07Rapala

Thanks for all the input guys. Yesterday was a case in-point. I don't think the fish were in a mood for a shad rap, but even if they were I was having a hard time getting it to them. It was fine when I was casting with the wind behind me but cross-wind casts didn't get very far (medium-light, extra-fast rod spinning rod). I bought a flicker shad and tried to silence it by drilling into it and super-gluing the beads together... ended up with a bunch of water in it. It cast great! But sunk pretty fast. Fish are really slowing down up here so crbnkbait season, even for shad raps, is probably over. But I'll spend some time this winter playing with a few and seeing if I can add even a little weight. You guys proposed a lot of good-locking options... even if some are a little pricy!

Seems like some typo or auto correct there. Loading the what? Are you talking about heavier split rings or weighted hooks? I started another thread to talk about rod set-up. What I'm asking here is what other lures are similar to Shad Raps in performance, but easier to cast? Surely there must be some more "modern" lure that does the same job?

The user name is more about nostalgia. I still regularly throw #9's and #11's, which are still pretty darn light. I am afraid that IMX Pro is way outside my budget. I want to keep it under $200. The 13 Fishing rod looks closer, but I can't find the specs if it's a fast or a medium-fast. A few months back I bought a Denali Kovert 7'6" medium-medium specifically for this purpose as it was rated down to a 1/8oz lure. However, I have found that to be a bit of a stretch, it is firmly a medium power rod and really more of a medium-fast action. It's a great jerk bait rod, but no better at tossing the Rapalas than the rods I already had. Living in WI, I have a fondness for St. Croix Rods. Their Premier fast-action rods have a pretty soft tip, so in absence of a true medium-light power, medium action rod, maybe I just pick up a medium-light Premier and call it a day? I already have a ML extra-fast Victory rod which does toss the Rapalas fairly well as well, but usually when I'm using finesse jigs on that one I want to be using the Rapalas at the same time.

A couple rods I use I have a 7'3" medium-light, extra fast and a 7'6" medium power, medium-fast action both with 2500 reels and 8-10lbs braid to floro leader. I feel like it's the light weight of the lure and the wind resistance that's the main challenge. Sometimes you can plan to cast with the wind at your back, but not always.

I love Shad Raps for cooler water early and late in the season and also for fishing rivers with deeper water. However, they are light and hard to cast much distance. What are some good alternatives to a Shad Rap with a similar, subtle action and narrow wobble? I picked up a Flicker Shad last week, but realized when I got it out of the package that it has some balls in there to make it rattle. I'm thinking of drilling a small hole in and inserting some super glue to silence it. 🤷‍♂️

I like to use Rapala Shad Raps and Original Minnows quite a bit, especially early and late in the season or when river/stream fishing. The trouble with these is that they are light its often hard to get much distance. What do folks here think is the best rod/reel to get the most distance casting these light lures? A rod that would do this well would probably also be good for finesse swimbaits, and other small moving baits. I was thinking a medium-light, medium action spinning rod would work well... but I'm having a hard time finding a rod in that configuration. Does anyone have a suggestion?

The Wisconsin doesn't have a lot of vegetation in the main channel, you have to go to the backwaters for that. No under-cut banks either since the sand just collapses, though in places there are vertical rock outcroppings. And I did TRY to fish some lay-downs, not a bite, when I got right up to them they were all in very shallow water (even in areas that were out side bends 🥴). I had a hard-time telling what was a deep pocket and what was 6" of water. Its a tough river to read!

So I've heard this about drop-offs below sandbars before. Does this mean sandbars that are still submerged (or recently submerged) and water is flowing over them, thus creating a, for lack of a better term, vertical eddy as is found below a dam? Should I look for sandbars that have a downstream edge that is perpendicular to the overall river flow? Seems like many sandbars come to a tapering point downstream. Is it worth fishing where the currents merge or is that shallow? This last trip I was paddling (upstream!) then got out on some sandbars and fished around them. Next trip I'm going to figure out the logistics to paddle downstream a couple miles. If you have any sections you'd recommend for wading, do share! I'm thinking its about time to get some chest waders. My father is coming up to visit this weekend and bringing his 16' jon boat, so I'm thinking of trying to convince him to spend one afternoon on the WI River, but I think we'd go upstream closer to the Dells, as I think the deeper water there would be safer to navigate. With his 40hp motor, I think his boat's draft is too deep to navigate the lower Wisconsin effectively.

