Technique · 7 min read
Creature baits and craws: rigging and when to use them
What creature baits and craws are, how to fish them on Texas, punching and Carolina rigs or behind a jig, and which size and color to tie on.
Updated
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Creature baits and craws are the soft plastics bass anglers reach for around heavy cover. Their legs, claws and flappers move water, add bulk and slow the fall, and bass eat them in every season. This guide explains what sets the two apart, then covers the four ways to fish them: the Texas rig, flipping and punching, the Carolina rig, and as a jig trailer. It finishes with sizes, colors and the season for each. If you are new to soft plastics, start with rigging soft-plastic worms; the Texas rig there is the same one used here.
What creature baits and craws are
A craw imitates a crawfish. It has a short, segmented body and two claws that flap or kick on the fall. Most are 3 to 4.5 inches long. Crawfish are a main food for bass, especially smallmouth and fish on rock, so craws are an easy choice almost anywhere.
A creature bait imitates nothing in particular and several things at once. It has a body with ribs or segments and a set of legs, arms and flappers that wave and kick. Depending on the angle, it could pass for a crawfish, a bluegill, a salamander or a large insect. Most are 4 to 6 inches long. Lizards, often grouped with creature baits, are long, four-legged baits fished the same way.
| Bait | Typical size | Moves | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Craw | 3–4.5 in | Claws flap on the fall | Rock, wood, jig trailers, cold to warm water |
| Compact creature | 3.5–4.5 in | Short legs and flappers | Flipping and punching heavy cover |
| Large creature | 5–6 in | Long legs and tails | Texas and Carolina rigs, bigger fish |
| Lizard | 4–8 in | Four legs, long tail | Carolina rig, spring around spawning areas |
The Texas rig
The Texas rig is the way most anglers fish a creature bait or craw. It is weedless, so it comes through wood, grass and rock.
What you need:
- An EWG or offset worm hook. These baits have thick bodies, so the extra-wide gap matters: it leaves room for the hook point to come through the plastic on the hookset. Use 3/0 for 3- to 3.5-inch craws, 4/0 for 4- to 4.5-inch baits and 5/0 for 5- to 6-inch creatures.
- A bullet weight: 1/8 to 1/4 oz in shallow water, 3/8 to 1/2 oz in deeper water or around cover.
- A bobber stop to peg the weight against the bait in cover.
The Gamakatsu EWG offset worm hook in 4/0 is a wide-gap hook sized for 4- to 4.5-inch craws and compact creature baits.
How to rig it: push the hook point about a quarter of an inch into the center of the nose and out the bottom, slide the bait up to the hook eye, then turn the hook and bury the point in the body so the bait hangs straight. Rig craws so the claws hang behind, the way a fleeing crawfish moves. For step-by-step detail, see the Texas rig section of rigging soft-plastic worms.
How to fish it: cast or pitch to cover, let it sink on a slack line and watch the line as it falls. On the bottom, hop it a foot or two and let it fall again, or drag it slowly. The legs and claws kick on every fall.
The Strike King Rage Tail Craw is a 4-inch craw in green pumpkin, a size that suits a 4/0 hook on a Texas rig or a 3/8 to 1/2 oz jig.
Flipping and punching
Flipping and pitching are short, quiet underhand presentations into cover from 10 to 25 feet away. Punching is the same idea with a weight heavy enough to drop through a mat of floating grass and reach the fish underneath, where it is shaded and cool.
What you need for punching:
- A compact creature bait, 3.5 to 4.5 inches. Long legs catch on the mat and slow the bait down.
- A heavy-wire straight-shank flipping hook or a stout 4/0 to 5/0 EWG.
- A tungsten punch weight of 1 to 2 oz, pegged tight against the bait with a bobber stop. Many anglers add a short skirt, called a punch skirt, between the weight and the bait.
