Berkley Gulp! Floating Pinched Crawler

The Berkley Gulp! Floating Pinched Crawler has become one of my most reliable still water trout baits. I fish it two ways depending on the day. The first is a drop shot rig — I tie a size 8 salmon egg hook to my main line, leave about a two foot tag end, and clip a drop shot weight to the bottom. That suspends the crawler right in the strike zone. The second setup is a split shot rig — I pinch a split shot onto the line about two to three feet above a size 10 salmon egg hook. The split shot sits on the bottom and the crawler floats up naturally above it. I use the size 10 hook on this rig specifically because the smaller hook lets the bait float better. I fish both the 1" and 2" sizes in Nightcrawler Original Scent. I have tried the other colors but the Nightcrawler color flat out catches more fish. One honest downside — like most Gulp! baits these are soft and will tear up after a few fish. That is the tradeoff for a bait that actually works.