Those that know me, know I reach for Creatures or Craws before a Paddle Tail in 99% of my fishing. In fact I need to leave them at home if I want to fish Paddle Tails.
This isnt to say they are better but they suit my style of fishing perfectly.
Rigging
My prefered presentation by far is a Texas Rig. Primarily this is free running but if the water is deeper than 6 feet or I am casting into snags then I will consider "pegging" the weight tight to the hook with a float stop or more recently with a stop knot tied with Rig Gum.
The reason for having the weight free running is 2 fold;
If you let the lure fall on a slack line during the retrieve or after a twitch then you get seperation between the weight and the lure. This gives a great little freefall to the lure and also allows it to settle on top of debris and silt rather than getting lost in it.
Being free running it allows the Lure to be sucked up into the fish's mouth. Very rarely do I suffer from fish "Short Striking" the lure and just taking appendages as is often the case with fixed weight setups.
What about Chebs and Jigheads? I tend to reserve these for situations where I'm fishing on a cleaner "bottom" and with more active fish or I need to drop the weight down even more to sub 1.8g.
Technique and Equipment
I like a Fast Actioned, Tubular Tipped rod for Fishing Texas as it allows me to move the lure pretty accurately and then set the hook on a bite.
My preference is for a tubular tip rod, but am having a play around with solid tip AJI rods and liking them for Super Ultra Light scenarios such as close range on a canal.
My technique is quite simple, and I'll start off with a simple lift and fall (either tight line or slack line). From there I may add in some "pops" where I allow slack in the line and then hit the slack line with the rod tip so the Lure picks up off the bottom and darts forward. These can be linked together to mimick a Crayfish popping off the bottom and then shooting off. This would be a "lift and pop" affair. Most hits are felt on the pause.
However, don't rule out a straight, slow retrieve bumping the weight and lure along the bottom, like a creature without a care in the world.
Where?
Now you have the basics, where in the swim should you throw a T-Rigged Creature?
Fish tight to snags and structure as that's where the fish hang out. Being weedless you can be confident that you won't get hung up and if you do,a simple ping will normally suffice. As you are moving the lure accurately, you can feel snags so can avoid setting the hook into them.
"My water doesn't have Crayfish"
This is one of those things that needs a bit of an "out of the box" mindset. Creatures and craws are a category that can resemble nothing but mimic everything. The K2 looks like nothing but could be a Caddis Larva or Nymph and the Craw21 could be a Cray, a Crab or any other beastie trying to survive getting picked off.
Extra bit.
A lot of my fishing is done in the Fens where it is often windswept and interesting. Sometimes you need 7g but the bottom is only really suitable for 3.5g. In this scenario I will use the 7g Texas weight but give an inch or so seperation between the hook and weight by tying a stop knot with rig gum. This will stop the lure being pulled into the debris but allow for fishing in windy conditions.
You can also use this stop knot to set up a Mojo or Finesse Carolina on the fly but that's another story.
As always I hope you enjoyed this article and maybe a few tips may have been of interest too.
These are Just my basic methods of fishing a Creature and Craw and I'm always experimenting.
Until next time
Take care, tight lines, ta-ta
Tom
Fishing-Creatures-Craws-Tips