Wooden Rat

[JKarbo214]

Any suggestions as to the best (and reasonably priced) wooden rat?  Any information would be appreciated.

[Dogmatic]

Not really a "rat", but Mini Slammer works, and is reasonable. Otherwise you need to be a little more specific, how big? how much? Does it have to be wood?

[deep]

Morning wood (cheaper), 2 piece PB (more expensive and harder to find).

 

Speed is the authority on rats. Or at least he was, before he started going nuts with the slidey-glidey things.

[00 mod]

Morning wood (cheaper), 2 piece PB (more expensive and harder to find).

Speed is the authority on rats. Or at least he was, before he started going nuts with the slidey-glidey things.

Speed is just a hudd authority now.....didn't you know!

Jeff

[Jrob78]

What do you consider a reasonable price?

[deep]

Okay, so here's something Wayne posted on another forum long ago. I hope it'll help someone catch a few big fish.

 

// START QUOTE

 

My normal rat retrieve goes something like this: I like to start "hard" when the bait initially hits the

water, akin to the panic a squirrel would have when falling out of the tree and realizing his ass is gonna

get chewed. Quick twitches and short bursts of energy. As the cast gets to the middle, I imagine that

little fool is getting tired of swimming and starting to fatigue. I'll slow down the cranks and the twitches

become less and less violent. If I see a fish and the cast is coming to an end, I will almost deadstick

with just enough movement to get the tail to send out some vibrations.

This is in a perfect world. Most of my hits come within the first 15 seconds of the bait being in the

water. Most times you'll see me cast, twitch, twitch, twitch, sit, twitch and then crank the bait down and

get it back to the boat. They either eat it when it first hits the water or the rat taking off towards the boat

means an easy meal is getting away and they attack it.

I actually believe being a hunter helps with fishing these baits. All the time I spend in the woods gives

me a ton of experience seeing how squirrels act when they are stressed. I've seen them fall from trees,

get chased by owls and hawks and generally exist at the bottom of the food chain in the woods. I try to

impart the same emotion and the feeling of that squirrel fleeing for its life. There is nothing subtle

about an animal that knows it's about to die.

Make sure you are fishing a bait with a floating tail. I think it helps keep the back end of the bait up and

definitely adds to the action of it.

I may come up with more random thoughts on this. I'll add them if I do.

[WRB]

The Rago wooden rat was one of the first, the Johnny wooden rat one of the most expensive.

Why a wooden rat? ABT plastic cameo rat is a very good rat and Srpo BBZ rat works good.

Rats are very good swimmers, however tend to stay within a few yards of the shoreline and that's is how I fish a rat, near and parallel to shore or swim it across a cove from point to point.

I prefer the tough hard molded plastic rats because fishing them in low light or night you hit the shoreline often, wooden rats get damaged quickly!

Tom

[Master Bait'r]

Check out the Bettencourts. They are awesome handmade baits and not very expensive at all. Just make sure you let the fur dry or it'll rust the hooks up.

If I didn't like the Betty so much I'd definitely be picking up a mini slammer though!

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Deep pretty much covered it. While I typed that up quite some time ago, it still holds true to this day.

 

There is just something about a wooden rat that clicks, not sure what it is. I have a new prototype from Mattlures that seems to hold some good promise. Still working out the details but it should perform as well as his other baits do once production starts.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

And for the record, I'm the authority on nothing at all.

[stkbassn]

 I know less than most but if you don't give the SPRO Rat a shot for $29 bucks I think you're denying yourself a great fish catching opportunity as well as a chance to save some cash. I love mine. I own CL8 baits , Bettencourt , an El Raton, and some others. The SPRO has produced as well or better and it's been a blast to throw. I throw it a lot and I've done well. I've caught dinks and pigs.  Just a suggestion. Smaller versions are coming soon as well.... The SPRO rat is no joke and priced really well.

[blckshirt98]

Bang for the buck I'm gonna look at the SPRO rats.  A lot of the small custom rats run $70 and up, the SPRO Rats look great and as stkbassn mentioned, they're coming out with a 40 and 30 size at iCast.

 

if you're looking for a wooden rat the most affordable I've found were CL8 and Trap Bass Baits, but sourcing them can be tough.

[stkbassn]

SPRO is kicking butt with those rat's I have to say. I'm 100% sold on them and will buy more. Can't wait for the smaller sizes too. Excited! I think you'll be impressed.

