Learn why the Rebel Teeny Wee-Crawfish is a critical lure for smallmouth bass specialist Bill Schultz and the role it has played in his fishing success.
As Bill Schultz ventured to a river spot near his Wisconsin home on June 23, he knew it would be a landmark day. Of the 35,000+ smallmouth bass catches he had logged since the mid-1990s, 19,998 had come from stream settings. He only needed two fish to hit 20,000. Knowing that was highly likely, he opted to start with his long-time favorite lure for stream smallmouth bass – a Rebel Teeny Wee-Crawfish.
It didn’t take long. Schultz was still on the river bank and had not even donned his waders when he caught a 7-inch smallmouth followed by No. 20,000, which turned out to be a chunky 13-inch smallmouth – a high-quality fish for the size of the river.
“This river is very shallow, and in most spots not much deeper than a foot or so,” Schultz said. “For that nice one I cast across the river about 15 yards next to a downed tree in about 18 inches of water, and it hit the Brown/Chartreuse Teeny Wee!”
Rebel Teeny Wee-Crawfish
Schultz believes he may have caught more smallmouth bass on a Teeny Wee-Crawfish than anyone else. While his catch records aren’t broken down by lure, based on the number of stream smallmouth recorded and his own knowledge of how often he has had this lure tied on, he conservatively estimates that it has produced at least 6,000 of his smallmouth catches. He has also caught 20 different species on Teeny Wee-Craws, but smallmouth are his target species, so that’s where we’ll keep the focus.
“I got my first Teeny Wee early in 1995, and my first cast on a farm pond near me produced two small largemouth. ‘Wow.’ I knew this might be special,” Schultz said. “My first river smallie with the Teeny Wee came a couple weeks later on a small river in Southwest Wisconsin, and from the very beginning, I knew this little 2- to 3-foot diver was going to be great for those river smallies!”
Schultz believes the small size that the Teeny Wee-Craw’s name foretells creates a “catches everything” quality. “I also feel the tremendous tight wiggle and great vibration, especially cross current and against the current, is a huge plus and attracts hits. Swimming nose down, it nicely bounces off rocks and the bottom in those shallow rivers,” he said.
At one time Schultz also used Teeny Wee-Crawfish significantly on the larger waters of Green Bay and Lake Michigan and caught a lot of smallmouth bass on them – finding the smaller fish, especially, couldn’t get enough of them. He has since found other approaches he favors for the big water, but the Teeny Wee-Craw remains highly important to his stream fishing strategies and is a lure he heartily recommends for anyone who wants to target smallmouth bass in a small river.
Crawfish Specifics
Schultz pointed toward Chartreuse/Brown Back, Tiger Craw, Ditch Brown and Stream Craw as preferred colors, but qualified those preferences. “I feel the biggest plus to this little guy is the tremendous wiggle/vibration and not as much the color. All the colors I’ve tried have worked!” he said.
One modification Schultz makes is to upsize the rear treble. Teeny Wee-Craws come with No. 14 trebles, and he changes the back treble to a No. 10. That prevents large fish from bending hooks straight, and he has found that it increases his hook-up ratio. He also likes that the larger rear treble makes the bait suspend if he pauses the presentation.
Schutz fishes Teeny Wee-Craws on 6-10 to 7-3 medium-light St. Croix Rods with fast or extra fast action. “This gives me the flex to get long casts and the backbone for the occasional 2- to 4-pounder,” he said. He spools DAIWA 2500 and Seviin 2000 reels with 10-pound braid, with a 3- to 4-foot 10-pound fluorocarbon leader.
One of Schultz’ favorite things about the Teeny Wee-Crawfish is how simply it can be fished effectively. With only a bit of coaching, he has helped countless anglers who had minimal stream fishing experience use this lure to catch plenty of bass.
Schultz mostly fishes Teeny Wee-Crawfish in current, often in shallow rocky runs. Casting cross current to downstream, he mostly sticks with slow steady retrieves and lets the lure’s natural swimming action and the resistance of the current do the fish-attracting work. He’ll sometimes cast upstream as well, but he noted that speed control can be touchier for keeping the action engaged without moving the bait too quickly.
In slow water, Schultz will experiment more with stop-and-go presentations and will even let the lure float and twitch the rod tip, so the lure dances on the surface.
Bill Schultz & Smallmouth Bass
Bill Schultz caught his first smallmouth bass in May 1994 and since then has logged more than 35,000 smallmouth bass catches. He catches other species but fishes almost exclusively for smallmouth bass in Door County, Wisconsin and in SE Wisconsin Rivers.
He is a regular instructor at sport shows and has delivered talks to more than 10,000 individuals at shows. He runs an annual “Smallie Night Out” and has a large Smallmouth Bass email group. Email smalliecentral@gmail.com to join the list or ask fishing questions.
