Hi all! I am a big fan of fishing with silicone lures. For several years now I have moved away from the previously familiar conventional silicone and actively use edible rubber. This hobby costs me a lot of money, because edible is less durable and at the same time costs several times more than regular silicone. But there is something to pay for: I started catching more consistently and in more quantity.
Now the market for silicone baits is represented by a large number of manufacturing companies. The range of artificial imitations is incredibly wide and varied. There are all kinds of vibrating tails, twisters, slugs, worms, lizards, fantasy forms. And there are also silicone crustaceans! For some reason, few people recognize them (although in the last year the popularity of silicone crustaceans has grown among hobbyists). But I’ve always liked crustaceans and I can catch them. Sometimes they catch better than all other forms of silicone baits! “Sometimes” - I’m talking about catching perch. And the crayfish shoot at the pike all the time! This fall I used only imitation crustaceans when fishing. Even vibrotails from edible food have faded into the background! In this article I want to provide you with information about some of the silicone crustaceans that I use when fishing. Maybe after reading this you will buy some models from the presented list.
Reins Ring Shrimp 5 cm
Reins Ring Shrimp
I have this shrimp in all sizes, but I actively use only the 5 cm model. As soon as this crustacean appeared in my possession, I fished with it by mounting the bait on an offset hook and a Cheburashka. But then I watched a video of playing Ring Shrimp on a drop shot rig. I tried it. Liked! And the soul rushed to heaven. Now I use only a drop shot when fishing with the Ring Shrimp (I also tie a drop shot for fishing with other similar imitations made of edible silicone). Ring Shrimp on this rig works great for perch in the fall. Despite the fact that the size of the crustacean is 5 cm, sailors weighing from 30 grams sit on it. Large bass also love the Ring Shrimp. But to catch them purposefully, you need to find a suitable place where there will be no small things.
How to properly place a silicone crustacean on a hook
Even if the fish is full, it simply tries to butt an unwanted competitor, with the goal of at least driving it away from its favorite territory. And she often does this very carefully, as if reluctantly, which makes the bite indistinct.
Therefore, the tackle must be “tailored”: a fairly rigid rod 2.0 - 2.7 m and a cord no thicker than 0.13 mm. I have not yet had the opportunity to experiment with attractants when fishing for crayfish, I think this is a separate word for this fishing technique with such bait, because a long pause allows the predator not only to examine the bait, but also to slowly sniff its prey, and if it also “guess” with attractant, I think the result can exceed all expectations.
One of the options for attaching a crustacean is when the ball of the jig head is inside the cavity, and the ring of the hook looks out from the “crawfish neck”. This installation method works quite well, it is recommended by the manufacturer. There are other installation methods, but for various reasons, I have not practiced them.
Reins Ax Craw
Reins Ax Craw
This is another favorite from Reins. When I bought this crustacean, I thought that I was taking a passive bait. But as it turned out during the first test in water, this is not a passive bait, but a very active imitation. Silicone claws move in the water like a submariner's flippers, emitting vibrations as they do so. And this is on a uniform wiring! Therefore, I often use the Ax Craw when fishing for active fish. Well, when the predator is passive, I use stepped retrieves with long pauses, or dragging along the bottom. The best thing to catch on the Ax Craw is, of course, perch. But small pike are often caught as by-catch. The price of the bait is approximately the same as the Ring Shrimp - about 7.5 USD.
MOLIX Freaky Rock
MOLIX Freaky Rock
A very interesting bait! I don’t even know if it’s correct that I attribute this imitation to crustaceans. The bait looks more like a fantasy-shaped product. But because has claws, let's consider Freaky Rock a crustacean. This imitation, as the name suggests, was developed for rock phishing. I am inclined to this opinion not only for philological reasons, but also from the practice of fishing: Freaky Rock can perfectly jump on a hard bottom or stones, using a regular jig head! On uneven wiring, this little thing plays with all parts of the body. When fishing for rock bass, this should produce phenomenal results. I’m really not sure about this, but it’s a fact that Freaky Rock catches our stripers well! I advise all microgin lovers to try Freaky Rock. I am more than sure that the bait will show you excellent results. By the way, the bait costs a little less than those crustaceans from Reins that we reviewed.
Catching perch with bait that imitates crayfish
If perches do not bite classic baits - rippers, twisters, spoons and wobblers - it is worth trying to catch them with soft baits that imitate the appearance and behavior of crayfish.
