Craw question

[Catt]

It's depends on where you are from; down south crawfish have large pinchers so the bass are not intimated by them they will just sneak around behind the mudbug.  

[Bassn Blvd]

Bassin Blvd

That is a nice rig, who is the manufacturer of that plastic crawl.  Man it looks good.

www.huddlestondeluxe.com    They come 5 to a pack for about $10.00

Today was my first day using them and I got 3.   They come pre-rigged with 1/8 oz weights but I modified it by taking the weights out and T-rigging it with a screw on weight.  The area I was fishing had too much grass to fish it the way they show in the video.

[Big-O]

Small pinchers or big pinchers in my opinion isn't what makes the difference. I will take a super action craw like Strike King Rage Tail or Paca any day over any and all the other soft plastic craws. Jigs, craws and creatures are my go to baits and I haven't found any other craw styles that can compete.  

[Micropterus salmoides]

Thanks for all the replies. I still am kinda confused but i think that im just gonna stick to using craws w/ smaller pincers in clear water and tougher conditions, and vice versa for the craws w/ big pincers. Im also gonna try to imitate the forage better, if i can see or find a craw where im fishing i will imitate the size of its pincers.

I was a Rep. for Mad Man Lures a few years back and they had two kinds of a craw.One was a craw tube and a craw worm and both had small pincers. I do still have many bags of them. Not sure that I want to part with them! They are small and they look so real!

Ahhhh.... Mad Man Crawfish Tubes. I loved those for jig trailers. Caught some of my biggest fish with the 3.5" used as trailer. Too bad they went under. I'm currently trying the Yum Craw Bugs, but I definitely prefer the size and profile of the Mad Man's. I still check Ebay from time to time, however the 3.5" size is never listed.  >

[Bassn Blvd]

I dont think pincers matter a bit.  I use most craws for flipping and to tell ya the truth I think most of my bites come on reaction strikes as the bait breaks through all the surface crap.  Bass will eat funky looking lures with treble hooks hanging down and every rainbow color of worms but you mean to tell me a bass can tell the difference in a pincer and eat it over one with no pincers.  I think that it total    

[.dsaavedra.]

brent, what model crawfish is that?

i was gonna say, your lake fork craw looks very realistic, minus that little worm part stickin out the end, i guess thast just for rigging though, you could cut that part off for a more realistic profile.

[RoLo]

Dang it. I really wanted that star.

That's brilliant! ;D

the Texas rigged craw worm is one of the most underused bait available to the angler. A Texas rigged craw worm will produce better quality bass than creature baits; the creature bait will produce better quantities.

I'll drink to that

During April 2006, the Bassmaster Elite Series was held on Santee Cooper Reservoir, SC.

Though it has since been broken, Preston Clark weighed-in the heaviest Four-Day Stringer in BASS's 38-year history (to that date).

Preston's 4-day stringer weighed 115 lb, 15 oz, an incredible 20-bass average of 5-lb 13-oz! (highlighting the stubborn 6-lb weight-plateau).

During all four days, Preston used a plain Zoom Big Critter Craw that was T-rigged on a 5/0 Owner hook and weighted with 1/4 oz slip sinker.

There was No jig, No skirt and No weedguard, just a zoom critter craw on a hook, I think that speaks volumes.

Roger

[Catt]

Kinda answers discussion of if Quantity or Quality matters to the bass  

[Willzx225]

-SmallieKing -

A crawfish that is missing a pincher may seem unnatural to us but in nature it is probably more common than you or I think.  I was always told that sometimes when a bass is chasing after crawdads they will often bite off a pincher trying to eat them.  Also I was thinking that if one craw got in a fight with another one for dominance then they might lose a claw.

Also with a crawdad missing a claw it signals an easy meal to a bass and they are opportunistic feeders.

Now all that being said, I still don't have as much confidence in a single craw bait vs a normal bait with 2 claws.

[Davis]

WE DID USE AN ACTUAL CRAW!!! The original handpours were a little rougher, but had string in the whiskers so you wouldn't lose them.

Then when we started having them made professionally (same company that makes the Yum craw (that Madman is still sueing) and this is what we got. My dad actually used one craws body, and another craws pinchers (as he wanted it to be proportionate:whatever that really means)

b

Brent you have given me some of those in the past. What is the best way to rig them? Insert the hook at the tail and T-rig em?

[Davis]

that's how i fish them, but there was an old guy my dad knows that would use a belly weighted hook and rig them through the head, so that when he pitched it to a dock, it would go under it. ( swimming appropriatly backwards as he let out line).

weight, no weight, work it slow on the bottom, or keep it near the top (as the tail is sort of like wings; helping it do the previously described "trick")

b

Thanks for the tips.

[HesterIsGod]

You know what, THIS DESERVES SOME FIELD RESEARCH!

It makes sense that a bass would see a crawdad with a pincer missing as an easy meal, and it also makes sense that it might be unnatural, so...

Come ice out, im gonna fish a couple different brands of plastic craws, all prespawn, one with a pincer cut off and another with both pincers in tact.

I'll get the results back to ya'll in April.

[smallieking]

yea craw fishing is awesome but just so u know the best craw bite starts during the spawn and warmer summer months  its not the greatest bait for prespawn   i dont want to sound like a jerk saying dont to use them i just dont want u to start to hate craws because of some bad days on the lake   go ahead and use them  just throw minnow imitations in addition with them   in the prespawn

[flippin]

take a paca craw and a bps tube rattle with one ball shove it in the face of the craw and hold on to your pole

[Catt]

I'll repeat It's depends on where you are from; down south crawfish have large pinchers so the bass are not intimated by them they will just sneak around behind the mudbug.

Y'all ever watch a bass confront a crawfish?

It aint the bass that's intimated!  

[HesterIsGod]

craw imitators should work fine in the prespawn, or any other season. Havent you ever used a jig in the prespawn or other cold water seasons? Its mainly a cold water bait. And what does a jig imitate? A crawfish. What does a craw imitator imitate? A crawfish. Plus, craw imitations and jigs usually are fished on or near the bottom, slowly. That slow presentation is perfect for the more sluggish early prespawners. so im not worried about fishing the craws in the prespawn.