Bigger is not always better when talking about soft plastic bass baits. The new Baby Rage Craw might be smaller but, it packs quite a punch for anglers seeking something smaller for a finesse approach.

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Coming in at just 3 inches, the Baby Rage Craw has already proven to be a superior solution for small jigs and/or Texas rigs in finesse applications for proffesional anglers and everyday fisherman. For those of you fishing ultra-clear or hi-pressured lakes; the Baby Craw may be just what the fish doctor ordered.

It can be rigged on a standup jig head, used as a finesse jig trailer, rigged alone on a light line T/rig or drop shot rig and can even be used as a smaller Carolina rigged bait. Available in 9 fish-catching colors for the 2009-2010 season, the Baby Rage Craw is sure to be a great addition to the bass anglers arsenal.

Checkout the RageTalk area of the website for more information and to add your comments or ask questions concerning this great new soft plastic bait from Rage Tail.

The introduction of the Smokin, Rooster is an amazing alternative for just about anything. Flippin’ grass pockets and bluff banks with a T/rig, Carolina riggin’ some main lake points and even swimming it around any available structure or weed line. Select from six great colors before your next big fishing trip and see the amazing difference for yourself.

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Be sure and visit Rage Talk for further information concerning the Smokin Rooster where you may add a comment and ask questions.

Hey RAGETAILERS, Hope the title got your attention and these Instructions are as important and necessary as ever before with any Rage Tail Design. If the Eeliminator is hooked right, it cant be fished wrong . This illustration is very detailed for that purpose and the hook type and size is extremely important as well.

This bait can do it all extremely well if rigged properly in each application: Weightless, Tx and C rigged, Flipped or pitched and Swimbait.

Hooking in the center on the nose and body as well as maintaining the original shape and design of the bait when hooked is imperative and not bowing the back of the bait up when skin hooked

In the future, we will hear of others that are content using a variety of different hooks and I will be happy for their success, but I have used every hook and design under the sun for several years and here are my ideas for best usage and hook ups on hook sets.

1) Standard 4/0 EWG Gamakatsu Superline hook as well as other EWG’s that are of the same approximate size and weight. It is very important not to over hook this bait or use too long of a hook because it will alter the action of the bait by disturbing the tail connection at body. Stretching the body from original length or shape will impede or damage action results as well.

Different hook brands are slightly different in sizes so they should be ckd thoroughly.

2) Owner 5/0 twistlock is excellent also and gives best longevity to bait as well as centering pin in screw lock to make sure that it is exactly centered in nose…Very Important. Make sure that the back of bait is not bowed up when light skin hook.

Other screwlock hooks can be used but can’t be too long and must be exactly centered in nose and body of bait for proper action results.

3) I don’t use keel weighted hooks because they kill the side to side action.

4) My favorite use is Carolina rig from extremely light weight like 1/8 pegged upline 10″, to standard C rig with heavier weights for deeper or windy conditions.

5) Weightless extremely slow or quick retrieve.

6) Tx rigged with light unpegged weight 1/4 or less for best action results.

7) If the weight is pegged, it should never be pegged directly to the front of the bait as it will cause the bait to roll over if the weight is pointed off center even slightly.

• For flipping, I use a Bobber Stopper style Sinker Stop approximately 3/8 inch ahead of a Max 1/4 oz slip weight so that he weight is free and doesn’t drive or try to guide the baits swimming action.  http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_44440_100010004_100000000_100010000?cmCat=CROSSSELL_PRODUCT

• For Swimbait style application, use 1/16 or 1/8 slip weight on line, unpegged for slow swimming at desired depths.

The Eeliminator is available in 5 great colors for the 2009-2010 fishing season and is sure to be a great addition to the arsenal of any bass angler.

Please let me know if you have any other questions regarding use or hooking instructions in the RageTalk area of the website and I will be glad to discuss them with you. Getting this info out there prior to baits being fished will guarantee best results for everyone and hope you enjoy this bait as much as I do.

