Crankbaits? Rat-L- traps?

[kickinbass54]

Im a young fisherman and am very good and using a spinnerbait. Its my bait that i always fish. I want to get away from that a little bit but everytime i go to a Crankbait of Rat-l-trap i cant seem to catch fish. I work them off drop offs and i try to follow what people say but i just dont catch fish. They say the Rat-L-trap bait is one of the easiest baits to fish but i cant seem to find the edge.
thanks, zack

[scrap]

i cannot get the hang of it either. or spinnerbaits. dont be hard on yourself, enjoy the sport for what it is, ...fun....

[JB]

ya need to make a pause in your retrieve, and let it sink, then continue to reel, then repeat, they will hit it on the fall many times

[betursweetbass]

The key here in this case might be to try and "match the hatch" I suppose. If you could afford a few different sizes and colors of each bait, you might have better luck with them. I know thats not easily done, going out and buying several colors and types of lures at 3 to 4 dollars a pop, but it's likely to improve your chances with the bass.

[KW01268]

Great baits. I have found and mostly stick with a large 3/4oz version. I work it really fast, shallow, hot, cold, and it don't matter. I have 2 colors I fall back on most of the time and that is a shad / chrome or a red / crawdad.

I do believe in the different sizes but seem to always go back to the big ones when I find fish.

[betursweetbass]

Big 10-4 on what JB said as well, I've started doing that with my cranks and rattle traps and have found it to be very true, use a "stop-n-go" style retrieve when using cranks and traps, you will get more bites.

Especially true with long A's and other long profile minnow baits.

[rrw4258]

it'll come to ya eventually... as for the traps let them fall for about 1-3 seconds and then start reeling again... also, fish the ratltraps in anything from 3 ft. to 30 ft. of water! As for regular cranks a good starter bait is a
Rapala DT-4 in a color to match your water conditions... firetiger works well for me! It will come to ya one day!

Ryan

[SMB Hunter]

Try the manns minus one over weed beds and around docks. Run your Rat L Traps over weeds and try to stay just above them ticking the tops of them. Use your rod position and reel speed to keep them where you want them. And most of all throw them as much as you can stand it. 75% of it is having confidence in a particular bait. After a while you will learn when to use them. And try to remember exactly what you were doing when the fish hit. ie.. speeding up slowing doen pausing. You will get it. It is like anything else it takes time.

[lovinfishin9]

also something i heard for the rat l trap is if you get it hung in weeds, rip it loose rel fast and keep going, theyll hit that, i guess its just a reaction strike.

[zooker]

lipless baits are no differant than any crank bait. you must hit something weather it be tree limbs, grass,rocks,or my personal favorite digging a ditch in the bottom..

zooker

[ROBZILLA]

another thing you might be missing is you reel ratio might be too slow for you retrieve, if not follow tips above.

[bass kicker]

try letting your crank hit the tops of the weeds your are fishing and then rip it up just like fishing a spinnerbait

[Gunny BBS]

Kickinbass, I have cashed more check with a Rat-L-Trap then anything else. That bait is the American Express card of bass fishing, you better not leave home without it. There really is no wrong way to this a Trap, stop and go (yo yo style) is to me the most inaffect of them all, best is to just burn it baby!!! Remember to really fish them good you need a high speed reel, I use a 7:1 not so much for speed, but so I don't get tired. In the spring use it in the backs of creeks and shallow, bounce it off the bottom all the way back to the boat, if there is grass present all the better, reel it in until you make contact with the grass and then rip is free, 80% of your strike will occur at this time. Most of the time I use the 1/2 oz, but in the summer if I need to go deeper I will use the 3/4 or 1 oz (salt water version) to get deeper off ledges. In the fall back to the 1/2 oz and bring it right through the schools of bait fish! I have over 100 traps and all are in 4 colors chrome/blue, chrome/black, red, and parrot. Those four will cover any water condition you come across. Line size doesn't matter with a trap, it's a reaction bait, throw it on 30!!! The reason I have some many in so few colors, is only 1 out of 3 will actually catch fisn consistently, that's why you need alot of them, if your catch the heck out them, the paint will come off!!!! Throw that one away and grab another and start chuckin!!! The only knock off of a Rat-L-trap I have found that I like is the Lucky Craft version!!

[Wishing2BFishing]

[quote=rrw4258]it'll come to ya eventually... as for the traps let them fall for about 1-3 seconds and then start reeling again... also, fish the ratltraps in anything from 3 ft. to 30 ft. of water! As for regular cranks a good starter bait is a
Rapala DT-4 in a color to match your water conditions... firetiger works well for me! It will come to ya one day!

Ryan, I agree the DT-4 is a good bait. My favorite colors are shad and bluegill. I like to modify my DT-4 by replacing the original trebles w/ size 4 Gamakatsu's.

[Sluggo]

Gunny you're there and a fantastic description of the rattle-trap, eg. AE card. I always fish it the same way I burn it albeit its with old Speed Spools with a 4.3 ratio, I sometimes count it down you know I think that bait sinks a foot per sec. so fiddle around with that sometimes. TRAPS are there !!!!

[Rebbasser]

That bait is the American Express card of bass fishing, you better not leave home without it.

Couldn't have said it better myself!

[bass kicker]

love the bait my self but i prefer the rapala version runs a bit different