What size raps?

[Benfishin]

I assume bigger is better at this time of the year?? Any help on size and color??

[Crossin' Eyes]

I've had my best luck on the #12 and #14 Husky Jerks. I've caught fish from 10" to 28" using the #14.
The discontinued Red Craw pattern has been my best with Firetiger second.

------------------
Good Fishin!
Crossin

[Ya Hey Der]

Hey Crossin'
I've been looking around to see if I would be lucky enough to find the famous Red Crawdad HJ 14 but the closest I have come to the red crawdad is the Orange Crawdad. The picture of the Orange Crawdad looks red so I was wondering if these two were actually the same lure color just labeled differently. Do you know if the regular crawdad hj 14 works well too?
Thanks again!

[Guest]

The Red Craw pattern and the Orange are one-in-the-same. The "official" title is OCW (orange craw). I would call the color orange-red. Confused?

I agree with Crossin... that pattern has been working very well.

------------------
-FNC

"get on the natch"

[bigeyes]

bigger is not always better, most days it is hard to beat a #5 shad or a #4 jointed shad. When they are on top almost anything will work though.

[Crossin' Eyes]

Yes, it is actually the Orange Craw. Sorry for the confusion. OCW is the code. It's been discontinued by rapala and is extrememly hard to find. I was bidding on some on Ebay and bowed out after the price reached $10 each plus shipping.

------------------
Good Fishin!
Crossin

[Adam Adler]

There is a difference in the colors of the red craw and the orange craw. The orange craw can still be found, but the red craw hasn't been produced in some time and is nearly impossible to find. Smithwick's lazer craw is as close as you may find to Rapala's old red craw. (whatever color they called it at the time)

------------------
www.millelacsguideservice.com
Minnesota, the land of 10,000 fishing trips....

[This message has been edited by Adam Adler (edited 10-06-2003).]

[Guest]

Thats correct Adam. The red is hard to find and I lost my last one. I have been having good success with the Orange.

------------------
Mille Lacs Guide Service
651-271-5459
www.millelacsguideservice.com

[Fisher Dave]

For YEARS(when husky jerks 1st came on market), I have had one of the red craw husky jerks(not sure size, 7" long for a guess) in my arsenal of rapala's that is starting to rival Gander Mountain.. and I have all but managed to land one snake northern on it. It runs perfect, I have used it extensively because it looked good .. but it never produced for me.

So millacs is the place I must go to catch a fish on that thing? I guess I'll have to put hooks back on it that I borrowed to put on one of my other raps that was getting hammered in a pinch.

[Guest]

If its just cluttering up your tackle box, I'll buy it from you.

------------------
Mille Lacs Guide Service
651-271-5459
www.millelacsguideservice.com

[Guest]

Fisher Dave,
Don't listen to 'em. They're junk. You should immediately send them directly to me to dispose of properly.

Mark

[Guest]

Well you learn something everyday I guess. So there was a true "red" craw at one time. Just curious as to the color... was it a bright red, or a deeper red? I'm assuming they have the same striping pattern as the orange?

------------------
-FNC

"get on the natch"

[jigspoon]

I would think the red thundersticks would be worth a shot. Thye are about the color of the red smily face and have rattles. Anyone use thunderstcks on the big pond ???

[kwkfsh]

Thundersticks have been very good on the river this year. Blue/chrome, black/chrome and firetiger have been the best colors for me. Saturday night on Mille Lacs I put out a black/chrome and a firetiger to start with and the firetiger thunderstick popped a 27"eye within 3 mins. Unfortunatly that was the best fish of the night and never did get any other big fish. We did manage to catch about 20 18" to 20" smallies earlier in the day so I was pretty satisfied. The thundersticks run about 8 ft with around 100 feet of 12 lb. line out and the 27" hit in about 14-15 ft of water before I even got on top of the reef. Just goes to show that they really come up a ways when they want to eat it.