 

You can get in touch with Clayton at CL8 baits and he will make you a Possum if you're interested and can't find one. I only have one right now and I love the thing. I wanted to get more but I'm just stretched financially right now. We had been talking about some custom Possums and it got me stoked but my wallet has me un-stoked   He's a great guy and will deliver. Check out the CL8 Vole also. Great bait, can be thrown on regular bass gear and it gets bit. Not a bad price, around $30 or so.

[WRB]

CL8 rat possum lures are wooden and heavy lures dry; baby is 3 1/2 oz, the full size is 7 1/2 oz, both gain weight when you fish them! The first night out for me the full size rat hit a shoreline rock and broke off the bill, split the body. I know hitting a rock is my fault but at night it's hard to judge distance and mistakes happen.

This is the reason the less expensive molded hard tough plastic rats work good, they are nearly indestructible and catch bass.

Tom

[stkbassn]

CL8 rat possum lures are wooden and heavy lures dry; baby is 3 1/2 oz, the full size is 7 1/2 oz, both gain weight when you fish them! The first night out for me the full size rat hit a shoreline rock and broke off the bill, split the body. I know hitting a rock is my fault but at night it's hard to judge distance and mistakes happen.

This is the reason the less expensive molded hard tough plastic rats work good, they are nearly indestructible and catch bass.

Tom

That's a tough break Tom. Sorry to hear that indeed. I agree, they are on the hefty side. I own a baby possum like I had before and don't throw it a lot. I do in open water and shorter casts to targets but not at night for the reason you brought up. I've beaten up expensive baits enough on rocks and docks. I've banged that spro on everything and so far no damage worth mentioning. A few scratches and chips. I would not go as far as to say its disposable at 30 bucks but I don't sweat it at all compared to more expensive baits.

[roadwarrior]

 I know less than most but if you don't give the SPRO Rat a shot for $29 bucks I think you're denying yourself a great fish catching opportunity as well as a chance to save some cash. I love mine. I own CL8 baits , Bettencourt , an El Raton, and some others. The SPRO has produced as well or better and it's been a blast to throw. I throw it a lot and I've done well. I've caught dinks and pigs.  Just a suggestion. Smaller versions are coming soon as well.... The SPRO rat is no joke and priced really well.

 

Have not fished the Spro Rat in the wild, but yesterday I demonstrated the lure at the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid.

It's KILLER!

 

 

 

 

[SPEEDBEAD.]

The Cl8 possum, Jr and water vole are not made of wood.

 

Just an FYI.

[WRB]

The Cl8 possum, Jr and water vole are not made of wood.

Just an FYI.

Agree, the production CL8 rat lures are plastic.

El Raton are wooden, don't know if they are still made, good rat lure.

Tom

[Nice_Bass]

another vote for the mini slammer for a "rat bait"

hard to beat it at that, action weight and productivity

[SPEEDBEAD.]

As far as I know, the Raton is still being made. Expect to pay around $100+ when/where you find one.

[Big Bait Fishing]

why not make your own ??? i did , went to a craft store and bought a wooden egg , a wooden pear , stainless eye srcews at Home Depot , some Owner split rings , a sheet of 3/16 lexan , some fabric that resembles fur , a 1/0 Owner ST-41 treble hook , some Goop 600 adhesive glue , some Gorilla glue , and 30 minutes of labor and your in business !!! i'll post some pics ...

[Big Bait Fishing]

why not make your own ??? i did , went to a craft store and bought a wooden egg , a wooden pear , stainless eye srcews at Home Depot , some Owner split rings , a sheet of 3/16 lexan , some fabric that resembles fur , a 1/0 Owner ST-41 treble hook , some Goop 600 adhesive glue , some Gorilla glue , and 30 minutes of labor and your in business !!! i'll post some pics ...

 

 

[Big Bait Fishing]

here is a pic of it before fabric --

[Big Bait Fishing]

here is another one with black rabbit fur

[Big Bait Fishing]

reason for me posting pics of the rat bait is that with $5 worth of materials per bait and a little crafting , you can make your own rat bait and not spend 30,40 or a 100 $$ . but make your own that will catch you a nice fat bass . remember that wake type rat baits do not need alot of tinkering to get them to swim , BTW mine swim very , VERY well on the surface and a medium slow retrieve will pull them down about a foot below the surface and swims fantastic !!!

 

so build your own , give it a try before you spend a hand full of cash for something you can EASILY make your self !! save some $$$ for baits you can't make yourself like Hudds and other trout/baitfish imitator swimbaits , that's what i do .... good luck