Cant find anything online for this area, just general info. My question is what species are commen in MI and what colors are they at what time of year up here? What depths and what areas or bottom do they spawn at? I know they spawn at 70 degrees but don't understand much else about there life cycle.
Something like this?
http://iz.carnegiemnh.org/crayfish/country_pages/state_pages/michigan.htm
The ones that end up in my livewell seem to be the rusty or virile shade if I go by the pictures... but that just might be because they are dead and puked up to get to those shades...
Ya I checked that site out before, it gives you the species and one picture if they have one. I cant find anything about each species color changes or spawning cycle.
Quote from: t-bone on March 05, 2010, 03:35:52 PM
The ones that end up in my livewell seem to be the rusty or virile shade if I go by the pictures... but that just might be because they are dead and puked up to get to those shades...
Ya I have seen many in the livewell but I figured the color changes after death and digestion.
Here is a little more info on habitat and spawning
http://science.jrank.org/pages/1861/Crayfish.html
Here are some additional pictures of the "Rusty Crayfish"
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/pictures/Orconectes_rusticus.html (http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/pictures/Orconectes_rusticus.html)
Seems like they will vary quite a bit in color depending on the enviorment they are in (clear water vs stained, hard bottom vs soft bottom, bottom color, etc....). I also understand that when they molt, they will change color and become several shades lighter (nearly pink).
great topic. Took these photos about 5 years ago of some crawfish bits from my livewell and a Waynes St Clair craw tube. the color match was really close. Going to try and tie some jigs to match. One thing I notice is some crawfish have white on there undersides. don't really see any jigs with white. may have to try it. maybe get a better bite on the fall.
Ya that's close to what most crayfish parts looked like when I see them in the livewell. I always assumed they took on that color from the digestion process, maybe they stay the same color I'm not sure but I would like to know. Especially in late Sept and Oct up north most of the time the smallys would spit up very small craws and they were always white and orange. I wondered if those colors came from digestion or if maybe the crayfish spawn later in the year and these were the small craws from that spawn?
Up on Torch many of the crayfish are white. They look long dead until you bump them. Wonder if the water chemistry is involved?
I read something from Denny Brauer a couple of years ago that his "secret" jig color was all white.
He said not to tell anybody ...... but I'm sure he was just kidding.
Theres a pond I fish in where the crayfish have bright blue claws.
Quote from: fiker on March 06, 2010, 08:05:05 AM
I read something from Denny Brauer a couple of years ago that his "secret" jig color was all white.
He said not to tell anybody ...... but I'm sure he was just kidding.
He likes swimming a white jig. A lot of the good ole boys down there do. I do too.
The ones I catch are any shade of brown red and orange, though i do get the occasional bright blue clawed one, always a big one when they are that color. i dont know the species though. i take my little girls out to catch them in the summer sometimes, though the are there year round.
Frank
I've made it a habit of trying to catch a few crayfish at different lakes, and at different times of the season. I agree with craws being lighter on the underside, some a very creamy off-white.
The overall colors I've found are some mixture of green and brown. Craws living in weedy lakes are more green pumpkin, those with little weeds more of a brown pumpkin. Also, clearer water means lighter colors. But all still have that lighter shade on the belly.
I haven't noticed many other color hues on the smaller craws. But the big guys do get some bolder highlights on them. I think the orange color of craw chunks in the livewell is from the bleaching action of stomach acid. But maybe that orange shows through a little more at different times of the season?
I have held craws up to the sunlight, and taken a look at the reflections from the shell. There can be some interesting flashes of color as you turn them, especially purples. Same thing when you look at a shad held in the sun. Must be something about how light is refracted by their slime coating. But it makes me like a little purple flake in my soft plastics. Just a little flash of it as it turns...
I need to make some crayfish traps one of these days. I've never really had the chance to look at craws from deeper water, like early spring/fall cold water. Although I bet they get darker, maybe the reason for a black jig being a popular cold water color?
It looks like you all have this just about covered. With one thing left out. when a crawfish molts, it has a differnet variation of its color. Different location, water clarity, habitat, and water temperature all come into play.
Good info here guys. When do they molt? Still hoping someone knows when and where they spawn like depth and what kind of bottom? I bet you can get on a good bite if you can key in on the craw spawn. They carry there eggs under there tail section and continue to carry them after they hatch. I'm sure they are very slow and vulnerable during this time and the bass probably take advantage.
Like all other crustaceans craws have an outer skeleton, How much thy eat and grow depends on how fast thy grow out of their cast. Thy may molt more than once a year. Generally it will be liter in color until it's cast hardens.
