a crawdad is generally easier to fish…just chuck and wind. But someone who is good with the 'bou can work magic on 'dad-munching fish.
Ditto for plastic. There are tons of different tubes and grubs on the market that do a good job of imitating both the color and action of crawdads. But, again, a bit of skill in presentation can pay big dividends.
SWEET! Dang nice trout there, can’t wait.
Cool things about flies, they can multi task. Different color, different depth and a total different lure, but in the burnt orange with a fast sink line off the bottom,…great pattern
These are my first attempts at tying crawfish flies, so be gentle… I simply youtube’d some patterns and tried to copy. I am happy to say that the first one has dominated. I only tied one, and it has brought in over a dozen white bass and half a dozen cutties up at the Berry. The other two… not so much.
Some people give fish way too much credit. A fish is purely an instinctual animal. Basically, if it looks alive or smells good (to the fish, that is), it looks like the fish might be able to fit it in its mouth, and the fish is hungry, it will eat it. I’ve used some crazy stuff as bait and/or lures and had some good success. So yes, the crawdad lures work well on trout. I remember growing up everyone thought that jigs weren’t a trout thing. Now look how many people here fish almost exclusively with jigs for trout.
I’m going to do a contest with my family to see who can come up with the oddest thing as a lure that will catch a fish, using everyday stuff from the house. It will be fun to see how this turns out…
**Marabou jigs and wooly bugger flies usually do a great job of representing small crawdads. If you have an assortment with various shades of greens and browns you can imitate most color phases. Then the key is to impart the right motion…at the right depth. **
