The Kicker Fish Bait Co. added the Kicker Kraw to its line up a little over two years ago with the idea if would be a great flipping bait. Although plastic crawfish imitators are not new to the fishing scene, the Kicker Kraw has some design characteristics that make it very unique and creative anglers have found numerous uses for this bait.
Of course it can be flipped and pitched but it can also be cast and fished on a Carolina Rig as well. It is superb on a lead head or can also be used as a jig trailer equally as well.
The narrow profiled 4 1/4″ body is solid. That is a great characteristic that keeps it from balling up on hooksets and adds to its durability. It was also designed with segments from tip to tail (pinchers) for catching air bubbles and your favorite scent and to give it a more natural look and feel in the water. The tail or hook/weight end of the bait has a defined, tapered point allowing for better penetration in heavy cover and effective glide patterns on the fall. The slendor profile is key with fishing heavy junk. It slides through most stuff very easily when the sinker is pegged.
The Kicker Kraw is perfect rigged alone but is an exceptional jig trailer and works great on football heads fished deep. Numerous pro’s we know are using the Kicker Kraw for a trailer because of the tentacles and pincher combination gives the jig more action and balance on the retrieve.
Our Tests
In our tests, the tentacles caught air and provided a lifelike appearance.
This bait is perfect for flipping and pitching. The pointed head allows a weight, when pegged, to fit snugly against the bait, which makes hooksets more efficient. Combined with a tapered tungsten weight and a light wire 3 or 4/0 hook hooksets are true and few fish are missed. Specially designed fins on both sides of the bait postioned near the top allow the Kicker Kraw toguide it on the fall. Glide patterns are different each hop which makes it look more natural and helps the bait swim without twisting the line. Rigged correctly it will not turn over.
As we noted on the Kickerfish Hole Shot Worm in a previous Next Generation Tackle Box review, the plastic used in this product is a high floating type. The Kicker Kraw pinchers also float up in an attack position when dead-sticked or drug on the bottome. The oversized, extra-large, slim-line pinchers placed two segments from the tentacles keep it from tangling with the tentacles and give the bait great action and a slower fall rate. the Kicker Kraw puts out heavy pressure waves as a result of serrated claws with ribbed edges. They really vibration both on the fall and swum.
The Inside Scoop
This bait can be fished with either a 4/0 or 5/0 hook, and the 3 1/4″ model will be best fished with a 3/0 or 4/0. We recommend a thin wire hook if possible for this bait.
The Kicker Kraw is a great floating vegetation bait and can be fished weightless too. It looks like a buzzbait over grass, through pads and over “floating gunk” for exciting blow-ups.
The Kicker Craw comes in 10 colors (our favorites are camo and junebug). Each bag contains eight baits.
Kicker Fish Kicker Craw retails for $3.45 a bag.
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