The Strike King Rage Craw has been out for well over a year. It started a revolution in plastics that has kept Strike King on the top of the heap. Not only does it look different but because of body design and “Rage Tail” engineering on the pinchers the Rage Craw is better and is in a class by itself.
Great fished solo, or as a trailer for a jig, the pressure waves put out by this bait are remarkable. The Rage Craw pinchers are engineered like no other and the beveled design catches more water and puts out more vibration than others on the market. The body is designed perfectly with enough bulk to put a 5/0 hook in it but also with the best in plastic it has plenty of action as well. It has a hook slot that allows for quick hook penetration and allows for proper centering of the hook point as well.
We have fished it with success deep added to a jig, we have flipped it by itself in heavy cover including buck brush and blowdowns and we have buzzed it over grass. All with the same results. Fish love them we have found that there is no bad way to fish them.
Our Tests
In a recent outing we knew the bite was tough. Cold front a day after a rain, west winds and we knewbass didn’t want a big bait or a large profile. We teamed the Strike King Rage Craw, watermelon red, with a Setyr 7′ rod, a Revo SX reel and 17 pound Berkley Fluorocarbon using a 5/16 ounce Tru-Tungsten weight and a Youvella Pro Flip hook. Note: the Youvella hook has a keep on the top of the offset bend that keeps the craw postioned perfectly and won’t let it slide down even after a few fish.
The water was dropping and fished outside creek channel banks with bushes and blowdown trees in 6-8 foot of water. We usually peg the weight in these conditions but wanted a different fall so we left the weight unpegged. Dragging the unpegged weight in front of the craw adds to the lifelike motion of live crawfish, especially around rocks and gravel, and the weight doesn’t get in the way of a hook set.
We flipped and pitched root balls, when available and also fished the entire length of the dead fall. Many times the bass in the fall will postion out on the end of the trees waiting for a school of baitfish to cruise by. We started at the base of the trees sometimes flipping between the bank and roots and then fished it out. Many anglers will do the opposite on spooky fish but we knew because of the cold front they would be buried up and paralled the boat with the bank on each tree.
It was important to keep the Minn Kota Maxxum on 20 or less not to spook the fish but with enough power to still able to move. Boat positioning is critical and we found many fish using the Humminbird 798 side imaging before we pulled up on the tree. One other note: even though we have fished this lake hundreds of times and this was a shallow water deal we waypointed the best trees for the future when the lake is at full pool.
We let the bait fall all the way to the bottom, hopping it a couple of times and then drug it as near to the tree as possible all the way back to the boat before making another pitch. Most of the bites came from the root wad or the first 3 feet of the trunk of the tree. We caught some bass with less than 7 feet of line out. We also had several fish in the brushy tops of the trees 6-10 foot out near the end of the tree and a vertical presentation worked best. The Rage Craw would kick like mad on the fall and retrieve and we caught several bass pulling it up out of cover.
The water was milky so we also tipped the pinchers with chartruese dye to give it some flash. The vibration put out by the Rage Craw was critcal as we flipped tubes and other baits without success.
Once we found out what bait they wanted we backtracked to trees we had hit earlier and caught other fish. That is the true testament to the Rage Craw action.
The Inside Scoop
The Strike King Rage Craw retails for 4.99 for 7 and each bait is clam shelled in the package to prevent bending.
Strike King has 11 colors perfect for all types of water and matching of jigs..
You can buy them now by clicking here.
