Rebel Craws...love 'em Or Hate 'em?

[Al Agnew]

Al I can appreciate you using the homemade one, but assuming you didn't or couldn't make one homemade, would you then consider using the Rebel? Or would you chose something else for the shallows?

Wayne had a good suggestion...the Baby Lucky 13, with something on the belly hook, is a terrific shallow crank. Putting a silicone skirt on the belly hook provides a balance point which makes the lure wobble very nicely. Without the skirt, it will wobble a lot more erratically. Other than that, several guys I know use the Manns Baby 1 Minus.

My thought is that if I have a shallow crank that runs 1-2 feet deep, it will come over submerged logs and rocks much more naturally than one that runs 3-5 feet deep like most of the Rebel Craws. If you have a log that's about a foot under the surface, a deeper diving lure will go down several feet, then come back up radically to go over the log. Just doesn't look natural to me. But a lure that's running no more than two feet deep will not "climb" radically to go over the log, so it looks more like it's just swimming over it. I'm always casting the homemade crankbait over logs and in shallow rocks. Active fish are seldom deeper than four or five feet, and will usually come up for a crankbait that's running fairly close to the surface. But if they won't, I want one that will really get down into their living rooms and stay there for a while, so that's when I go to the deep runners. The medium depth runner just doesn't seem very versatile to me.

[ColdWaterFshr]

I'd be all over that invite, G and thanks for the offer. But my sons got tournament semifinals game(s) tomorrow in Chesterfield. Heat stroke-city, yelling parents, you get the picture.

[Al Agnew]

True story. I was in a seedy part of town and down on my luck. Drank up all my money at a dive bar and then shot billiards with a stripper until the rain stopped and I was bumming menthols off the waitresses. And we got into a pretty intense discussion about fishing crankbaits on small streams and she said to me, "you know, Paul, Rebel Craw fishing is the vibrator of the fishing world . . . and it just don't do it for me". Truer words have never been spoken.

Hoffmeyer swears by the them and always has one rigged on one of his rods. You're not casting into tight pockets with those. You're not throwing into heavy cover. You are basically trolling a vibrator when you fish a rebel craw and there is little skill involved other than retrieval and feeling a tug and a treble hook takes care of the hookset. Fisherman's involvement to fish is one step above a nightcrawler on a hook undr a bobber. Nothing wrong with it, just doesn't do it for me. Thanks, Trixie.

The wisdom of strippers never ceases to inspire me.

[ozark trout fisher]

Smallmouth fisherman who won't use Rebel Craws, and fly fisherman who won't touch egg patterns.... I will never understand either, but to each their own. LOL

[Mitch f]

The wisdom of strippers never ceases to inspire me.

And everyone one of them has a story about their baby daddy being in jail for a crime they didn't commit.

[Justin Spencer]

Rebel craw is great for anything that swims in the river. Bass, goggle-eye, trout all love them. If you are a casual fisherman, put one on and you will catch fish, maybe not the most or the biggest, but you will catch some.

[eric1978]

True story. I was in a seedy part of town and down on my luck. Drank up all my money at a dive bar and then shot billiards with a stripper until the rain stopped and I was bumming menthols off the waitresses. And we got into a pretty intense discussion about fishing crankbaits on small streams and she said to me, "you know, Paul, Rebel Craw fishing is the vibrator of the fishing world . . . and it just don't do it for me". Truer words have never been spoken.

Hoffmeyer swears by the them and always has one rigged on one of his rods. You're not casting into tight pockets with those. You're not throwing into heavy cover. You are basically trolling a vibrator when you fish a rebel craw and there is little skill involved other than retrieval and feeling a tug and a treble hook takes care of the hookset. Fisherman's involvement to fish is one step above a nightcrawler on a hook undr a bobber. Nothing wrong with it, just doesn't do it for me. Thanks, Trixie.

2012 POTY

Put me in the hate 'em category, too.

[Ham]

I went really old school on some new water last week. I caught fish on spoons, and mepps inline spinners, and ye old basic grub.

Which is more dumb? Smallie or guys that fish for smallies?

[Al Agnew]

Smallie fishing ain't rocket science. Any lure that's anywhere close to the size of something a smallmouth would eat, and that moves or smells or looks or sounds interesting, will get eaten at some point. It's just that some lures are better tools than others, or at least as good. I don't hate Rebel Craws, I just have other tools that do the same job, and I think they do it a little better.

[G-ROD]

I just threw one the other day for the first time in many years. Went to it for ole time sake....and the fact that my other producers were not producing on this day on this creek...For me, it will catch fish but mostly dinks. I dont recall ever catching a good one on a Rebel Craw. Good numbers bait though. Wiggle Warts & Bandits do much better on bigger ones for me.