I think you guys have it with the interlocking rods putting their combined mass on whatever rod top is most forward when stopping and causing a break. For the record, I WAS using a rod sock with the last one that broke! I will take reels off when putting rods in the tube going forward and add foam to both ends. I will try loading them butt end first as well, but not sure that will work well with the rod socks. It will be a little more work to re-rig, but definitely better than the alternative. Thanks!

I've lived in WI or 15 years, but this weekend was my first time fishing the lower Wisconsin River. I fished rivers quite a bit in my youth and I thought I knew what I was doing. But with the shifting sands, I really couldn't get a read for the water. I couldn't really tell where would be shallow and where it would be deep until I cast my lure out there to feel it out. I really couldn't figure out where the fish would be. I tried to fish what looked like current breaks and eddies, but found most of these very shallow once I cast to them. The only fish I caught was in a spot I didn't expect it. Does anyone have any advice for where to find smallmouth on a sand river?

I built a DIY rod tube out of 6" PVC and it's been working fine for a couple years. However, I've now broken the tips off of 2 rods in the past 2 months. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here but something clearly needs to change. I mostly fish with spinning rods so the reels take up a lot of space and get cluttered. Should I only put rods in the tube without the reel attached? Should I add foam at the ends of the tube to cushion things? Should I give up on the rod tube and carry my rods some other way (that would be acceptable to my wife)?

I wondered about a small pike at first, but when I slowed it down I hooked a bass two casts later in about the same spot. I think it may have been the same fish. Oh, and I also was wondering about throwing a jerk bait, with some long pauses.

Last evening I decided to head down to the lake to casually put a line in the water for a while. I was just straight retrieving a red chatterbait, and at one point noticed that something had nipped the tail off of my trailer. So I decided to slow down a bit, and started jigging the chatterbait off the bottom, and within a few casts got a descent bass. I had several more strikes over the next 15 minutes, but nothing I could set the hook on. I think, for the most part the fish were striking short. So, what do I adjust to get those fish to fully commit. It's still cold up here, water temp is probably in the upper 40's. Should I try a smaller chatterbait, maybe a swim bait with an underspin, or a swimsuit head on a small jig trailer? Switch to a fitness technique like drop shot, ned, or senko... but those lack the vibration to get noticed. I'll have another ~hour tonight so not a lot of time to experiment with a lot of presentations.

Hmm, I decided to try one more time with a different leader… was using Maxima Florocarbon 8lbs, switched to Gold label in 6lbs test. Knot worked no problem.

Ok, so I’m putting more emphasis on cinching it down tighter after every wrap. Now it’s consistently breaking off where the leader enters the knot as I tighten it down (after first set of half-hitches). how hard should I be pulling on the leader down as I tighten down each wrap? Seems I’m less likely to get the looping problem in my initial post if I pull on the leader pretty snugly, but maybe that’s now initiating these break offs? Below are photos before and after I tighten down. EDIT: I realize the knot above has an imperfection, must have accidentally double-wrapped on one wrap, but where it broke was nearer to where the line entered the knot.

I recently learned the FG knot and thought I had it down pretty good. However, this weekend as I was trying to tie some 8lbs floro onto 8 or 10lbs braid. I was never able to quite get it right. I would either end up with the braid arched around and tied up in a ball of floor, or if I did it so it looked right, it would snap immediately as I tried to tighten it down. Any suggestions?

Come to think of it, I caught my PB on a Slug-Go too!

? Casts, I suppose you have a point! Come to think of it, I caught a pretty nice smallie on a bubblegum punk Slug-Go on a pretty hard day early last summer. I'm trying to take a relatively minimalist approach to tackle these days, but I suppose I have room in my box for a few old friends.

