# Googan Krackin' Craws: the soft craw with flanged, thumping pinchers > Oversized pinchers with raised flanges and fine legs that quiver at rest: how to rig this craw as a jig trailer, Texas style or on a Carolina rig. - Source : https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/googan-krackin-craws/ - Language : en-US - Updated : 2026-10-03 ## Spec sheet - Brand : Googan - Model : Krackin' Craws - Type : Soft craw with thumping pinchers - Target species : Bass - Size : not published in the maker's description; several sizes circulate at retail, so read the bag - Weight : not published, the load comes from the jig head or the sinker on your rig - Running depth : the whole column depending on the rig, but this is a bottom bait - Retrieve speed : very slow, short pulls followed by long pauses - Action : oversized pinchers with raised flanges that thump hard on the fall, small side legs that quiver even when the bait sits still - Rigging : jig trailer, Texas rig with a bullet weight, or Carolina rig; 3/0 to 5/0 wide gap hook depending on size - Colors : orange-brown with an olive back and blue-tinted tail in stained water, green pumpkin in clear water, black and blue in low light On most bass waters the crayfish is not one prey item among many: it is the backbone of the diet for a good half of the year. And yet it is the imitation anglers fish worst. It gets retrieved too fast, given fish-like movement, and then people wonder why it does not produce. The Googan Krackin' Craw is built for slow, contact fishing, and its geometry says fairly precisely how to use it. ## Two signals, not one Look at the pinchers: they are deliberately oversized, and more importantly they carry raised flanges that increase the surface they present to the water. On a free fall, a pincher like that does not glide — it thumps, with an amplitude you can feel through the line. It is a strong signal, one that carries a long way in stained water and that looks a great deal like a real crayfish fleeing backwards. The second signal is its opposite. The small side legs on the body, much finer, keep quivering under nothing more than micro-currents when the bait is sitting on the bottom. That sounds like nothing, but it is exactly what makes the difference during a ten-second pause on a fish that cannot decide: the bait never goes completely dead. In short, the Krackin' Craw tells two stories. A violent escape during the fall, quiet life during the pause. The angler's job is to alternate the two without ever speeding up. > Test your craw at the bank before you go fishing: drop it a meter straight down in clear water and watch whether the pinchers really thump or simply glide. If they glide, your weight is too heavy for that size of bait, and you have just removed the most useful signal in the whole rig. ## Three rigs, three presentations ### As a jig trailer The most direct use. Threaded on the double barbed keeper of a jig such as the [Googan Juicee Casting Jig](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/googan-juicee-casting-jig/), the craw adds bulk and, above all, an amplitude of movement the skirt alone cannot produce. The jig lands, you give one short pull, and the whole package tips over then drops back thumping. Keep the trailer proportionate to the hook: on a 5/0, a small plastic leaves too much shank bare. ### Texas rig The most versatile setup. Bullet weight free or pegged, wide gap hook through the back, point brought out then buried in the body. You can then travel through weed, brush and rock without fouling. Work it in twenty-centimeter pulls followed by long pauses, keeping the line just tight enough to feel the weight move off. ### Carolina rig The weight sits up the main line, 60 to 90 cm ahead of the bait. The craw is then entirely free and planes slowly behind a sinker that is dragging the bottom. It is the slowest rig of all, and the most effective for covering a deep flat where you do not know exactly where the fish are holding. ## Salt, scent and how long it lasts The body is loaded with salt and impregnated with the brand's own attractant. That has two practical consequences. First, fish hold the bait longer, which buys you an extra fraction of a second to set the hook — valuable in a style of fishing where the bite is often just a sense of weight. Second, a salted plastic is heavier and more fragile than a neutral one: it sinks better on its own, but it tears faster at the anchoring point. A jig's double barbed keeper helps enormously to extend trailer life. On a Texas rig, slide the bait two millimeters further up the shank after every fish rather