There is a widespread belief among spinners that the most effective bait for perch are twisters and rippers. A very fashionable and effective way of catching perch is to use small twisters (2-3 cm) on very light tackle with a thin line and a side leash. The best fishing rod is carbon fiber, sensitive to the most careful bites, with a test weight from 1.5 to 8 g. It is in June that rubber imitations of crayfish are very catchy baits for perches. Anglers who specialize in using this bait for catching humpback whales believe that the effectiveness of fishing is most influenced by three factors: the shape of the bait - an imitation of crayfish, - the color of the bait and the way it is presented.
Since there is no clear answer from ichthyologists to the question of how fish perceive colors and how they see the shape of their prey, the angler must choose a method of demonstrating the bait based on his experience. Undoubtedly, the best would be an imitation crayfish measuring from 4 to 6 cm in Motor Oil or Diesel color, which is moved “crawling along the bottom.” Perches attack baits in the fall, moved by jumps along the bottom or lying on it without moving. They will also be tempted by lures that imitate crayfish, in red, green or black. If you don’t have a bait that imitates a crayfish on hand, you can use a twister of the above colors and a few centimeters in size and, by demonstrating it in a special way, provoke an attack from the fish, which thinks that there is a small crustacean in front of it. Some spinners modify the imitation of crayfish by gluing long twisters on the river instead of claws. Sometimes they are forced to do this because large pike or pike perch bite off part of the bait. When fishing with soft baits with a spinning rod (carbon-fiber rod), you don’t need to hook the fish too much - after the bite, it’s better to slightly raise the tip synchronously with the rapid rotation of the reel handle.
Read: How to catch pike in April using a spinning rod?
If we don't have enough crayfish, we can use a rubber imitation of a small green or black frog and jerk it around. Fly fishermen who catch perch with streamers use self-made baits 2-3 cm in size that imitate crayfish. They are effective both on semi-mountain and lowland rivers when fly fishing near semi-dams. Large perches will not miss a large crayfish-imitation wobbler designed for pike or pike-perch. For this kind of fishing, heavier spinning rods with a test weight of 10-30 g are used.
Where to look for perches for crayfish fishing
It is best to catch perch in a countercurrent near the shore near the border with calm water. It is good to catch crayfish in small rivers, wherever there are piles, logs or a shallow and rocky bottom in the water. In oxbow lakes in standing water, it will be especially effective to lead a small crayfish along the bottom.
Bait Breath RushCraw
This is one of my favorite worms for pike fishing! I classify the bait as passive, since it does not emit strong and powerful vibrations due to any active elements. But this fact does not prevent her from catching toothy fish well. I started using the bait on the most common articulated rig with an offset rig. I caught it using a classic jig with stops, or dragging along the bottom (also with wiring stops). The pauses need to be very long. During this phase, the pike approaches the bait and, after starting to reel, rushes at it.
Just recently I saw on YouTube a video of the game RushCraw on the Neko rig. Liked. I also decided to try fishing as in the video. I must say that the tests were successful in terms of biting! I got a lot of bites during the day, and in a place where the fishing pressure is very intense. But the realization of these bites was almost zero, which cannot be said about the statistics on the loss of bait. Four out of six bites resulted in the loss of the crustacean. Because This rubber is expensive, I decided not to continue the experiments and fish with the most ordinary equipment with a Cheburator.
Bait Breath Bys Flappin Chunk
Bait Breath Bys Flappin Chunk
A super thing that pike bites great on. Most likely, the toothy one likes the size of this crustacean - thanks to the very wide silicone claws. On a step-by-step retrieve, when the jig head touches the bottom, these claws smoothly descend to the ground for some time. As I noticed, this is a powerful irritant for fish! Again, bites most often occur after a pause, when the first turn of the reel handle is made. When fishing with the Bait Breath Bys Flappin Chunk, I use both swivel and regular jig heads with a fixed hook.
Cancers
Date: February 17, 2015 | 043
Edible silicone sets the trend in jig fishing and modern lures. There are many forms of silicone and one of the prominent and noticeable ones is crayfish. Silicone crayfish are one of the best soft baits available today. This is not surprising, because the prototype of this bait was crayfish, crustaceans, which are the favorite food of fish in our reservoirs. So, among modern silicone baits, crayfish are very catchy and promising. Let's talk about crayfish in more detail, about their types, features and uses.
