Daiwa Lure Wallet

By Chris Seeto.

We all should know the Cranka Crab, they’re a small, somewhat effective creature bait imitation. The unique point of difference the crab has are its floating claws and the challenge with the Cranka Crab is storing them with the floating claws.

Most treble based lures, I put treble covers over the trebles to stop them tangling up or becoming a ball of lures when I just want to pull out that one colour. The Cranka Crab creates the problem of not being able to get treble covers over the foam claws. What I ended up doing was reverting back to the less than ideal technique of mixing them together.

The foam claws are great for floating the sharp bits out of snags but they are also soft and are easily pinned when stored in a tackle tray with other claws. I found pulling them out also risked tearing the claws with the hook barbs. I’d seen some measures to store the crabs but figured that the amount of fabrication and innovation required just to store them was a reason that I rarely used them.
Storing them in piles has the less than ideal impact of deforming the rubber like legs as well, trying to keep them straight and natural is part of the challenge. The Cranka Crab has the advantage of coming out of the box looking exactly how they should, making them a great bait straight out of the box.

I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a Daiwa lure wallet, these were probably designed for fly fishing or squid jigs but the foam insert and ridges seemed perfectly spaced and sized for the Cranka Crab. Although I don’t have an extensive collection of crabs, the wallets could easily have fitted more and with two sides with a clear divider, I could separate my heavy and light versions.
Keeping the claws apart and away from the other body parts mean easy access to the various colours and weights. Being a wallet, it is easy to tuck into tackle storage, whether that is a bag or a boat. The only trouble is, that the easy access means I’m more likely to use the Cranka Crab, more likely to lose them and therefore more likely to have to buy more.