Crawfish

Crawfish live on hard bottom: rock, gravel, riprap and shell. Where that bottom exists, they are usually the dominant food source, and bass on a rocky lake will have more crawfish than shad in them.

This is what a jig with a craw trailer is imitating, and it is why football jigs dragged across rock work so well. It also explains the color choices: green pumpkin, brown and orange are all crawfish colors, and craws turn distinctly orange-red in early spring, which is why red crankbaits are a pre-spawn staple.

A crawfish fleeing backs away tail-first in short hops, which is roughly what hopping a jig imitates. Rigging a craw trailer so the claws face backwards is closer to what a real one does than the way most people put it on.

They are also seasonal. Crawfish are most active as water warms in spring and again in autumn, and they hole up in cold water, which is part of why crawfish patterns fade in midwinter.