I come across forage that have red in them.

Shiners sometimes have a red tint in their fins. (Houdini colored baits are big down here.)

Noticed Redear Sunfish beds the other day.

We also have different types of Tilapia that have red somewhere on them.

Yes, many fish use some red, esp in nuptial dress. But, the bluegills the bass in my waters eat don't. But oddly, many of my lures have red or orange on them. In my eyes it does sort of round out the color spectrum, but those are my eyes.

 

I like to customize my cranks -my match the hatch trout fishing spilling over I guess. One of my favorite colors has been "Tennessee Shad" which sports an orange belly. I've scraped that orange off and replaced it with iridescent pearl on a number of my cranks and they catch fish great.

I wonder who came up with the name "Spring Craw" for red, and why?  Anyone have a history on that?

 

As many species can be found in streams, there are just as many that dwell in lakes. Just about any lake bass I've caught pukes up crayfish, especially in spring.

I get the body parts like this........

My all time favorite red is this Lucky Craft "Rayban Red".....http://www.ichibantackle.com/picture/8170lvmax500_clearred.jpg

 

But Wakin, Spring Craw, Aurora Craw and Aurora Ghost Craw works too....

 

I wonder who came up with the name "Spring Craw" for red, and why?  Anyone have a history on that?

 

Here's my take -and it is merely an educated guess:

 

Its a Texas/Gulf Coast thing, originally, stemming from the Red Swamp Crayfish Procambarus clarkii a very prolific breeder and aggressive crayfish that tends to dominate other species. Pretty much a dead ringer:

 

 

But there is more... It appears that the two "red" species are on the move -apparently in bait buckets. I found this: "P. clarkii is ... listed as an invasive species in California, Maryland, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia."

 

As to red lures in spring:

Crayfish "migrate" to deeper water for winter. In some reservoirs ice anglers have video'd basin bottoms "carpeted" with wintering crays. They then come shallower in spring to occupy summer habitat -crevices, vegetation, and esp with this species, shallow burrows. Crayfish also migrate in trout streams, from riffles to deepest pools and eddies and I've made good use of this in very early spring with crayfish patterns. March/April browns can be packed with crayfish then. More by far than any other time of year.

 

But P. clarkii is "red" pretty much year round. My take is that crays are esp available/vulnerable in spring (and presumably fall?) and much less so when they find summer hides.

 

As to Oneida specifically, clarkii is not (yet) known to be there. But C. rusticus is, a (somewhat red species, esp in clear water), and is a recent invasive being officially recorded in Oneida in 2005, but assumed to have been there for some unknown period prior. C. rusticus is also an aggressive domineering crayfish.