I've had red crankbaits and jigs since I was a kid.  I've fished them off and on and I don't think I've ever caught anything on a red bait.  What's the trick?  When do you use them?  Where?  Thanks.

Time: Well your reds/oranges are meant to resemble crawdads to an extent. So when does crawdads become a large part of a bass' diet? Fish them then..

 

How: All my red/orange lures (any craw imitation really), are fished on the bottom. Again, replicating a crawdad, I'm not going to be fishing this throughout the water column. Jigs on the bottom, crankbaits hitting bottom all the way back to the boat, etc... but that doesn't mean red won't work for other things either.


I suggest reading the thread started by @WRB yesterday. 

 

 

 

Red is one my killer colors for clear water in early spring through prespawn.  Spinnerbaits, lipless baits, cranks; any moving bait, really.

11 minutes ago, Fish the Mitt said:

Time: Well your reds/oranges are meant to resemble crawdads to an extent. So when does crawdads become a large part of a bass' diet? Fish them then..

 

How: All my red/orange lures (any craw imitation really), are fished on the bottom. Again, replicating a crawdad, I'm not going to be fishing this throughout the water column. Jigs on the bottom, crankbaits hitting bottom all the way back to the boat, etc... but that doesn't mean red won't work for other things either.


I suggest reading the thread started by @WRB yesterday. 

 

 

 

Thanks.  I've caught tons of fish on crawdad colors.  Mostly brown and orange.  sometimes green.  But red has never produced for me in any way.  

8 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Red is one my killer colors for clear water in early spring through prespawn.  Spinnerbaits, lipless baits, cranks; any moving bait, really.

Thanks.  I don't have a red lipless crank, but maybe I'll get one.  I do have bomber and Berkley in red along with some others.  maybe I'll get a chatterbait with some red on it too.

I have had a lot of success this year with a 3" Ron's Craw colored Kalin's Lunker Grub. It's already climbing it's way into one of my favorite soft plastic baits. Enhance it with some Megastrike and slowly retrieve it off the bottom with random pauses. A standard jigging motion works too, just depends on the day. 

 

Caught several on a chili craw Red eye shad Monday. Cold water early in the year, and muddy water after the spawn are the prime times for red baits for me.

I heard that Red Craws are mostly a southern/eastern thing.  Here in Idaho I know that there is one species that is not native that get red but they are not nearly as common as brown/green/darker colors.  I have not tried red yet, but will give it a shot.

There's over 300 species of crawfish in the US, some red, brown, green, even blue.  I'll bet you have some that red.  Even species that are brown, emerge in spring with a bright red hue.

Red Swamp Crayfish from the Tidal Potomac River. He was either giving me the big thumbs up or threatening to pinch me.

 

I have good luck with red crankbaits and lipless baits when the water is on the muddy side. 

In the fall, a red craw lipless is money; absolute money

I've never had much luck with pure red baits. That said, I use a lot of green/blue/purple jigs/trailers/worms with red flakes. Mostly use them in the early Summer when crawdads are everywhere. As far as cranks go, I usually use either bright green over white, or shad/bluegill colored. 

5 hours ago, Turtle135 said:

Red Swamp Crayfish from the Tidal Potomac River. He was either giving me the big thumbs up or threatening to pinch me.

 

Now - The monkey bait ( @Turtle135 ) just showed me something for the Potomac river  

I like to fish red all year in Florida. killer color in clear waters.lots of that down here.......

Ok.  I added a couple of lipless red cranks and a sold red rage blade and red/black chatterbait.

 

Can't wait to try it out.

I can answer your question with a picture.

I’ve done well with red up here (Ontario), in the past. A red skirt/red double willow 1/2 oz spinnerbait screaming along just under the surface can be deadly for big, mean northern smallies. My partner and I won a pike tournament years ago ( big tournament, 100 boats), throwing large, red rattle traps over cabbage beds. We were right in the middle of about 20 other boats in one bay and would reel right up to the rod, lift it up as fast as we could and in one motion cast it back out so no one else could see what we were throwing. I culled pike almost nonstop for about an hour while my partner hauled em in one after another while almost no one else hooked up around us. Sometimes, they get on a certain colour and it can be lights out. 

Several guys will drop a craw trap the night before going out and try to match it the next morning.  

Here in Louisiana I've seen them red, brown, and green

2 hours ago, Burke said:

Now - The monkey bait ( @Turtle135 ) just showed me something for the Potomac river  

I will give you fair warning. If you get a Red Shad Craw or Worm around one of those big Blue Cats on the Tidal Potomac you may get your arm ripped off. 

9 hours ago, Turtle135 said:

Red Swamp Crayfish from the Tidal Potomac River. He was either giving me the big thumbs up or threatening to pinch me.

 

I think dude is giving you The Horns, which I guess means he was either a metal fan or a Longhorns fan.  

 

Now if he were an Italian crawdad, he would be saying something a bit more confrontational  

There must be something to red in a bass lure, since this was one of the first popular ones:

 

 

It's the first bass plug that I ever used on a casting rod... circa 1958.

https://www.bassmaster.com/kevin-vandam/mystery-red-crankbaits

Red used to be a confidence color for me back in the day. If I was struggling I would try red. Especially in clear water. Had a really small red chatterbait with a red blade. I don’t know why I got away from throwing one honestly...