I know years ago Berkeley did a study where a craw with all its pinchers got bit, but a craw with one missing pincher got bit more and a craw with no pinchers got bit the most. But they were hesitant to sell a craw bait with no pinchers cause they thought no one would buy it. This all makes sense. But in my personal fishing if I’m throwing a craw bait and lose a pincher, I have never ever gotten bit on it. I have to change to a new fresh bait with both claws to get bite again. Doesnt matter if it’s a craw or a trailer, same result. Is this the same for everyone or can other people catch bass on a single claw craw bait?

I'm with you. If I lose a pincher, I chuck that craw.

Caught piles of fish on destroyed plastics that I continue to cobble back onto the hook and toss back into the cover. It’s a game every time I rig a new plastic that I enjoy playing: “how many bass will this worm catch and will it get the biggest fish when it’s full sized or when it’s a nub of worm on my hook?”

Four years my punch bait was an RI Sweet Beaver which has no side appendages just a somewhat split tail.

When I switched to a Rage Bug or Craw for most bottom contact presentations, if a side piece came off I just kept goin.

They have more action because of the flange which is the only reason I use them not because of an extra piece on each side.

Mike

If I lose an appendage, I keep throwing it until I start getting superstitious that the lost appendage is why I'm not getting bites anymore (but almost certainly just due to chance).

I’ve noticed that phenomenon occurs differently with different baits. Back in the days of Guido Bugs and Larew Salt Craws, the Larews would quit getting bit at the first sign of damage, and the Guido Bug would still get chewed on after it got turned into a prehistoric Ned TRD.

Anymore, I mainly use a spider/hula grub as a craw presentation, and they really don’t care if a tail/claw is missing. As a matter of fact, the single tail hula (which Chompers has made an excellent version of) will get absolutely destroyed during those exceedingly calm/clear days when they’re being really picky.

My fishing partner has always asked me how I catch so many fish on a TRD Ned.

Only explanation that I can give him is that it resembles a craw without it's pinchers. Idk

That study was done with live crawfish. There are many aspects of a real live crawfish that would make a bass think it was real food. If the live craw didn't have claws that bass would still think it was real, and actually prefer it because having no claws makes a craw less capable of defending itself. The bass would not have any reason to think the craw was fake, because it was real, just like the thousands of craws it had eaten before.

A plastic craw is not real. The purpose of the claws are to create action, which makes the bait look more like something alive. Take away the claws and the action may change enough that the bass does not think the craw is a real live meal.

Most claws on artificial craws, do not look or move anything like the claws on the a live craw. They do however create movement, which makes the bait look like something alive. Of course movement can be imparted by the way an angler retrieves the bait, which is why bait with claws removed do work, but many times the extra action of claws can help trigger a strike.

In the 1970's companies experimenting with plastic made artificial insects that were exact copies of the real thing. Trout anglers hoped these exact replicas would be the holly grail of fly fishing. They did not work. The fuzzy look of flies tied with thread and feathers, gives a fly the appearance of being the real thing. Even though the plastic fly looked more real sitting on a table, the fuzzy tied fly looked like something alive when drifting down the stream. The action of claws on a craw, may be similar to the feathers on a fly. Not as realistic, but they provide that important it factor.

Besides, claws on craws, look good to me, and the fish will just have to like what I like, or go bite some other anglers line. I'm not going to spend my hard earned dollars on a craw with no claws. That might as well be a poop bait, and I'm not going to buy them either. I don't care how many scientific studies are done, or how many tournaments are won. I have to draw the line in the sand somewhere. I have to add a disclaimer. My line in the sand will disappear faster than a frog in the slop, if a fishing partner spanks my butt on a clawless craw. If that happens, I will gladly ripp every claw off of every bait I can get my hands on.

This is my uneducated, bored fisherman's opinion, supported with zero scientific fact, and I'm sticking to it.

Well tubes don’t have any claws & they get bit all the time. Other than a gobie they do represent a crawfish.

A fisherman’s confidence in a bait, a line, or a presentation is one of the most important factors in his success. If you have no confidence in what you’re throwing, you won’t stick with it long before you switch back to something you’ve had success with in the past. If you believe bass won’t bite lures as well with braided line, or the wrong color or is missing a claw, you probably won’t do as well as others who are using that stuff with confidence.

There was a guy on youtube who went through a streak of no claw craw on a t rig and he had a steady run for awhile. I really think that appeal might be why a look like nothing true ned rig with the trd works so well.

Slow fall with nothing specific represented, but several prey items interpreted by bass. Simple can be best, often.

It could be that baits with a lost claw don't move like symmetrical ones. I've been thinking that if bass prefer only one claw, they might like zero claws even better. There are some great shrimp imitations that move really well in the water, and I'm going to try them for bass. They look and move a lot like a crayfish. But no claws.

Keep in mind the inherent balance intended by a manufacture in any particular bait can be off if one side is gone, which can be all that’s needed to get hit which is proven by the results

Mike

I would change it too…. You thought I had a crank bait missing an eye. Man did I catch the smallies on that thing. I used to tell my friends that the fish realized he didn’t have an eye and the bass thought he couldn’t see them on that side, and they would blind side him.

I lost it in the rocks, bought one similar, pop his eye out, don’t think I ever got a bite on that thing.

I had an experience several years ago in the Atchafalaya Basin regarding a craw bait with one claw that has somewhat changed my thinking somewhat.

Let me first say that I have had a great deal of confidence in the 4” Salt Craw since they were introduced by Gene Larew in the 1980’s. I always have a rod with a Texas rigged salt craw in the boat.

I was in the Basin one day and had not had much success so I made a move to a natural bayou nearby. There is about a 60-70 yard stretch of cypress tress that I began to fish using a Texas rigged salt craw I, Black/red glitter. I made a cast and missed the fish but noticed one of the claws was missing. Being too lazy to change I adjusted the bait and made a cast and immediately had a hit and caught one.

By now the craw worm was torn up so I put a new one on and kept going down the line of cypresses. I got all the way to the end without another hit.

I told myself there was no way there were only two fish on this line of trees. So, I broke one of the claws off , turned around and started back over where I had just come from.

The result? Nine bass between 2-3 pounds. I don’t know if it was coincidence or just luck. To this day if I’m not catching anything on a craw worm with both claws I’ll break a claw off just to check. Most times it doesn’t make any difference. But there are days it does.

This is one of the things about bass fishing that amazes me. You never know what might make a difference on any given day.