Savage Gear Duratech Crab Lure Review
- By: Justin Ritchey
- on
Do you often fish using crab lures or lures imitating other crustaceans?
What makes a great artificial crab lure?
Check out this review on the Savage Gear Duratech Crab lures to learn more!!
Read more below!
Savage Gear Duratech Crab Review
Right off the bat, the Savage Gear Duratech Crabs look extremely realistic in size, design, and colors.
The Green Crab design, as well as the Blue Crab design, will work best for targeting redfish and other species.
Moreover, the size of these lures is 3/4-inch and they are 1/8 oz. in weight which makes it the smallest soft plastic crab lure on the market today.
This makes it an excellent choice for fishing for sheepshead this time of the year.
The small appendages and features of the lure actually create little to no draft which allows the lure to sink through the water column faster than most other crab lures.
That is exactly what you want out of a lure like this because most often you are fishing tight to structure and want to maintain a vertical presentation while also sinking fast.
Lure Material & Rigging
These lures are made out of Savage Gear’s ‘Duratech’ material.
The material allows the lures to properly swim in the water while maintaining a natural appearance.
It is not a standard, traditional plastic used for other soft plastic lures.
The material will not easily tear and it can stretch more than standard soft plastics.
However, pinfish or pufferfish could be able to chop off an appendage or two on this lure.
In terms of targeting sheepshead and black drum with this lure, it will last several fish without issue.
As far as rigging is concerned, these crab lures are already pre-rigged.
A small hook is pre-mounted on the weight on the bottom of the lure.
These lures are ready to fish, fresh out of the package.
Furthermore, these lures sink level because of the way they are weighted.
They do not spiral or fall nose or tail down in the water.
Cons
The first major concern is the gap between the hook and the lure itself.
There is a very small area between the hook and lure for a fish to be hooked and stay connected to the lure.
The hook strength is not an issue due to the 3X strong hook.
Staying connected to the fish that strike your lure could be an issue for anglers.
When targeting small-mouthed fish like sheepshead, this issue is not of major concern but something to keep in mind.
A possible solution to this could be to jump up to the 1-inch size lure that has a wider hook gap.
Competition Comparisons
In comparison to Chasebaits’ smallest artificial crab lure, the Savage Gear Duratech Crab is a 1/4-inch smaller.
The appendages and legs of the Chasebaits lure will move more and act ‘wild’ underneath the surface.
Due to the longer appendages on the Chasebaits lure, it will sink slower because the longer arms create more draft.
You want to use the Savage Gear if you are fishing close to structure in deeper water where you need to reach the bottom fast.
Savage Gear Duratech Crab Review [VIDEO]
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Conclusion
Crab imitation lures are extremely useful for targeting sheepshead and black drum around structure this time of year.
If you want the smallest crab lure out on the market, then check out the Savage Gear Duratech Crab lure!
Be sure to keep in mind the size of the hook gap and what species you are targeting before grabbing this lure out of your tackle bag!
Do you have any more questions on using the Savage Gear Duratech Crab Lures?
Let me know down in the comments!
What is your go-to crab imitation lure?
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Would a loop knot be the best to use with this lure?
so my experience with crabs I have used the gulp Molten Fiddler looking crabs that are infused heavily with the scent. I put them on a bottom sweeper jig and almost dead stick it across canals an Docks and have had great success with black drum, my question is if you have used the gulp imitation crab? Savage gear crabs look amazing and the tutorial I watched with Joe an luke Sheepshead fishing docks looked very convincingI would definitely think they would produce as long as there’s a little scent on them.. First post hello salt strong nation love you all!!!
What kind of knot; FG or Trilene?
Hey Joe! Not exactly sure what you’re referring to. Overall, we recommend going with an FG knot to connect your main line (braid) to your leader line (monofilament or fluorocarbon).
Has anyone of the SS group tested these? If not, you should have waited to rate them.
Hey Richard. Have you seen Tony’s On The Water report yet? He recently caught some Sheepshead using these lures: Targeting Sheepshead On Foot Using Artificial Lures [Insider Report] » Salt Strong Fishing Club
We always test lures before we decide to add them to the Shop Page or talk about them in a review. It’s our priority to make sure the products we talk about/recommend will actually help anglers catch more fish. That’s why there are so few products listed on our Shop Page (because so many lures out there are designed to only catch Fishermen, and not Fish).
Off the topic but how do you think these would work for bonefish?
Definitely. I’d be excited to see how bonefish respond to these little lures. They actually cast better than expected too.
Hey Justin. Do these crab lures come scented and/or would you use the Dr. Juice on them? Thanks
Hey Charley! Savage Gear states that they are scent infused, but I personally could not acknowledge a scent coming from them (that’s not to a say a Fish wouldn’t pick up on that scent, I’m just saying I didn’t notice). And YES, you can definitely add Dr. Juice to this lure. We will be doing tests with this very soon.
I haven’t used any of the savage gear yet but the Chase bait yes! And they work perfect I’ve gotten so many different fish from it, it works great.
Definitely give them a try! Tony has caught Sheepshead on these guys recently: Targeting Sheepshead On Foot Using Artificial Lures [Insider Report] » Salt Strong Fishing Club
Do you have a video of that lure catching sheepshead?
Luke has caught numerous Sheepshead using the larger version (2″) of the older Savage Gear 3D Crabs, so it stands to reason these New Savage Gear Crabs would arguably catch “more” Sheepshead because of their smaller size. Check out this video when you have a chance: Savage Gear Crab Review (Pros, Cons, Retrieve Tips) (saltstrong.com)
I’ve used the Chasebaits crab before, and while it would get attention from sheepshead the hook-up ratio always seemed low. The x-small profile and gap could solve that problem and make this a go-to lure option for sheepshead.
For larger species, I’d like to share something that has been working well for me since the water has cooled in SW Florida. Pairing the Z-man Texas Eye Finesse jighead with Z-man’s 2.5″ TRD CrawZ creates a smaller profile lure that, while it’s a crawdad body, presents really well in saltwater as a crab imitation. The buoyancy of the elaztech material causes the claws to float off the bottom in a way that I think mimics a crab in a defensive position. A slow presentation with this setup in the “Motor Oil” color on sandy and hard bottom in shallow water has been working very well for snook over the last few weeks.
And the best part is you can get a 3-pack of the jigheads and a 6-pack of the CrawZ for about the same price as a Crusty Crab!
I feel the same way, Clinton. I think this will be a winner for Sheepshead for sure. Good recommendation on that Z-Man combo!
Can you add slit shot to the line to fish in current.
I’m sure you could add a split shot to your leader line to help the lure sink faster in current. But with a slight amount of current, I think this lure sinks well on it’s own. More underwater footage of this lure in action coming soon!