Spro Aruku Shad, Red Eye Shads, Et Als.....

[TorqueConverter]

In the past I haven't thrown many lipless baits but I plan to change that this year. It would be great to hear a number of opinions on any lipless baits. Thanks!

 

 

Here's some lipless crank 101 stuff that is almost never mentioned.

 

Depth: Lipless cranks of the same weight want to live in different levels on the water column.  To oversimplify it, wide wobbling broad baits want to run shallower than narrower, tighter wobbling baits.  

 

For example, the Super Spot is a breeze to keep up top and a Rippin Rap is very easy to keep deep.  The neat thing about the Red Eye is that it can be made to run at almost any depth, from just under the surface to 20+ feet deep on a normal retrieve and is basically a 'countdown' bait.      

 

Falling action:  Not all lipless cranks fall the same and the differences in the way 2 baits fall can sometimes make the difference between putting fish in the boat or not.

 

Belly down wiggle: Red Eye

Turn on it's side: RatLTrap

Nose down glide: Rattling Rapala

 

Sound Profile: Lipless cranks are pretty noisy things and there is a lot of variation the types of sounds the baits can emit

 

Glass beads: high pitched sound

Steel beads: lower pitched than glass

Lead beads: soft low pitch

Knocker: either a soft or loud low pitch depending on material

 

I don't know of any guide that breaks the baits down based of depth, falling action and sound so it takes a bit of trial and error to figure out how a newly purchased lipless crank falls, where it like to be in the water column and what it sounds like.  Even if you do figure out what type of bait you prefer, it still pays to have other types in the boat.  I've seen days where I can either get bit letting a Trap flutter or burning a Super Spot just under the surface.  Knowing how the baits behave, having  a variety of bats and throwing them at fish to see what they want out of a bait is a pretty fool proof way to fish lipless cranks.  

[jbw252]

Strike King Red Eye Shad in Sexy Shad color.

[OntarioFishingGuy]

Clackin' Rap is pretty good.

[prjavelin]

duo realis g fix is insanely thin and sexy looking. I love it and the fish too.

[senile1]

There are quite a few quality lipless crankbait brands.  I think a mix that includes rattle, one knocker, and silent types is a good idea.  I would add to that suspending, slow sinking, and faster sinking models.  I do not have the models to cover all of these areas yet but this is what I do have:  Rat 'L' Traps in 1/2 and 3/4 oz (sinking and rattling), Red Eye Shad in 1/2 oz (sinking, silent and rattling), Cordell Spot in 1/2 oz (sinking and rattling), and Spro Aruka Shad in 1/2 and 5/8 oz (sinking and rattling).  I plan to add Xcalibur one-knockers and some Sebile Flat Shad suspending models to my baits this year.

[scaleface]

Have any of you have the same experience as me. A Red Eyed Shad will wiggle when falling. I can hear it going tick,tick,tick when I fish in a john boat . I bought a whole bunch of them because of it .A Rattle Trap ,on the other hand , just flops over and I catch a lot more fish on it. Again ,if Im in the john boat I can hear the fish smack the Trap .

[Fishes in trees]

If you have a flat with vegetation on it, down to 7' or so,    there is potential for a rattle bait bite.  Deeper than 7' and I think that other options are better.   My first choice is a Berkley Frenzy (long since discontinued) in a shiny, shad like color.  I have 4 of them left.    Second choice would be a Cordell Spot.  I have some of the old Rappala Rattlin Rap baits, in an assortment of colors and sizes, but they haven't gotten wet in a couple of years.  Same for the assortment of Red Eye shads, Diamond Shads, Original Rattle Traps.   I do have a Yo-Zuri Hardcore Drum in a shiny baitfish color that I will pull out in water that has recently become stained.  No particular reason other than it has worked in that situation in the past.

 

I throw these baits on 17 or 20 lb mono.  The rod I currently use is a Falcon Bucco "trap caster" and I am pretty happy with the sensitivity and the distance I get out of this rod.   If I was limited on rods, I'd use this rods for square bills, spinnerbaits, buzz baits, anything relatively shallow where I wanted a moving bait, but I'm not so I don't.  I use different rods for each of those baits.

[LApanic]

Being its soon to be rattle bait season...Im stocking up on XR50s for me. I've always caught more fish consistently on 2 maybe 3 colors of xr50s...COMPARED to having almost every SK Redeye color...that may catch or get thrown at all rarely.  Because of the quality I throw XR50s EXCEPT for the SK chrome sexy redeye shad  TO SUM IT UP

 

If you are looking at them side by side cost the same (give or take a little), buy a Xcalibur for the quality and maybe a few SK redeyes, like the chromes and sexys.  I always change my hook to  Mustad KVD #4 2x Short Shank aka Triple Grips out of the box...no matter the brand, purely because the EWG style treble has a better hookup ratio, IMO.

 

BUT

 

If you only buy 2 colors in the xr50 model BUY A RAYBURN RED & Chrome Blueback Original    Chrome being the most versatile color but prespawn rayburn red especially around submerged vegetation...you'll load the boat!!!

