Fishing the Potomac River today between Brunswick and Harpers Ferry, I literally almost stumbled on this guy:

 

 

Four to 5 inches long, amazing color -- really similar to the rocks on the bottom.  Something I'll remember next year, look at the bottom of the river and throw lures that are close to that same color.

 

Pat

Great photo, Pat!

 

 

Tight lines,

Bob

Smallie candy,Great photo

That's a lobsta.

  Something I'll remember next year, look at the bottom of the river and throw lures that are close to that same color.

 

Pat

Good formula for plastic worms as well.

Looks tasty. 

Cool picture. The other thing you can do, is flip rocks over when you get there and match your bait to the color crawfish you see. As they go through the molting process they can change colors and don't always match the bottom. 

I once saw a crawdad with one huge claw and one small claw. The big claw was nearly as big as the crawdad's body. 

Great picture Pat.  I just started noticing that our Upper Potomac crayfish have orange-tipped claws.  I've got an orange Spike-It marker on my shopping list for this...

That's a lobsta.

The only think I could think of with this remark is rock lobster from family guy .... who knew ?

I once saw a crawdad with one huge claw and one small claw. The big claw was nearly as big as the crawdad's body. 

They can lose one and grow it back. As for the thread, it's usually stained water at best around here. I prefer black/blue flake to stand out a little. There are times bass just couldn't find a brown or watermelon craw around here. I also fish it T-rigged with a glass bead between bullet weight and the hook to give off little clicks. And I mostly use Berkley Powerbait Chigger Craw with Zoom Super Speed Craw as a close second.

There are plenty of crawdad imitations out there. Almost endless.

Some of my nicest have come off of the ole Guido Bug. Next to impossible to find anymore.

That's a fantastic pic.

A nice Rage Chunk in Blue Craw, on a Blue Craw skirted jig would work nicely.

Never caught a fish on a real SM.

I used to use a seine to get my own craws right from the river where I'd be fishing. Now I have so many color options in artificials it's just a matter of finding what they prefer on a given day.