- A 7'6" to 8'0" heavy or extra-heavy casting rod and 65 to 80 lb braid. Fluorocarbon and monofilament do not cut through grass the way braid does, and heavy braid lets you pull a fish up through the mat.
The Reaction Tackle tungsten punch weight is a 1.5 oz tungsten weight in black, a size for punching through thick mats.
How to fish it: lift the bait 2 or 3 feet above the mat and drop it so it crashes through. Most bites come as it falls through or within seconds of reaching the bottom. Hop it once or twice, then pull it out and drop it into the next spot. Set the hook hard at any tick, and keep the fish coming up through the mat.
Punching shines from late spring through early fall, when grass mats are thick and the sun is high. In wood and sparse grass, use the same rig with a lighter 3/8 to 3/4 oz weight.
The Carolina rig
The Carolina rig separates the weight from the bait with a leader. The weight drags along the bottom while the bait follows behind, moving freely and falling slowly. It covers a lot of water, which makes it a good way to find scattered bass on flats, points and gentle drops.
How to build it:
- Slide a 1/2 to 1 oz egg or bullet weight onto the main line, then a glass or plastic bead. The bead protects the knot and clicks against the weight.
- Tie the main line to a barrel swivel.
- Tie a leader of 18 inches to 4 feet to the other side of the swivel. Use a shorter leader around grass and a longer one over clean bottoms.
- Tie a 2/0 to 4/0 EWG hook to the leader and Texas-rig the bait.
Use 15 to 20 lb line on the main line and a slightly lighter leader, 12 to 15 lb, so the leader breaks first if you snag and you lose only the hook. A 7'0" to 7'6" medium-heavy casting rod handles the weight. Pre-tied rigs save time on the water: the Reaction Tackle Carolina rig is a pre-tied rig built around a 1/2 oz weight. Browse other Carolina rigs and weights and sinkers.
How to fish it: cast, let the weight reach the bottom and drag it slowly with long sweeps of the rod held low and to the side. Reel up the slack, pause, and sweep again. When the weight stops or you feel a different pull, reel down and set the hook with a long sweep.
Large creature baits and lizards are the usual choice on a Carolina rig. It is most useful before and after the spawn, when bass spread over flats, and in summer, on deeper points and humps.
As a jig trailer
A craw or creature bait on a skirted jig adds bulk, slows the fall and gives the claws or flappers something to do. Use a 3.5- to 4-inch craw on a 3/8 to 1/2 oz flipping or football jig, and a 2.5- to 3-inch craw on a finesse jig. Slide the trailer up the jig hook until it sits snug against the skirt, then bring the point out through its back so it hangs straight with the claws trailing behind the skirt. For which jig goes where, see jig types explained.
Size, color and season
Size: go smaller (3 to 4 inches) in clear water, cold water and when fish are not biting well. Go bigger (5 to 6 inches) in heavy cover, in stained water and when you are after larger fish.
Color: green pumpkin suits clear and lightly stained water. Watermelon with red flake suits clear water and grass. Black-and-blue and junebug stand out in stained or muddy water and at low light. In spring, many anglers fish craws with red or orange accents, because many crawfish take on those tones early in the year. For more on this, see matching lure color to water clarity.
Season:
- Pre-spawn (water about 48 to 60°F): craws on Texas rigs and jigs around rock and wood, as crawfish become active again.
- Spawn: creature baits and lizards near beds and spawning flats. Check local rules; some waters restrict fishing for bass on beds.
- Summer: punching mats, flipping wood and Carolina-rigging offshore points.
- Fall: Texas-rigged creatures around cover in shallow creeks, where bass follow baitfish.
- Winter: small craws on finesse jigs and light Texas rigs, fished slowly on rock.
The Zoom Brush Hog is a 6-inch creature bait in black with red glitter, a size for Texas and Carolina rigs and a dark color for stained water.
For more on hook sizes and shapes, see fishing hooks: sizes and styles, and browse every bait in creature baits and craws.
