Big Bite Baits 3-inch Kamikaze Craw

It is unlikely that the folks at Big Bite Baits of Georgetown, GA, created the 3-inch Kamikaze Craw with the idea of affixing it to a small mushroom-style jig and employing it with the six standard Midwest Finesse retrieves.

But when it was introduced to the angling world, it caught the attention of a Midwest Finesse angler who is always in search of finesse-sized creature and crayfish baits. And straightaway, he contacted us and politely hinted that we should publish a Midwest Finesse gear guide about it.

Here is what we learned about the Kamikaze Craw.

According to our measurements, it is 3 1/16 inches long.

It is an abstract rendition of a crayfish. But like a real crayfish, it is endowed with two body segments. One of them is its abdomen. The other is its cephalothorax, which contains its head and thorax. These two segments possess what the folks at Big Bite Baits call a “durable solid core.”

Its abdomen is 1 1/4 inches long. Its dorsal and ventral areas are identical. It is cylinder-shaped. The first fifteen-sixteenths of an inch of the abdomen is encircled with 10 significant ribs that are slightly less than one-sixteenth of an inch thick. Each rib is separated from each other by a groove that is almost one-eighth of an inch wide. These circular-shaped ribs have a width or diameter of seven-sixteenths of an inch with a circumference of one inch. From the center or core of the abdomen, each rib has a height of one-sixteenth of an inch.

The final three-eighths of an inch of the abdomen is devoid of the ribs. Its epidermis is so smooth that it looks glassy. It has a width of five-sixteenths of an inch and a circumference of about fifteen-sixteenths of an inch.

The tip of the abdomen is slightly indented, which is where Midwest Finesse anglers will insert the hook and bait keeper of a mushroom-style jig.

The Kamikaze Craw’s cephalothorax is eleven-sixteenths of an inch long. Its dorsal and ventral areas are identical, and their epidermises are smooth. The cephalothorax’s width at its junction with the abdomen is five-sixteenths of an inch with a circumference of about fifteen-sixteenths of an inches. The widest portion of its head is seven-sixteenths of an inch wide with a circumference of about 1 3/8 inches. At the tip of its head, there is a pair of antennae, which are seven-sixteenths of an inch long with a diameter of less than one-sixteenth of an inch. There is also a pair of antennules that are situated between the antennae, and they are slightly shorter than one-sixteenth of an inch.

Adjacent to the junction of the cephalothorax and abdomen, a chelipad or claw radiates from each side of the thorax. Each chelipad is 1 3/4 inches long. Near its junction with the thorax, each chelipad has a width of one-eighth of an inch, and at its widest spot, which is an inch from its junction with the thorax, the chelipad has a width of three-quarters of an inch. The entire chelipad is thin and flat with a thickness of slightly less than one-sixteenth of an inch. Their ventral and dorsal areas are identical. The epidermis of the first half of an inch of each chelipad is smooth, and the epidermis of the next 1 1/4 inches is pierced with three holes that have a diameter of one-eighth of an inch and embossed with nine minor ribs or ridges.

The folks at Big Bite Baits tell us these chelipads “create an aggressive swimming action that [displace] a generous amount of water and produces a strong vibration,” and the six holes “create a bubble trail.”

It is available in the following hues: 1099, Alabama Craw, BBB Delight, Black Blue Flake, Chick Magnet, Crawdad, Green Pumpkin, Green Pumpkin Purple Copper Flake, Hematoma, Junebug Candy, Pearl, Sapphire Blue, Tilapia, and Watermelon Red Flake. It is said to be “fortified with a heavy dose of Bite Juice.”

A package of eight costs $3.99.

The 3-inch Kamikaze Craw was designed for the power-angling fraternity to wield on a Texas rig and a trailer on a skirted jig. But from the perspectives of Midwest Finesse anglers, it exhibits some similarities to Chuck Woods’ Puddle Jumper and Guido Hibdon’s Guido Bug from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. And when Midwest Finesse anglers affixed it to a mushroom-style jig with an exposed hook, they will present it to their largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and spotted bass quarries the same way that they used to work with the Puddle Jumper and Guido Bug decades ago. 

Endnotes

1. Visit Big Bite Baits’ website for more information.
2. Here is the link to the Midwest Finesse column that explains how Midwest Finesse anglers can employ the six standard retrieves with the 3-inch Kamikaze Craw affixed to a mushroom-style jig.

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