# Savage Gear 4D Craw: the soft crawfish that stands up on its own > Floating PVC plastic that lifts the claws into a defensive stance: the two sizes, the rigs that use it properly and the limit you should know about. - Source : https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/savage-gear-4d-craw/ - Language : en-US - Updated : 2026-09-29 ## Spec sheet - Brand : Savage Gear - Model : 4D Craw - Type : Realistic soft craw - Target species : Bass, Perch - Size : 7.6 cm / 3 in and 10.2 cm / 4 in - Weight : not published by Savage Gear, who list only length and pack count - Running depth : a bottom bait, from the margins out to rocky breaks - Retrieve speed : very slow, short drags with long pauses - Action : claws and legs that wave constantly thanks to the floating PVC, holding a claws-up defensive stance at rest - Rigging : Texas rig, Carolina rig, shaky head or jig trailer, six baits per pack - Colors : translucent orange-brown in clear water, green pumpkin over rock in stained water, a dark body with contrasting claws in low light Late April, the water climbs past sixty degrees and the riprap wakes up. Crawfish leave the cracks, moult, move around in the open — and bass and big perch know it before you do. It is the time of year when a crawfish imitation beats any shad, provided it does what a real crawfish does when it gets cornered: rear up, claws in the air, back to the predator. The Savage Gear 4D Craw is built around exactly that detail. ## Two sizes, and nothing else in the table The maker's spec table carries two columns only, length and quantity. Two versions in the catalogue: **three inches, or 7.6 cm**, and **four inches, or 10.2 cm**, both sold **six to a pack**. There is no published weight, which makes sense for a soft bait you always rig with external lead — but it means the weight of the whole presentation is entirely your call. The 7.6 cm is the one for perch and for inactive bass, or as a trailer on a small jig; the 10.2 cm is the reference size on a Texas rig when fish want a full meal, and the only one that makes sense behind a full-size skirted jig. ## Plastic that floats, and what that changes This is the key technical point of the bait, and Savage Gear puts it in writing: the body is moulded from **floating PVC**. Combined with weight placed ahead of it — a Texas sinker, a shaky head, a jig skirt — that produces a specific behaviour: the lure settles nose down into the bottom while the rear of the body and the claws lift toward the surface. It is exactly the stance of a cornered crawfish, the one that triggers aggression rather than simple hunger. That same floating plastic also keeps the legs and the long antennae suspended in the current. In the product photo you can see just how fine those appendages are: eight independent legs, two beaded antennae, granulated pincers hinged on a segmented arm, and belly plates reproduced one at a time. The maker states the mould comes from a three-dimensional scan of a real crawfish; the level of detail visible in the image is consistent with that, though it is an observation from a product photo rather than a specification. The body is also loaded with salt and scent. Savage Gear expects that to make fish hold on longer, buying you time to set the hook — that is the manufacturer's argument, not a measurement, but it is the same logic as every salted soft plastic on the market. > The habit that changes everything with a floating craw: after each drag, genuinely give it slack for two or three seconds instead of staying in contact. That dead time is when the back of the bait lifts and the claws settle into position. A permanently tight line pins the lure flat and cancels the one advantage you paid for. ## The rigs that use it properly ### Weighted Texas The default rig. A bullet weight of 3.5 to 10 g, an optional bead, a wide-gap Texas hook in 2/0 for the 7.6 cm and 3/0 for the 10.2 cm, driven through the back with the point buried. Cast onto the rock, let it fall, then drag it eight inches at a time with a long stop between each move. The sinker stays in contact and the body rears up behind it. ### Carolina On big gravel flats or gentle breaks, a Carolina rig puts 20 to 30 inches of leader between sinker and bait. The 4D Craw then glides freely behind, claws up, while you cover a lot of water. It is the presentation for scattered fish, when you need speed without climbing up into the water column. ### Jig trailer and shaky head As a trailer behind a skirted jig, the 4D Craw adds volume and, above all, that claw lift a skirt alone never produces. Rig it short, claws up, and do not cut the body down: the PVC's buoyancy applies to the whole piece. On a light shaky head it is the finesse version of the same idea, and it is deadly on perch. ## When crawfish are the right prey Crawfish are not a year-round meal, and that makes this a seasonal bait. Its moment is spring and early summer, when the