Well, well, well……………..it’s gettin’ hot out there and RAGE TAIL is Bringin’ the HEAT with their new line of soft plastic bass baits to be released at ICAST 2009.

The cat has slipped out of the bag and it’s time for a quick glimpse of a few of our new line shown below. Seeing as everyone seems to be hearing about these great new baits, you may as well get it here, from the horse’s mouth.

We would like to introduce a few of our soon to be released baits available fall 2009.

The NEW Rage Thumper worm is 10″ long and has an incredible action for a cut/curl tail type worm. Designed to have increased “flickr” action as it falls to help entice the big fish to eat. The unique Rage Tail Flange design is incorporated into the tail to give this monster of a worm it’s unique action, and that’s not all. The Tail incorporates a score line that can be cut to turn the Thumper worm into a true cut tail worm if you are looking for something a bit different.

The NEW Smokin’ Rooster has been designed to be flipped, pitched, Texas rigged and Carolina rigged offering more than just an everyday creature bait. This is an aggressive creature bait with oversized swimming arms and more action that you can shake a stick at.

And introducing the newest addition to the Craw family, the “Baby Rage Craw”.  This mini-craw has already been proven effective as a tournament favorite among the Strike King Pros. Paul Noles has already set the Big Bass mark way up there using this little craw and is now workin’ on others. I think Paul could catch a biggun on a Q-Tip

We hope you enjoyed a little taste of what Rage Tail has in store for bass anglers this year.
We have plenty more to get excited about but, we can’t give you too much to think about all at once. Find out more about the new Rage Tail line of soft plastics after ICAST.

Happy Fishing!

Mark Menendez wins BASS Elite Series on Lake Dardanelle!

Armed with his trusty Aluminum boat, 90 hp Yamaha outboard and bags full of Rage Tail Soft Plastic Lizards and Coffee Tubes Mark Menendez of Paducah KY, battled the elements and fished his way to victory by over 2 pounds over fellow Strike King Pro Staff Teammate Kevin VanDam.

“I was fortunate enough to use my aluminum boat this week and get back into an area where no one else had been all week and I basically had the entire place to myself.” “Once I started throwing my Strike King soft plastics around and figured out how the fish wanted the bait, I was able to dial in my presentation and bring home the win.”

Congratulations Mark!!!!!!

Also a big congratulations to all of Team Strike King who placed high finishes this week with Mark placing 1st, KVD 2nd, Denny Brauer 5th and James Niggemeyer in 13th, The entire team is showing its strength early on this season. Good luck guys and Congratulations!

James Niggemeyer Wins Toledo Bend Bassmaster Central Open

Strike King Elite Series Pro James Niggemeyer pulled off win #1 of the 2009 season for Team Strike King in high fashion by winning a sudden death overtime fish-off on Toledo Bend on Sunday. James won the Central Open tie breaker by weighing in a 5 fish limit during the 3-1/2 hour fish off.

James caught his fish using the KVD Perfect Plastic Ocho and the soon to be released “Baby” Rage Craw in Watermelon Red colors.

“I threw the kitchen sink at them all week to get to this position and during the fish-off the Ocho and the Baby Rage Craw really proved to be the real winners.” “The fish had moved somewhat due to the cloud cover and I felt really blessed to find them in a short amount of time and to catch them like I did.” James said when contacted by cell phone while he was on his way to the 1st Elite series stop at Lake Amistad in Del Rio, Texas.

This win was James’s 3rd BASS win and he now leads the Central Open points race.

Congratulations James and good luck at Amistad!

Read more at Bassmaster.com

Question: What’s another new lure that Strike King has come out with about which you’re excited?

Hackney: I’m really excited about the Rage Toad. Now I know that there are a lot of frogs on the market today, but the Rage Toad has a unique sound unlike any other frog. The sound is very subtle if I reel it slow. Or, I can speed up the retrieve and cause it to make as much racket as a buzzbait. The Rage Toad also leaves a bubble trail that will allow the bass to track it down and eat it. I don’t believe there’s any frog on the market that can compare to the Rage Toad.

