Lipless Crank Questions

[iceintheveins]

I have not fished Rapala's Clackin' rap yet. Does it have a wider wiggler than the rattlin' rap?

Also, I haven't fished Strike King's red eye shad either. Does it have as good of a wiggle as say a Cordell Super Spot or Rat L' Trap.

[KC Bass Fanatic]

I like the action and rattle of the Red Eye shad better than the Rat L Trap, that and I catch more fish on it than any others I've tried.

The Red Eye does seem to have a wider wiggle and a louder rattle.

[Sam Bass]

Red Eye Shad will out perform any Lipless crankbait on the Market hands down! IMO

You also can get three of them for the price of an expensive Import lipless from Japan. A top of the line Lipless for less than 6 bucks.

[Primus]

The Red Eye Shad is one of the best lipless baits on the market and a must have in my opinion. I probably have about 30 of them if you include the back-ups. What you'll like about this bait is it has a nice shimmy on the way down and doesn't fall flat on it's side like some lipless baits. I'm not sure if it's the best but it's definetely one of the best baits in it's category. Other lipless baits that perform well for me are the Spro Aruka Shad, Sebile Flat Shad, Yozuri Rattlin' Vibe & Jackall TN 50.

One cool bait that I'm trying this fall is a Custom Lures Unlimited Ikonic Wrap which is a wood trap. This bait almost suspends about 2 feet deep in the water and it looks real good when you jerk it. This is a silent vibration bait and the paint jobs are absolutely fantastic for a wood bait. I've only fished this about an hour so far but I'm very intriqued about it's potential for catching spooky fish in pressured clear water lakes. I definetely will be giving it a workout this fall.

Another lipess bait that I'm trying out is a Valley Hill K's Labo/ Dekahara, they have a very cool Bluegill pattern. This bait falls very slow for a lipless bait, should excel when fishing weedbeds that come close to the water's surface. Again, I have limited expierience with this lure.

[bilgerat]

One in particular that has done well for me is XCalibur's XrK series, which have one tungsten knocker instead of multiple rattles. Gives it a different sound.

Another plus is the stock hooks on these things are brutally sharp.

[hercdoc]

I picked up a couple of these on sale this summer.  I can't wait to try them.  Just a couple more weeks!

http://www.customluresunlimited.com/ikonic_wrap

[Primus]

That's the lure I was talking about in my post as well, I've thrown it a little bit and I'm excited about it's potential. Very unique lure, let me know your opinion of it after you get a chance to fish it.

[deep]

fwiw, these are my experiences. I fished the Cotton Cordell, Rattling Rap, red eye shad, Bill lewis Rat-l-trap, and the excalibur lipless crank.

Caught fish on all of them except the Cotton Cordell one; never gonna buy one of those again. It's cheaper, but it doesn't catch fish (for me).

A couple of the original rat-l-traps had a blunt hook on the rear treble.

The rapala one, like all rapalas, is built like a tank. I thrown it into rocks, and it came back without a scratch. But then I'm partial to Rapalas, and my view will probably be biased.

The excalibur lipless crank is quite fragile; mine already lost an eye.

About the vibrations; I think the excalibur one is the best, followed by res, original, rapala.

[slapshot]

I don't have a ton of experience with the various lipless cranks out there... but have definitely caught more with the Red Eye Shad than the Cordell or the Rat-L-Trap.  On my best outings of late, I caught 28 bass in 2 nights at a local park on the RedEye Shad, 1 on the Cordell and 1 on the Rat-L-Trap... and threw all 3 about the same amount of time and at the same places.  I'm also impressed at the seemingly small size for the weight.  The 1/2 oz. RedEye seems more compact than the 1/2 oz. Cordell.

[Scorcher214]

I prefer redeye shad to rattlin rap and a rattle trap. Redeye shad has a wiggle as it floats down. I love the action. I also think it has more rattle than the original rattle trap.

[b.Lee]

Anyone have experience with the River2Sea Tungsten Vibe?

http://www.***.com/River2Sea_Tungsten_Vibe/descpage-R2STV.html

[Big Bait Fishing]

One in particular that has done well for me is XCalibur's XrK series, which have one tungsten knocker instead of multiple rattles. Gives it a different sound.

Another plus is the stock hooks on these things are brutally sharp.

i have found that the 5/8 oz. one knocker lipless baits have very weak hooks , they might be sharp but they bend/straighten way too easy , a bait that has a mandatory hook swap for Owner ST-41's . a good bait none the less , just not as good as the Red Eye shad . wished Strike King would offer a tungsten one knocker Red Eye shad , that would be the ultimate lipless bait !!!!!  