I found a good article for all the information I was looking for. Thanks for all the input guys, I would still like to hear anything on this topic for our area if you have anything to add.
Quote from: TCook on March 08, 2010, 03:03:13 PM
I found a good article for all the information I was looking for. Thanks for all the input guys, I would still like to hear anything on this topic for our area if you have anything to add.
Care to share the article? ;D
Sorry I probably should have put that in there, Its in the FLW outdoors mag April 2009 issue. Its an article with Michael Murphy explaining all the common forage spawning rituals starting on page 65. He covers crayfish on page 70, very good read.
Nice photo research dartag! Your research data on Great Lakes Craw represents 100% of the field research done on that bait design. That color was designed solely as a pet project of mine out of frustration because nobody else in the plastics industry would do it. It was intentionally done as a copy of the coloration in the very successful Bomber Model A crayfish color. A knock out spring color which I was always hoping that Kalins would put out a single tail grub with that two-tone shading. I even went as far as to take their green pumpkin single tail and dip the belly in orange dye. It worked for the color but not so much for getting the bait out where a bass might see it. The dye is corrosive by nature, that's how it penetrates by reacting with the plastic. In order to get the orange anywhere close to acceptable you had to keep the bait in the dye too long. After that it would just fall apart when trying to put a hook in it.
I got super lucky though with St. Clair Crayfish. We were catching average sized smallies down by Windmill Point and after turning a smallie back I looked down and saw this little fella. He had been coughed up on the deck, was completely intact and still barely alive. I do wish I had flipped him over for a photo though. The chartreuse on the belly was Erie Green all the way so it didn't seem important at the time to document it. You can see the Erie Green color around its edges when you look close.
That's such an awesome pic of that craw Wayne. I'm using what I thought was a good pic of a rusty craw for a crankbait right now, but I like that pic much better.
Thanks for saying so. I'd like to take credit for all the hard work that went into getting that crayfish documented but it really just falls under the heading of "dumb luck." Can't wait to see what this year will bring.
Your st clair craw tub workers great. All so works on west side of state in lake mi and inland lake near Kalkaska. Looking forward to throwing your st clair craw creatcher bait this spring.
Thanks for letting me know about the SCC tube and some other water that's working for it. As far as the creature baits goes, I've never thrown one before in my life but wanted one for years in the product lineup. Right now the plan is to Texas Rig it, any other suggestions?
Quote from: WayneC on March 13, 2010, 01:05:09 PM
Thanks for letting me know about the SCC tube and some other water that's working for it. As far as the creature baits goes, I've never thrown one before in my life but wanted one for years in the product lineup. Right now the plan is to Texas Rig it, any other suggestions?
I use a stand-up, shaky-style jighead like a Spot Sticker with craw-style creature baits. It keeps those claws standing up like a craw defending itself.
Gotta like that. My tournament partner Scott uses a spot remover jig. I get the idea though and will absolutely try that too. Thanks!
I have it Carolina riged, with a small rattle inserted.
I was afraid you might say that... The Carolina rig, the rig that's so easy to fish you give it to your kids so they can hook up easily. It's been my nemesis (that's a McCarter joke). I've worked it every year since seeing it on In-Fisherman nearly 15 years ago but it wasn't until recently when I got some traction with it on a light setup. However, your suggestion has created another opportunity for me to build confidence in it. If this works you'll hear about it on my blog site. Thanks!
Quote from: TCook on March 07, 2010, 01:17:28 PM
Good info here guys. When do they molt? Still hoping someone knows when and where they spawn like depth and what kind of bottom? I bet you can get on a good bite if you can key in on the craw spawn. They carry there eggs under there tail section and continue to carry them after they hatch. I'm sure they are very slow and vulnerable during this time and the bass probably take advantage.
Crayfish molt on full and dark moons. Molting is a process in which craw fish lose their outer shell. Until a new outer shell hardens, they are susceptible to being the prey of many different kinds of game fish. They molt monthly when the water is 65 degrees and up although they will molt when the water is colder.
BD ;D
We used to have a crayfish in an aquarium which took on more red tones the longer the shell was on. As soon as it molted (is that even a word?) the soft shell underneath would have more blue tones. That told me a lot at the time why blue flake worked so well from 1999 - 2001 because the fish must recognize the same thing and softer would mean easier to eat. Since then though I have done a lot of work with both blue and red flake and in both cases, the results were lukewarm at best.
I hope its not a problem posting a thread from another site but I thought it might clear up why we use the colors we do at certain times of the year. Just some pictures put together by the late Don Applegarth showing pictures of crayfish that have the same color patterns as the baits we use. Other members had some good input as well, the pics are near the bottom on the second page.
http://bbcboards.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=78238&page=2