Question: Around what type of cover are you fishing it?

Hackney: I fish the Rage Toad anywhere. It’s an extremely-versatile frog. I can fish it on a clear-water lake or a dirty-water lake. The bass don’t necessarily have to be shallow to want to eat the Rage Toad. One of my favorite little tricks is to throw the Rage Toad on schooling bass – probably one of my best-kept secrets. If you listen to the Rage Toad as it comes across the surface of the water, it sounds like a scurrying baitfish. I think that action agitates the bass. I’ve found that a bass will bite the Rage Toad on the surface when the fish won’t take any other type of lure. In the summertime, when the weather’s really, really hot, and the bass are sulking, you can get a bite on the Rage Toad when you can’t get a bite on anything else.

One big mistake many anglers make with the Rage Toad is they mistakenly believe that it should only be used around grass or thick cover. However, most of the time, I’m fishing the Rage Toad on open water above cover. I like to fish it over submerged vegetation and underwater stump fields, on the outside edges of grass, under boat docks, down sea walls and along the edges of riprap.

This is not just a grass lure like most frogs are. I fish it in a lot of places that most people will fish a buzzbait, because it’s a totally-different-looking lure with a totally-different sound than a buzzbait. Yet it has the drawing power that you expect a buzzbait to have.

One of the big advantages to the Rage Toad is that there are a lot of lakes throughout the nation where the bass haven’t seen a Rage Toad. So what this does is offer you a unique lure to present to the bass that the fish have never seen. When you go to a lake where the fish have never seen the Rage Toad before, often within 10 casts you’ll understand why I’m so high on this bait.

Question: James, what’s your second choice of new lures?

Niggemeyer: The Rage Tail Shad.

Question: This is a goofy-looking chunk of rubber. Why do you like it?

Niggemeyer: There are plenty of soft-plastic-surface lures on the market today. But I haven’t found one that produces as much action or noise as the Rage Tail Shad does. Generally, you don’t associate noise with soft-plastic lures, but with this lure, you get vibration, sound and action in a soft-plastic lure that can be fished in gin-clear or chocolate-milkshake-colored water. The lure puts out a nice V-wake so the bass can trail the lure much like a rutting buck can trail a doe, even if he can’t see her. This lure has proven itself to me. I’ve fished it and caught bass on it, so I know it’s a fish-catching lure.

Question: Where did you fish this lure?

Niggemeyer: When the Rage Tail Shad was still in the experimental stages, I was lucky enough to get a handful of them to test. I took them with me to Lake Champlain when I was fishing the 2007 Bassmaster Elite Series. I was able to catch a five-fish limit early on the last day. I learned that the bass preferred this bait, and they’d chase and attack it with a vengeance. I was catching largemouth fishing this lure on 50-pound-test braided line around scattered milfoil clumps and a milfoil edge.

Question: How big were the bass you were catching?

Niggemeyer: They were between 2-1/2- and 3-pounds each.

Question: What kind of retrieve were you using with the Rage Tail Shad?

Niggemeyer: I used a steady retrieve, holding my rod tip high to keep the lure up and on the surface. I reeled the bait just fast enough to keep the tail flopping back and forth. The bass either ate the bait as it came through the holes in the milfoil, or as it swam just along the edge of the matted milfoil.

Question: What do you think the bass thought of the Rage Tail Shad?

Niggemeyer: They thought it was a bream or a perch. Because the bass never really got a good look at the bait before they attacked it, as soon as the Rage Tail Shad came out of cover, they instinctively took it.

Question: What color did you use?

Niggemeyer: I used an experimental color with chartreuse on one side and green pumpkin on the other side. This is a really-different looking bait that the bass haven’t seen before, but they’ll eat it up.

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.