http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1206326160

Some of you may or may not remember the thread about whether or not it helped or hurt to cut a pincher off a soft plastic craw to simulate it being injured. Well I did my first bit of field research.

Me and my father fished a slightly remote river during spring break in SE Missouri. It has a lot of nice deep slow moving pools and clear water, but due to recent floods the water was stained. After my dad caught a black crawdad accidentally with a worm and bobber, I decided to "match the hatch" and tied on two YUM craws with a jighead. I pinched one of the pinchers off and put it on 8 pound line and fished it with slow short hops, and my father fished it the same way but with both pincers and 6 pound line.

The results were 3 largemouth and a smallmouth for me, all around 13 inches except for a largemouth that was 16. My dad caught 3 largemouth that were all about 13 too. So the craw with one less pincer didn't beat the two crawed bait by a lot, but keep in mind the water was murky and the two craws were on lighter line.

Cool experiment hester, I've wondered that same thing.  Keep us in the know   8-)

That is very interesting! Cool experiment.

I did something similar last yr.

I would give my Oscar a craw with arms, 1 arm and no arms to see which one he would eat first.  I only did it twice as I don't feed him craws too often but, (and I know this was not the best control for this experiment, being a domesticated fish..) but he went after the "clawed" craw 1st, both times.

Now this may be because the other 2 were all ready to be eaten so maybe they need less attention?  Dunno, but the clawed ones DID go 1st. (It was also the one that landed closest to him.)  I think it may be more a method of opportunity other than selection.

Wasn't expecting that.

Awesome stuff Hester.  This is something that I have wondered alot about since craw imitation style baits are go-to for me.  Are you planning on doing another test?

I also tried this last year on two different occassions at Long pond in Harwich MA. 10 to 2 they went for the clawed Huddbug (rigged on a pro spot remover)over the Huddbug with 1 claw missing. I believe it  had something to do with the clawed Huddbug having more action.

A few pros do it religiously, but I think its a mind game.

all i really see it doing is making the bait spin in an undesireable way....

but hey, at least your trying new things! KEEP IT UP!

I pour some of my own craws, and the claws come off very easy.

some times on the 1st fish 1 claw will be gone..

I still use the craw with 1 claw and they work well..

after 3-4 fish both claws are usually gone. But I guess I have never tested out to see what way works best.. I think the craw with both claws is slightly better.The molds are resin, so this winter I used a blade to cut out some more of the mold where the claw hooks to the body now that area is much thicker plastic so I am hoping the claws stay on longer .should be finding out very soon. Its getting warmer here in Michigan..

That may not be a true test! Your test may have a different out come on a different day. I have fished a few tournaments that the bite was great and after awhile it became a slow bite. Then I took a claw off and the bite started up again. I am not sure if the one claw or two claws would catch bigger bass but, it can get them to bite again. Just my two cents worth.