Wiggle Wart Or Spro Rock Crawler?

[Jerry Rapp]

10 minutes ago, aarchdale@coresleep.com said:

They wouldnt touch a Rock Crawler at Bridgeport today, Caught 7 on warts on the same banks 

the price of old warts just went up $5

[Quillback]

3 hours ago, Mitch f said:

If I bought a new Rock Crawler today, would a get the new improved version that doesn't fill up with water and have these production issues fixed?

Well, you should.  But if you get a bad one, send it to Spro, I hear they are real good at making up for it.

I'm not saying that a Rock Crawler is better than a Wart at all times, but I'm saying that has different characteristics than a Wart.

[huntest]

1 hour ago, aarchdale@coresleep.com said:

They wouldnt touch a Rock Crawler at Bridgeport today, Caught 7 on warts on the same banks 

I have had similar results on several occasions. I keep both tied on to the same rod, reel, and line setups and get many more bites on the Wart. 

[Champ188]

5 hours ago, merc1997 said:

i am one of those that is not hung up on one brand of crank bait.  why?  because of different wiggle or vibration patterns.  true, warts and crawlers both will produce, but neither may be the best one to be throwing on any given day.  you will have to ask the bass why, but i have knocked them dead on a wart one day, and go the next, and can not draw one bite on a wart, but just slay them on a model a bomber.  the bomber has a much tighter wiggle than a wart.  i go with which crankbait is right for the particular day.  do you fish a jig or worm the same way all the time??  or with the same size sinker??  or the same size worm or other soft plastic??  the answer should be no to all questions.  different days it requires a different vibration pattern to trigger the most strikes.  crawlers and warts both will catch bass, but most likely one will produce better than the other one on different days.  i will always choose a crankbait with the right wiggle over color any day.

bo

This is why I have 200+ crank baits in my boat at any given time. Bandits, Bombers, Warts, Fat Free Shad, SK Series 3, old Rebel Wee-Rs, Academy H2O's ... they all have their places and times. And yall thought I was just a spinnerbait and Redfin guy.

[mixermarkb]

I can't go with you there Champ. No doubt it works, but I just have a 3 or 4 colors of lipless, square bill, warts, rock crawlers, and 2 kinds of deep cranks. I've caught fish on all of them, so I'm confident in them. 

If I don't get bit on one of the ones I'm throwing, I just put down the crankbait stick and pick up some other kind of bait, or pull up the troller and move on. I don't doubt that subtle differences in wobble or color can get a lot more bites, but I'd rather eliminate the variables of too many lure choices and try another type of bait or another location. 

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

I wish they always bit the crawler it is very nice to throw, But the ol wart in red and purple tiger was hard to beat today, i picked up one on the a-rig and was about fed up with throwing it, and a buddy caught one on a H20 brand jerk bait.   I threw a rc stick right next to him with no love.  Have to say the H20 has some good paint jobs and it casted just as well as my rc stick and dove a little deeper.

[Hughesy]

To me, the wart is the standard. Everybody, spro, bomber, berkley, or whoever, is just trying to be like an old wart. Its really not fair to compare a RC to a wart. Its a bigger bait with a bigger bill. If you are going to compare the RC to the wart, and say, well it casts better (bigger, heavier bait) and it runs deeper (longer wider bill), you should compare it to another bait in its class like a Norman or maybe a fat free. Just my 2 cents.

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

12 minutes ago, Hughesy said:

To me, the wart is the standard. Everybody, spro, bomber, berkley, or whoever, is just trying to be like an old wart. Its really not fair to compare a RC to a wart. Its a bigger bait with a bigger bill. If you are going to compare the RC to the wart, and say, well it casts better (bigger, heavier bait) and it runs deeper (longer wider bill), you should compare it to another bait in its class like a Norman or maybe a fat free. Just my 2 cents.

Agreed , besides them all being a craw pattern there is a lot of difference. its always a guessing game at first, of course i started with a $10 crawler and then my buddy was just pulling them in on the wart, so obviously i picked up my wart rod... we didnt slay them or anything but it was apparent they didnt want my RC today. I think think honestly though it was the brighter colored warts. Not sure if they have anything bright yet in the RC, at least at BPS the RC's seem like more natural colors. Red, and purple tiger warts were our main thing today

 

[mjk86]

Teckel USA I think makes a wart knockoff...the drunker maybe?  I imagine there are also days where a jig beats any craw type crank and even days where live craws are what would work best.  A few years back there was an old fella at the dock that would use fish guts for crawdads traps.  He would catch some GIANTS.  I mean as big as your hand.  So some days maybe you'd need a 10xd in a craw parttern.  Or a huge jig.  I can't find any big ones so I've been tying up something hair jigs that are 6-8 inches long for that same purpose.

[MOBass]

I figured out quickly that the RC is another tool in the box and not a replacement for the wart.  It runs a bit deeper, runs true out of the box, seems a bit more snaggy at times.  I'll have both tied on and let the fish sort it out for me.  

 

One advantage to the RC is that it seems less temperamental.  I fish with a lot of folks that don't go much and having a bait run straight for them and not have to be tuned up is really nice.