than throwing it away. ### The classic mistake Fishing a craw like a shad, that is, on a steady retrieve. A crayfish does not swim in open water: it moves along the bottom in short hops and spends most of its time motionless. Reel your Krackin' Craw at constant speed through mid-water and you are showing the fish something it has never seen in nature. Second mistake, subtler: picking too heavy a weight. The whole point of this bait is the pinchers thumping on the fall. An oversized sinker flattens that phase completely, the bait drops like a stone, and you lose the one moment when it actually speaks. Take the lightest weight that still lets you feel bottom. ## Where and when to fish it Rocky bottoms, dam riprap, stone walls, laydowns and pad edges: anywhere a crayfish could genuinely live. The Krackin' Craw has no business over smooth, bare silt, where it imitates nothing. Seasonally the two best windows are late winter and early spring, when crayfish come out and bass actively hunt them, then again in autumn. In summer it stays useful on hot afternoons, Texas-rigged, to reach fish that have buried themselves under cover and no longer react to anything fast. If you want a more compact silhouette with less thump, a [creature bait](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/missile-baits-d-bomb/) gives you a subtler alternative for the same job. ## Colors by water - **Stained water**: the two-tone finish in the photo, olive body and flecked orange-brown pinchers, which keeps contrast even when visibility drops below a meter. - **Clear water over rock**: green pumpkin, the default crayfish color, subtle and believable under bright light. - **Low light, very dark water or silt bottom**: black and blue, chosen for a clean silhouette rather than for a color that is genuinely perceived. Knowing whether a bottom deserves a craw or a swimming bait is as much a question of reading the spot as of the calendar. That is what [CarnaFish](https://carnafish.com/) sets out to simplify: one photo of the swim, and the AI suggests a zone, a depth and a lure family matched to conditions. For the basics of gear and classic spots, our [beginner's guide to bass fishing](https://carnafish.com/en/blog/peche-black-bass-debutant/) is the right first read. ## Key takeaways - Two complementary signals: flanged pinchers that thump hard on the fall, fine legs that quiver at rest. - Three rigs cover nearly everything: jig trailer for bulk, Texas for cover, Carolina for deep flats. - Use the lightest weight you can — an oversized sinker kills the pincher thump, which is the point of the bait. - No dimensions are published in the maker's description: several sizes circulate, so check the bag. ## FAQ ### How big is the Krackin' Craw? The manufacturer's description publishes no dimensions, and several pack formats circulate at retail, which suggests several sizes. You have to read the bag. Choose the size to match the hook on your jig or your planned rig. ### Which hook should I use on a Texas rig? A wide gap hook, 3/0 to 5/0 depending on the craw's size. What matters is that the point exits cleanly through the back before being buried in the plastic, otherwise the hookset will not drive through. ### Should I set the hook immediately on the bite? No. On a soft craw the bite is often just a sense of weight or line moving off sideways. Drop the rod, take up the slack, then set hard. The salt and scent encourage fish to hold the bait longer, which buys you that margin. ### Jig trailer or Texas rig, which should I choose? A jig trailer adds bulk and the pulse of the skirt, which carries better in stained water and on bigger fish. The Texas rig is subtler and travels better through dense vegetation or past a wary fish in clear water. ### Why are my pinchers not thumping? Almost always because the weight is too heavy for the size of the bait. Drop one step: you must still feel bottom, but the fall has to stay slow enough for the pinchers to have time to work. ### The craw tears quickly — is that normal? A salt-loaded plastic is more fragile than a neutral one, yes. A jig's double barbed keeper reduces wear a lot. On a Texas rig, slide the bait two millimeters up the shank after every fish rather than replacing it. --- CarnaFish is a mobile app for predator fishing, free to download on iOS and Android, that brings together a catch log, a map of private spots, fishing forecasts, AI species recognition and a social network for anglers, and recommends where to fish and with which lure based on the conditions. To cite this content, mention “CarnaFish — carnafish.com” and link the source page.