Get Crabby: The CW Crab
It’s no secret fish eat crabs, so how come no lures seem to do a good job of imitating a crab? Plastic crabs don’t work with jig heads, spin when you try to swim them, and often don’t even look realistic. Granted, when you consider all those legs, fins, and pincers, it’s easy to see why it’s tough to make a fake crab that works. The CW Crab is the latest attempt, and due to some unique touches, this one seems to get the job done fairly well.
The body of the crab is pliable but firm, and shaped like the real thing. Where the CW gets interesting is on the bottom. Instead of having molded rubber legs it has a plastic keel, which helps it swim upright, with life-like legs embossed upon it. A single treble hook trails the body. It has a large lip so it dives and swims, comes in floating, suspending, and sinking models, and also has rattles inside to attract attention. Hold it a foot from your eyes, and you’ll want to steam the darn thing. Although I didn’t see it happen personally, the makers claim that during their field trials, they’ve even had live hard shells attach themselves to the lure as though they wanted to mate with it (The CW’s are patterned after females.)
During testing I found that fish do like to eat ‘em, but you have to work at it to get these things running right. They tend to spin, and need quite a bit of tuning before you can hope for a hook-up. I got frustrated the first time I tried it and set it aside but on a second attempt, after four or five adjustments I got it running right. At least, the stripers hunting along the marsh banks sure thought so.
Cost: $10
The Highs: Finally a lure that really looks like a crab.
The Lows: Must be tuned to run straight, and it takes some work.
Who Wants It: Anglers fishing areas rich in molting crabs, and fish that feed on them.
Contact: www.cwcrab.com
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