For the Largie Guys

Anybody else excited about trying these bad boys out? Check out the Rusty Craw color. Looks deadly.

Dave Mercer told one of the area Managers at Berkley this was the best craw he's ever fished.

http://www.berkley-fishing.com/berkley-bait-soft-bait-berkley-powerbait/powerbait-the-champ-craw/1509873.html#q=champ%2Bcraw&start=1

 

Being a bass noob would you use these anywhere in Manitoba? Or are they LOTW/ Ontario lure.


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Smallies predate heavily on craws as well, so me saying 'for the Largie guys' is a bit misleading, but Largies go for this type of bait all over N. America Gord.

Can pair that with a skirted flippin' jig, a football head (skirted/non-skirted), swing head, chatterbait, Carolina rig or good ol' Texas rig.


For those out of the box Walleye guys that fish Woods-- Walleyes predate heavily on Rustys as well....

I've got a specific body of water for the Spring Craw color that I'm uber confident they'll destroy it. Can't wait!

 

Those look pretty good!

 

Good all around bait - bass, pike, walleye, and winter bots destroy crayfish rubber! Basically anything that scours the rocks will gulp these up.
I was given some last year when the product was in “trial” - my 2 crawdads didnt last an hour! Definitely worked better than the plain rubber crawdads.

 

Can't wait to try those on a Neko rig.....

 

On a Neko? Hmmm, interesting. I haven't opened a pack up yet, so I'm not sure there's enough 'meat' on the butt end to hold a nail weight, but with the right hook, you might have a li'l sumthin' there!

I have only Neko rigged 5"-6" worms.....with some success. Not my go-to but it definitely works, especially in heavy cover. Amazing what a Neko rigged worm will go thru and come back to the boat without getting hung up.

I'm planning on running the Champ Craw on three presentations-- chatterbait; football head and swing head.

Now that Berkley has a solid line-up of terminal tackle, in the Berkley Fusion line (finally!), there's lots of presentations I'm excited about experimenting with.
Only one thing missing with Fusion-- a version of the Spin-shot. Was told that's in the design stage....and considering it took them that long to make an underspin, I'm thinking that won't be til 2021 at the earliest. Speaking of the Fusion underspin.... it shouldn't only be Bass guys excited about that one, considering how many fish up here get caught on 'flasher' jigs. I'm anticipating that one becomes a go-to for Greenbacks, and (hopefully) Pinawa Walleyes in heavy current.

A lot of different brands of underspins have been available for years and years, marketed for Bass, but many of those premium underspins can run $12 or more...for one jig. Berkley's are much more reasonably priced, and they are definitely premium.

 

Do these float like the Z-man?

 

The claws might, but this is a Powerbait product, not the 3X or "Elaztech" material, so the body won't float, no.

Only reason I suspect the claws might float is they could have an air bubble in them.

Read a study about Bass and Crayfish. Bass will sooner go after a Craw that doesn't have it's claws already up in a defensive position...so hopefully the claws aren't buoyant.

 

Cool

I’ve had good success in limited time with the Z-man craws Ned rigged,

I will definitely grab a pack of these to play around with

 

Zman makes some really good stuff, but some baits I don't want the buoyancy.......on a Ned rig, Zman is almost the only stuff I use, not gonna lie.

I bring that up at the Berkley meetings--ie that we need a buoyant PowerNed ....but alas...I'm a little minnow in a Great Lake. We need someone like Izumi or Dave Mercer to tell the big wigs that.

FYI, I have Ned rigged a Berkley Powerbait Pro Jig Worm for Walleye with some pretty solid results. Walleye love the Pro Jig Worm....don't tell the Walleye dorks here on another thread...I made the title here to keep them nerds out!

 

Ned rigs don't catch walleye shhhhh

 

This is all Greek to me..lol

 

Don't worry about it Gord. If you decide to get deeper into Bass fishing, the wide range of techniques and presentations will come to you as you progress into the madness

Til then, many easy to use techniques that consistently catch Bass--
-tubes
-grubs (twister tail)
-jerkbaits
-crank baits
-spinnerbaits
-swimbaits

I'm a bit of a Bass nut, so I enjoy experimenting and getting better with all kinds of presentations, but honestly, you can refine retrieves with a grub and a tube and catch Smallies everywhere. And good ones, but that depends more on how quick you learn to find big ones.

 

Early season tubes...can’t wait

 

Bleh dragging tubes is boring it catches fish but definitely not my favorite way to catch fish. Spring jerkbait bite is where it's at

 

Other ways to fish tubes than just dragging them.

Saw an interview with Al Lindner once and if I recall correctly he was asked if he could only fish one bait for smallies, what would it be. His answer: green pumpkin tube.

 

Power bait smoke tubes are all you need

 

Yup, saw that. Can't say I was surprised. The tube is a staple. One of the reasons I don't buy the whole "new hot bait" thing in the context of "this year they want this, last year they wanted that" stuff...some baits always catch fish, the tube is one.

Ever see Zona demonstrate how to "crack a tube"? It requires mono, so I haven't tried it.

 

Walleye on the Ottawa River feed heavily on crayfish too. I have caught them stuffed so full of them they are puking them out in the boat. The crayfish in there are predominantly red colour. We used to get them on orange twister tails or orange jig heads tipped with a minnow when they were feeding heavily on the crayfish.