[iceintheveins]

How is the wiggle on the clackin' rap? The CC Super Spot is my favorite lipless crank btw.

[Fishes in trees]

My current favorite lipless crank is a Berkley Frenzy.

[ww2farmer]

Lipless cranks are one of my favorite baits, and I have tried alot of them, but only a few are in my rotation.

My #1 bait is the Strike King Red Eye Shad, this thing flat out catches fish. I also like the Lucky Craft LV300S, it's a silent bait and can very productive when rattiling baits haul water.

[BrASSmonkey]

I have never had a lot of success on rattle baits.  However, I really dislike the clackin rap.  I find that it gets hung up extremely easily, and you have to swim it quite fast to get the vibrations going.

Just my 2 cents.

[Big Bass Chaser]

XCalibur XrK 1/2 & 3/4 oz

Yozuri Rattl'n Vibe 5/8 oz (change the hooks to Owner size 4)

Both are great producers for me (especially at this time of year).

I like the Red Eye Shad, but I've had trouble with them running true out of the package a couple of times and you also need to change the hooks.  I'll take the Rattl'n Vibe over the Red Eye Shad every day of the week, and sometimes the XrK over both.

[Micro]

To answer the original question, the Clackin Rap has a relatively tight wiggle. It's about the same as the Rattlin Rapala. Likewise, it seems that you have to retrieve it at a good clip to get the best action out of it. That's the downside.

The upside is that the Clackin Rap is a big bait. It's thick. It's almost twice as thick as a Lucky Craft LVR D-10. It has a big profile. It has excellent hooks. It casts 20 miles, give or take a mile. It stops on a dime and sinks nose first. It does not plane to one side or the other when sinking straight down. When it rests on the bottom, it rests on its nose with its tail pointing up at 45 degrees.

One technique that Stringjam told me about and I've tried for the last two years is slow swimming a lipless over a visible bass bed then letting it drop down, nose first, in or near the bed. Lipless cranks that rest on their nose with their tails sticking up are best for this as it looks like a nest raider eating eggs. It's hard to do unless you are in relatively open water as it's easy to get hung up. But it does produce. It tickss bass off. The Clackin Rap would be excellent for this technique. Of course, its good for burning, too.

Other excellent lipless includes the Yo-Zuri Hardcore Shad, the Jackall T/N70 and the Spro Aruku Shad. All three of these lures have good actions at any speed - very slow, slow, medium, fast, burning. They sink nose first and don't plane when they sink. They flutter nicely on a straight-up retrieve making them good for jigging. They rest on their nose on the bottom with their tails up making them good for the bed technique described above. They have excellent hooks and tough finishes.

The Koppers Live Target Golden Shiner lipless appears to have these attributes, too. However, I haven't fished it much.

[Primus]

Good post Micro, I appreciate the bed fishing tactic you described and a good write-up on the Clackin' Rap. I've used the Koppers Live Target Craw but haven't tried the Shiner yet. I've had some success with it the spring of '09 and for some reason didn't get around to fishing it much this year perhaps to the new bait syndrom that I'm sometimes afflicted with. I mainly either slow rolled it or ripped it off grass when I did use it and I do remember it falling in a similiar manner to the Aruka Shad but I never checked to see if it would stand on the bottom the way you described. I do remember having a favorable impression of this bait and catching some nice fish on it.

[iceintheveins]

Sounds like I will be getting the red eye.

[21farms]

I haven't fished Strike King's red eye shad either. Does it have as good of a wiggle as say a Cordell Super Spot or Rat L' Trap.

the red eye shad has a faster and tighter wiggle than the rat-L-trap or super spot. i've had days where the fish really preferred the red eye over rat-L-traps and vice versa. overall, i'd say the red eyes are excellent rattlebaits: extremely easy to start their wiggle and transmits a lot of feedback back to the angler and they flat out catch fish. about the only downside to the red eyes are their cheap finishes, especially anything in chrome or gold which begin flaking after just your first dozen or so casts.

as for the clackin' rap, you have to fish at a good pace to keep them wiggling. i wish they were smaller for their size too.

[Quigz]

I like the action and rattle of the Red Eye shad better than the Rat L Trap, that and I catch more fish on it than any others I've tried.

The Red Eye does seem to have a wider wiggle and a louder rattle.

+1 on the Red Eye Shad!