Question: What trailer are you putting on the football-head jig?

VanDam: I’m either using a Rage Chunk or a Rage Craw. I personally like to fish the Rage Craw on the football-head jig. The Rage Craw is a little longer than the Rage Chunk. I like the Rage Craw because when it comes over a rock, that crawfish-looking trailer on the back appears to jump over the rock just like a crawfish will.

Those pincers have great action. When you combine that action with the fish-catching ability of the Rage Craw on the back side of big bass bait like the football-head jig, you have the most potential for catching the biggest bass you can catch in a Part of fishing. I’m not trying to catch 100 fish a Part when I’m fishing the football-head jig with a Rage Craw trailer. I just want to catch a quality stringer of bigger bass.

Question: Denny, why do you like the Rage Craw?

Brauer: To catch more bass, I’ll fish a non-traditional lure in a place that calls for fishing a traditional lure. The Rage Craw is a classic example. If the water where I normally fish a tube has too much tube pressure on it, I’ll fish a Rage Craw there. Or, if I’ve already fished a tube, I’ll return to that spot and fish a Rage Craw, giving the fish a similar type of bait that looks really different. Bass are finicky. They have moods. The tube is a subtle presentation that resembles a dying shad, which you can present to very-docile bass. When the bass are in that same type of mood, they’ll take the bait.

If the bass are very active, you can catch more bass quicker with active baits like the Rage Craw. The pincers on the Rage Craw have an unbelievable action –displacing large amounts of water. So, when the Rage Craw hits the bottom, it sits on the bottom like a crawfish in a defensive position with its pincers up. The Rage Craw also is an excellent flipping bait to fish in heavy cover. If the bass are accustomed to seeing a tube or a jig in heavy cover, and I flip a Rage Craw into that same cover, I drastically can increase my odds for getting the bass to bite.

Question: What are your favorite colors of Rage Craws?

Brauer: Most of the time I like darker colors. Black-and-blue is my choice for most waters I fish, because it adds a little something extra to the bait. If the water’s clear, I prefer green pumpkin. The same rules of selecting colors for the Rage Craw apply to selecting colors for any other lure – match the color of the lure to the color of the water. I try not to have favorite colors. When I get to the lake I’m fishing, I look at the color of the water and the sky. If I have a sunny day with relatively-clear water, I’ll use more-natural color lures. If I have cloud cover, I’ll use darker colors. I carry every color Strike King makes in my tackle box.

Question: What pound-test line do you fish?

Brauer: That depends on water clarity. If the water’s muddy, or if I’m fishing matted grass, I’ll probably use 60- to 80-pound-test braided line. If the water’s clear, I may use fluorocarbon line. If I’m flipping and pitching, I may use line as light as 20-pound-test fluorocarbon line. If the water clarity is average, I’ll probably use 25-pound-test line.

The Rage Tail Craw is one of the original soft plastic baits released under the Rage Tail line of soft plastics by Strike King Lure Company. The Rage Craw is unique in it’s ability to create a huge amount of vibration, move lots of water and still have a life-like appearance.The ragetail craw is available in plenty of colors, it can be fished T/rigged or used as a jig trailer making it a great choice for bass anglers interested in crayfish baits.

If you would like to add your feedback and comments about the Rage Tail Craw, feel free to add them here.