“Crabs represent a significant forage species for redfish, trout, tarpon and other inshore predators,” notes Nussbaum. “But most of the available soft plastic imitations are pretty one-dimensional—they don’t act like real crabs— which rarely sit motionless on bottom for long. While deadsticking a crab might work for super technical sight fishing, it’s not so good for covering water or fishing the way most people are accustomed to actively casting and retrieving. “Because it’s designed to swim sideways, we built the Kicker CrabZ with a streamlined shape that casts much better than other pre-rigged crabs that tend to helicopter through the air—mostly due to awkward hook placement and a wide profile.” Easy to rig and fun to fish, the aerodynamic, angler-friendly Kicker CrabZ casts well in wind and can be crawled along the bottom or swum in classic paddletail swimbait fashion. In other words, the versatile, lively little crustacean moves and responds just like a crab under duress. For straight-retrieve stability, Z-Man crafted the bait with a special keeled belly that keeps it upright yet shimmying ever so slightly. To ease weedless rigging, a dorsal hook pocket offers protection until a fish crunches down, compresses the soft material and exposes the hookpoint. Composed of ecologically safe, 10X Tough ElaZtech, the Kicker CrabZ is both deceptively soft and durable—for the highest fish-per-bait ratio available. |