 

 

EDIT:  IMO Theres is no right or wrong way or speed to fish a lipless bait, you just have to figure out how they want it by varying your retrieve until you dial em in.....burned, slow rolled, stroke/rip it, snapping or ticking submerged vegetation. Let the fish tell you! EXAMPLE..this fish below was after I slowed down and decided to slow my retrieve and give the bait a short rip and let it flutter....2nd cast after slowing down BAM hits it on the fall after I rip it....TEXT BOOK  good time!!!

 

[LApanic]

[Skspacemonkey]

On 2015-01-10 at 10:35 PM, Siebert Outdoors said:

I really like the spros. They are one of my favorites.

 

On 2015-01-10 at 11:43 PM, Siebert Outdoors said:

Mostly the 65

What are your favourite colors?

[scaleface]

On 1/11/2015 at 6:37 AM, scaleface said:

Rattle Traps . Bounce them off the bottom.

What a difference three years makes . My answer now is Red Eye Shad , bounce them off the bottom .

[Siebert Outdoors]

15 hours ago, Skspacemonkey said:

 

What are your favourite colors?

Old Glory and Blue Shiner

[TOXIC]

Aruku Shad Cell Mate

[bunkerbstr]

Picking just one is tough to do.  I like the Red Eye Shad, Aruku, Xcalibur, 6th Sense, Bill Lewis and the old SK Diamond Shads have been working for me lately.  There are a ton of them out there just pick up a few of each brand and run them to see which one(s) work best.  

 

As others have mentioned, note the hooks on each (some come with great hooks, some do not) and swap them out as needed.  

[Skspacemonkey]

On 2015-01-10 at 10:35 PM, Siebert Outdoors said:

I really like the spros. They are one of my favorites.

What colors do you prefer by spro?

[Bluebasser86]

 

Old Glory and Blue Shiner

^^This was his response the first time you asked 

 

What colors do you prefer by spro?

 

[Scarborough817]

my favourites are

• xcalibur xrk75 (if you can find them)
• strike king res 1/2oz
• rapala clacklin rap

[Skspacemonkey]

 

^^This was his response the first time you asked 

 

Aha didn’t even realize 

[TnRiver46]

Nobody mention the bayou boogie? Also, I can't speak to this in person, but I've heard the king spot by cotton Cordell was the beat all end all and is no longer produced 

[Sam]

Whitwolf, as you can note, you have hit a nerve with the Forum members.

 

I like the KVD Red Eyed Shad lipless crankbaits for tournament fishing and the Rat-L-Traps for fun and pond fishing.

 

And there are three types of lipless crankbaits:

Rattles - bass are aggressive

One-Knockers - normal fishing and bass activity

No Rattles - pressured waters

 

At times you may need the "thumping" sound and there are times when you don't.

 

Some of the pros upsize the front hook while others change out to one red hook.

 

If fishing grass, you may want to remove the rear hook to reduce picking up grass.

 

And then you have to realize that you need to know the depth you are throwing the lipless crankbaits and use the ones that go deeper than the depth so they will hit the bottom. Of course, you can try different depths to find the fish and then stay in that depth and lipless crankbait until the bite stops.

 

You also need a "crankbait specific" rod around seven feet and either a medium or medium heavy. Remember to swing the rod left or right to set the hook.

 

We could go into line, reel ratios, colors and a lot more but you asked about specific lipless crankbaits and as stated, I like the 1/2 ounce KVD Red Eyed Shad lipless crankbaits.

 

 

[Angry John]

On 1/15/2015 at 10:35 PM, prjavelin said:

duo realis g fix is insanely thin and sexy looking. I love it and the fish too.

I like the spro but been eyeing these for a bit.  Any detailed feedback?

[Porkrind]

Whew this was an old thread, but hey no one can gripe about not using the search function. Looks like he dug this one out of the grave. Lol it’s all good and fun though so... I’ve always had good luck with the Bill Lewis, Cotton Cordell, Red Eyes, and this year I’ve been using the Arashi’s. They are different but I like them. My only complaint is they have limited colors and only one size. 

[scaleface]

On 1/14/2018 at 8:54 PM, TnRiver46 said:

Nobody mention the bayou boogie?

I still use them occasionally and should use them more .

[BassNJake]

I had an awesome day in Ohio crawling an xcaliber on the bottom.

Weighed in 20 lbs for 4 fish and had a 5lber die in the livewell.(tongue hooked)

 

My dad threw everything in the tacklebox and couldnt get a keeper.

 

After moving to TN, my partner got on to a school of bass and was slaying them with a red eye shad.

I couldn't buy a bite with the xcaliber and kept trying to force feed them it.

After being here 7 years, I've only caught a couple bass on the xcaliber and neither was hooked in the mouth.

So it's a red eye shad for me down here.

[Siebert Outdoors]

On 1/10/2015 at 9:42 PM, whitwolf said:

Mike, what size(s) do you like?

I like the 3/8 for most of my fishing.  Especially the smallies.