What is your setup to fish with weightless and what hook gives you the best hook up ratio?
I can get it to glide away from me but hooking fish is a different story..
How deep are you using it?
I am thinking I can get it down 15' without a weight and on floro, I am just experimenting with it but some pointers will definitely be appreciated.
I’m using a 3/0-4/0 EWG hook for them. You really have to cross their eyes when setting the hook on these just because of the bulkiness of the bait. That’s the unfortunate thing about these, they say “rig them backwards so it’ll fall away from you”, but then you’re hookup ratio is shot. I went back to the normal way of rigging them with the point towards the nose of the bait and haven’t looked back. 90% of the time I’m fishing them in less than 8ft of water casting to visible structure(docks, weed pockets, lay downs etc). If I’m fishing 15+ deep of water I’ll just throw on a keitech jig. It’s a shame evolve stopped making the kompak craw. Lasted longer and worked better than the cover craw
1995 Ranger 481v
1995 Johnson Fast Strike 175hp
Throw it weightless , owner screw lock or Gamakatsu deep throat wide gap is money. It’s similar to a ika and both those hooks work well and a very high hookup percentage.
Do they glide away from you when rigged backwards and weightless .... yeah, but I've found that unless you're fishing it on 12# test or lighter line, it doesn't glide away much at all. Of course the deeper the water, the more it has a chance to glide away, but you really have to feed it line to get it to do so. Also, I'm sure most everyone would agree, that it is not a very tough bait. If it were, and you rig it backwards and weightless, it would be one of the best skipping baits on the planet. But it's just so soft that it doesn't hold up well for skipping. The Owner screw lock hooks help, but not enough for me to justify using it as a skipping bait.
With the above said, I absolutely love the bait. I'm like ECobb in that I rig them standard Texas/Texposed rig style. It's weight (especially the 4") allows me to use a lighter weight and still get distance and accuracy when pitching. It also penetrates cover extremely well. I usually fish it in 5' of water or less and use a 3/16 oz weight. I also use it quite often as a Carolina rig bait. As far as hook size goes, I use a 5/0 Owner Wide Gap Plus for the 4" version, and a 3/0 Wide Gap Plus for the 3" version. Hook up and landing percentage are great.
The only problem with the bait that I have found, other than its durability, is that you don't want to be one of those feel the bite and then wait to feel the fish move kind of guys. If you are you're going to have a lot of gut hooked fish. Fish will swallow this bait with a quickness.
These have been my favorite craw bait for about the last 6-8 years. Don't let their small size fool you. The catch Biggs. I love em on an eakins finesse jig or on a light Texas rig. I don't rig them backwards.
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