Entry 246-2

Fishing Strike King’s New 2008 Lures with Mark Menendez

Part 2: The Rage Craw and Jig Combination

Question: Mark, yesterday, you told us that the Strike King Rage Craw makes a big difference in the way you fish and the number of bass you catch. How do you rig it, and how do you fish it?

Menendez: I use the Rage Craw a lot on the back of a Strike King jig, like the Denny Brauer 1/4-ounce Premier Pro-Model Jig. Jigs don’t normally produce well in Florida, but that’s where our final tournament of the year was held in 2007. I caught five or six of my key fish in Florida using a black-and-blue jig with a black-and-blue Rage Craw on the back of it, swimming the Rage Craw on that jig. This technique really makes the Rage Craw an extremely-versatile bait.

In shallow water, you can swim the Rage Craw, in deep water, you can drag it or hop it, and in the in-between water, you can flip the Rage Craw and pitch it. I truly believe that the jig produced for me because of that Rage Craw on the back of it. The Rage Craw puts out a lot of vibration, and it really looks exciting coming through the water. When I can get Florida bass to bite a jig, I’ve really done something in bass fishing. The only difference in getting bites and not getting bites with a jig is the Rage Craw.

Question: Most people don’t look at the Rage Craw as a swimming bait to use behind a jig. What made you decide to use this tactic with this lure?

Menendez: The first time I dropped the Rage Craw in a swimming pool and saw the motion it had on a jig, I decided it would be a good swimming bait. I studied the pincers as I watched the lure come through the water in the swimming pool. When the pincers swim, they kind of resemble the half moon of a Colorado blade on a spinner bait. As I continued to watch that bait swim, I said to myself, “Mark, those pincers are moving a lot of water.” When you use it as a swimming jig, those pincers help the Rage Craw stay up higher in the water column with less effort than other swimming jigs. Other trailers won’t keep your jig as high up in the water as the Rage Craw will, which is the major factor that has caused me to start looking at the Rage Craw as a trailer for the swimming jig.

Question: When you fish the Rage Craw as a swimming jig, what colors do you usually like to fish?

Menendez: I like the black-and-blue, the Texas Craw jig with a green-pumpkin trailer to mimic a bluegill, and if there are numbers of shad in the area, I’ll fish white.

Question: Okay, Mark, when you use the Rage Craw as a trailer for your jig and fish it on the bottom, what color do you use?

Menendez: I prefer to put the Rage Craw on Strike King’s new Football Jig because even when the jig isn’t moving, the pincers on the Craw are moving in a real lifelike motion. I like to drag this bait on the bottom with that Football Jig. My favorite color is a green-pumpkin jig with an Okeechobee-colored Rage Craw on the back because it gives the jig a bluegill-look as well as a crawfish-look. With these two colors on the jig and the Craw, I get a double effect when I’m dragging the bottom with the jig.

Next: Don’t Rush the Football

Contents:

• Part 1: Six Points Away from Fishing the Classic
• Part 2: The Rage Craw and Jig Combination
• Part 3: Don’t Rush the Football
• Part 4: The Sexy Shad Isn’t a Gimmick
• Part 5: The Shadalicious and the Sexy Spoon