The shape of silicone crayfish is very similar to their living prototypes. Some models are very similar to living cancer exactly, while others are very conditional. The crustacean has two claws, mustaches, tentacle legs, and a characteristic body shape.
The size of crayfish can be small 1.5-2” or quite large – 3-4”. Silicone crayfish are designed to recreate a living food item, so they match in size. Small crustaceans imitate very small, recently hatched crustaceans, with a chitinous shell that has not yet formed. Large crayfish imitate already adult individuals, although not very large ones, because a large silicone crayfish will cut off too many medium and small fish. Even large adult crayfish have a hard shell, and they fight back with their claws, so that only very large fish can handle them.
A wide variety of fish are caught on silicone crustaceans. Perch of various sizes bites well on small crayfish, and small and medium-sized pike are often caught. It is not uncommon for a small crustacean to be tempted by a large peaceful fish: bream, carp, etc. Large perch, pike perch, pike, and catfish are regularly caught using medium and large silicone crustaceans.
There is an interesting point. It would make sense that silicone crayfish would be most effective in rivers and lakes where there is a population of real, live crayfish. However, practice shows that fish bite remarkably well on crustacean bait even in those reservoirs where there are no crayfish as such.
Crayfish are made of soft silicone, impregnated with an attractive smell to fish. The smell of molting crayfish, shrimp, squid, etc. the smells of animal organic matter are very good attractants for attracting fish to artificial crayfish, emphasizing its naturalness.
Silicone crayfish come in a wide variety of colors. However, translucent and dark colors are most in demand. Small crustaceans, as soon as they appear, are translucent, with visible insides. So, their imitations, translucent, light, with dark splashes of sparkles, are the most killer colors, especially in spring. Medium and large crayfish are good in dark brown, dark green, purple, and black shades.
I will give several examples of successful models of silicone crayfish. Bait Breath U30 Rush Craw, Bait Breath BYS Flappin Chunk, Bait Breath U30 Mosya, Reins Ax Crow Mini, Reins Ring Craw, Reins Ring Shrimp, Jackall Cover Craw, Lucky John Rock Craw, Lucky John Hogy Hog - these are the favorites. Although, besides them, there are many other models.
Crayfish should usually be mounted with their claws backwards. We will conduct the crayfish the same way as if a living crustacean were moving along the bottom. It is known that the crayfish moves backwards with its claws, so we mount the bait and carry it out that way. However, there are exceptions. When the crayfish is massive and specially loaded with salts in its lower part, it is equipped with an offset or single hook, on the contrary, with the claws forward. And with such light stretches and tosses they lead such a crayfish along the bottom. It seems that the crayfish is moving upward with its claws, as if defending itself from the fish that attacks it and tries to eat it. This greatly excites the predator to finally get to the crayfish and devour it. So, we use installation depending on the type of cancer, its design and features.
Most silicone crayfish are passive baits. So, you should give the silicone maximum freedom in movement so that the crayfish moves as quickly and naturally as possible and the fish thinks that it is real. This is achieved by hinged installation with a collapsible eared weight, etc. montages.
In addition to the classic microjig and jig rigs, silicone crustaceans are widely used in fishing with a retractable leash, in drop-shots, and other spaced rigs.
Wiring of the silicone crayfish should be done by manipulating the tip of the spinning rod. Simple wiring by slowly dragging the crayfish along the bottom is very effective. Also, jerking along the bottom with smooth pulls provokes fish very well. There is a huge field for experimentation here. Silicone crayfish can move naturally, very similar in habits to living crayfish, or they can behave completely unusually. In each particular case, the behavior of the edible fish causes a different reaction from the fish. You need to try, first, the classic methods of wiring - dragging, tosses with pauses. And if there is no result, make adjustments to the wiring, change something. This could be sharper jerks, or changing the duration of the pause, changing the bait, in the end. Sometimes it’s annoying when people take bait, use it a couple of times in one way and, without achieving any results, they start telling that the bait doesn’t work, that it’s not for our waters, and in general it’s a bourgeois bait for pumping out money. Like, we’ll fish with proven lures... Those who are creative and flexibly vary baits and fishing styles - they know how effective edible silicone is, and, in particular, crayfish!
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Categories: Edible · Tags: Jig, Microjig, Lures, Crayfish, Silicone
