Customizing a Yum Crawbug ??

[J.Vincent]

I’ve used the Yum Crawbug for many years and usually rig them with internal teardrop tube jigs....I like the realism of the design and have a few bags I’m wanting to experiment with. Basically I want a Yum Crawbug that doesn’t have a hollow body. Now I’ve never worked with plastisol but was wondering if I melted down some of my used Yum plastics from last year and poured into the hollow body cavity, Would this make the Crawbug solid or just make a molten mess ?

[Arobb2012]

Shove a piece of a old stick worm in the cavity with some mend it that might be easier. 

[RyneB]

I certainly would not dump hot plastic into the bait. A few things could go wrong. severe burns would be at the top of the list, followed by the body melting. 

[J.Vincent]

2 hours ago, Arobb2012 said:

Shove a piece of a old stick worm in the cavity with some mend it that might be easier. 

This sounds like it may be a better approach, and less or a mess. Thank you for the idea !

[J.Vincent]

2 hours ago, RyneB said:

I certainly would not dumb hot plastic into the bait. A few things could go wrong. severe burns would be at the top of the list, followed by the body melting. 

That makes sense, I would probably use forceps to hold the Crawbug but theoretically if I refrigerated the Crawbug first for a few hours....do you think this might prevent the Crawbug from completely melting when adding plastisol into the body cavity ?

[smalljaw67]

2 hours ago, J.Vincent said:

That makes sense, I would probably use forceps to hold the Crawbug but theoretically if I refrigerated the Crawbug first for a few hours....do you think this might prevent the Crawbug from completely melting when adding plastisol into the body cavity ?

No, the body would get soft because the plastisol is going to stay hot longer than the body of the bait will stay cold. Worse case scenario is the bait actually melts, best case is the body will get soft and deform but not completely melt. I think you get some RTV or plaster of Paris and make a mold of the bait and then pour it yourself, without a rod in the center of the bait it will come out solid.

[BoatSquirrel]

I have been after a craw like this.  Thanks for the intro Mr. Vincent.  May the force be with you also.

[Jigfishn10]

10 hours ago, Arobb2012 said:

Shove a piece of a old stick worm in the cavity with some mend it that might be easier. 

Agree. You can kind of fuse it by heating the worm with a cigarette lighter. Shove it in and cut to size.

 

Another mod you can do is to place a foam backer rod used for sealing around windows. They come in a variety of thicknesses. This will give you a craw that will stand-up in a defensive position.

 

[Arobb2012]

9 hours ago, J.Vincent said:

This sounds like it may be a better approach, and less or a mess. Thank you for the idea !

Your welcome I have some crawbugs also and I might try the same idea on them. I think I have the same color that you are showing also.

[J.Vincent]

5 hours ago, Jigfishn10 said:

Agree. You can kind of fuse it by heating the worm with a cigarette lighter. Shove it in and cut to size.

 

Another mod you can do is to place a foam backer rod used for sealing around windows. They come in a variety of thicknesses. This will give you a craw that will stand-up in a defensive position.

 

I really like this idea ; with the added floatation it could be good on a mojo rig 

[J Francho]

Why do you want to fill it?  I just T-rig them, or thread them on a jig, as is.  They work great.

[J.Vincent]

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

Why do you want to fill it?  I just T-rig them, or thread them on a jig, as is.  They work great.

To hold better on a Chatterbait and stay up on the hook Shank. 

[Jigfishn10]

@J.Vincent if you use ear plugs lace them on the hook of your chatterbait and stuff them inside the craw it will stay put. You can find them in the safety section at Home Depot or your hardware store.

 

The ear plugs are conical and taper down so they wedge in nicely inside the tube craw. The material is denser than the material I posted earlier which will be better for your app 

[J.Vincent]

Thank you anglers for all the good ideas ; when the weather is right I will definitely try a few of these options !

[bowhunter63]

This my be a little off topic but I have Neko rigged a Rage craw lately and have had great luck with it. I don’t know if you could do that with a Yum craw big or not. With a tight line the bait is always in a defenseive position. For the original craw I used 1/8 ounce weight and run the ring pretty high up on the body. The claws move even when setting still.

[Mbirdsley]

There is somebody on one of the Facebook bass auction pages that is selling what looks like to be a Knock off yum craw bug but, solid. I’ll try and find a pic 

[Mbirdsley]

Is this what you are looking for ? 

[J.Vincent]

Yes if they are solid instead of hollow 

22 minutes ago, Mbirdsley said:

Is this what you are looking for ?