I picked up fishing again last year after about 25 years out of the game. As a result, I have a couple bags of 30 year old Slug-Go's. Wondering if I should bother buying new ones when these run-out. Between flukes on one side and senko's on the other, Is there a niche for the Slug-Go in there somewhere? Little story to go with this post: Its been a cold spring up here in Southern WI, smaller lakes have had ice-off for a couple weeks, larger lakes are still iced-in. Did some fishing at a local shallow lake, and searched all-over looking for fish. I was expecting some pike too, so I had a steel leader. Tried a range of lures; spinnerbaits, spoons, jerk baits, jigs, Rapala floating minnow, and I spent about half my time throwing a white super fluke. Not a nibble. With 10 minutes left I decided to try something that had worked for me in early spring many years ago. I removed the steel leader and directly tied-on a "perch" Slug-Go. Found some well preserved dead standing lotus in a slightly deeper hole (probably 5' deep) than I'd been fishing all day and sure-enough, within a few casts, I hooked a nice 18"er. A few more casts and another 18"er (perhaps her sister). Wish I'd been catching them all afternoon, but at-least I ended the day on a high note. It got me to thinking of why this all came together at the end when nothing was going for the rest of the day. The fluke in particular is pretty similar. Maybe this spot is the only deep-ish spot I came across, and that's where all the fish were... but really, not a SINGLE fish was anyplace else? Maybe the fluke's action was messed-up by the leader. Maybe the white color of the fluke didn't match the forage in the area well. But it's got me wondering if the more subtle action of the Slug-Go is more appealing to a bass in cold water who is not particularly active, and maybe a fluke is a bit too much. But it could have been a lot of things.

WOW! I've got to say, I'm a bit overwhelmed at everyone's response! It's going to take me a while to sort through all this advice. Thanks everyone. To be clear, I'm looking for good at-home storage. Right now I'm looking for a solution for soft plastics, but the old 8606 is not long for this world, so I will need a hard bait solution too. Most of my fishing is in my canoe, and I pair down what I take out with me into a single small Pelican box for the hard baits, and a gallon-sized zip-lock for the soft baits. But I could also use a mid-sized box that I could take with me for a day in my father's boat or on weekend trips. After a quick pass through of all these posts, I'm liking the idea of a worm binder for storing the soft plastics at home (in original bags for sure), and a modular 3700 box based system for home hard baits storage and a small-ish travel box.

I got back into fishing last year after about 25 years of not doing much of it. I am still using my ~35 year old Plano 8606 tackle box that I dug out of the back of my dad's shed last year. It has been getting the job done so far, but it's filling up. I'd like to start my tackle box moderinzation project with a new storage method for my soft plastics. What do you-all use?

I'm a bit of an unfrozen caveman fisherman, but I've always had great luck with the "Original Floating" Rapala minnows in shallow streams and rivers. Size #9 always seemed the best to me.

Can someone explain to me what “SV” stands for? I get that “DC” is ‘digital control’ or something to that extent.

So I have been giving this some thought: What is the purpose of me buying a baitcasting set-up? I need something more than just trying something new and expanding my skill-set to justify spending $300+ on a rod and reel. So what will a baitcasting set-up do better than, say a 4000-series spinning reel with 20 lbs braid on a 7’ MH rod? From what I’ve been reading baitcasting reels allow for more accurate and longer casts. So, for one thing, I would say I’m good at accurate casts to structure (rocks, downed trees), but I could be better. So accurate casts and flipping/pitching should be my focus, I think, and around here fishing shallow structure also means you’re working though weeds as well. So I’d like to reframe this around what is a good first baitcasting set-up to accomplish something better than my spinning gear can. Please correct me if I’m off-base.

I was initially interested in the SLX DC, but some reading I had done suggested it was not good for beginners. These sources never said why. Perhaps it’s like learning to drive an automatic and never learning to drive stick?