temperature climbs, moults multiply and the crustaceans move out in the open across hard bottom. A second, shorter window opens in autumn before the cold sends them back under the stones. The ground itself does not change: rock, cobble, riprap, slabs, concrete blocks. Over silt or bare sand a crawfish imitation loses much of its logic — a [Z-Man TRD Crawz](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/zman-trd-crawz/) rigged short keeps some use there through sheer small volume, but a fully detailed imitation is out of place. ### The classic mistake Working it. Plenty of anglers treat a soft craw like a shad and impose big sweeping pulls on it. A crawfish does not swim upward: it walks, it stops, and it only leaves the bottom to shoot backwards for a foot or two. Drag, stop, wait. The legs and antennae do all the work during the stop, and that is when the bite comes, as nothing more than weight settling on the line. ## The limit you should know about The price of the realism is fragility. The eight legs and two antennae are very fine, and they do not survive many fish or many trips through a laydown. Count on one to three fish per bait before it starts shedding appendages. Six to a pack goes quickly on a good day — that is the cost of this level of detail, and it belongs in the budget rather than being discovered on the water. If you cover water fast and snag often, a chunkier craw like the [Strike King Rage Craw](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/strike-king-rage-craw/) takes more punishment for less money per fish. ## Colors by water condition - **Clear water**: the translucent orange-brown from the photo, exactly the shade of a freshly moulted crawfish, letting light through like a real shell. - **Stained water over rock**: green pumpkin, the tone that blends into the substrate while staying readable up close. - **Dark water or low light**: a dark body with contrasting claws, orange or chartreuse. On a crawfish the claws are what fish aim at, so marking them is not decoration, it is a hookset reference. Savage Gear offers the 4D Craw in what it calls true-to-life colors — another manufacturer's claim, but the range is genuinely built around natural tones rather than alarm colors. ## To finish The 4D Craw is not a search bait: it is a finishing bait, for when you know fish are there and they are eating crustaceans. In a box it sits naturally alongside a bulkier [Savage Gear 3D Crayfish](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/savage-gear-3d-crayfish/) and a [Savage Gear Ned Craw](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/savage-gear-ned-craw/) built for short presentations. All of which assumes you can read the bottom and the season before choosing. That is exactly what [CarnaFish](https://carnafish.com/) does: one photo of the spot and the AI suggests the zone, the depth and the presentation that suit the day's conditions. To line up the calendar of prey and techniques, our [season-by-season guide to predator fishing](https://carnafish.com/en/blog/peche-carnassier-par-saison/) sets the framework. ## Key takeaways - Two sizes only, 7.6 and 10.2 cm, six to a pack: Savage Gear publishes no weight, so the lead is entirely your decision. - The body is floating PVC, which lifts the claws into a defensive stance as soon as the weight sits ahead of it. - Drag and stop, never pull upward: a crawfish walks and rears, it does not swim. - Very fine legs and antennae: expect one to three fish per bait, the realism is paid for in durability. ## FAQ ### What sizes does the Savage Gear 4D Craw come in? Two: three inches, or 7.6 cm, and four inches, or 10.2 cm, both sold six to a pack. The maker's table gives only length and quantity, with no weight. ### Does the 4D Craw really float? Yes, Savage Gear explicitly specifies floating PVC. That is what lets the body rear up behind a weight placed ahead of it and present the claws upward, like a crawfish defending itself. ### What sinker weight should I use on a Texas rig? Between 3.5 and 10 g depending on depth and wind. Stay as light as you can: the heavier the sinker, the more it flattens the raised stance that the body's buoyancy exists to create. ### Can it be used as a jig trailer? Yes, that is one of the uses the maker lists, alongside Texas, Carolina and shaky head rigs. Rig it short behind the skirt, claws up, and do not shorten the body. ### What season should I fish it? Mainly spring into early summer, when crawfish moult and move in the open over hard bottom, and again in a shorter autumn window. Outside those periods crustaceans make up a far smaller part of the menu. ### Does it hold up to teeth? No, and that is its main limitation. The eight legs and two antennae are very fine: one to three fish per bait before it starts losing appendages. That is the cost of the detail, and it belongs in the day's budget. --- 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.