Scatter Rap A Year Later

[Cgolf]

Curious if everyone still hates them or if you all gave them another shot. I have caught fish with them on my local lakes and most surprisingly on a local river system.

The river retrieve crosses fast water and some eddies and the bait came through well and caught its share of smallies. What surprised me is how well if held up bouncing off of rocks and a fair share of hang ups (I use the bowstring method to pop it free, and just straight pull if that doesn't work). I would say it was one of my top three river cranks this year.

I did use the standard scatter crank, and if was one of the earlier ones from when they first came out.

[HoosierHawgs]

What is the bow string method?

[Cgolf]

What is the bow string method?

That is my name for it, you reel up snug to the snag and hold the rod at say 11 o clock and pull the line putting a bend in the rod. You the let the line go and it is a pretty violent action that many times unsnags a lure. I have done this up to ten times sometimes to get a bait free. Of course if this doesn't work you just straight pull and hope for the best.

Some guy on this video demos it about three minutes in;)

http://youtu.be/5XKhBWfvyAc

[BaitMonkey1984]

I don't have a lot, maybe 10 or so. But the shallow diving cranks (less than 5 ft) all seem to work well. Ike's Custom Ink Crawfish outproduced the livingston lure howler last spring. 

[Cmiller]

I have caught some really nice fish on them. The shad model in perch was a killer bait last spring for me. I have the shallow and deep model in bluegill that has produced all summer and into the fall for me. I think for the price they are another great tool.

[Bluebasser86]

In my experience, when they work, they excel. I've had good success with them and none of the problems others have had with them. Maybe I got lucky and bought the good ones. 

[lecisnith]

I had a lot of success with the shallow bluegill until I lost it in a hangup at the same time I had a monstrous bird's nest (don't ask me how that happened). Never got around to picking up any more.

[fishballer06]

They work well for me. I had a split ring straighten out on me on a 4 pounder, but that's it. 

[Cgolf]

I have caught some really nice fish on them. The shad model in perch was a killer bait last spring for me. I have the shallow and deep model in bluegill that has produced all summer and into the fall for me. I think for the price they are another great tool.

 

 

I am looking forward to working the deep divers next year, what depth can I expect them to scrape bottom on? Guessing that it will be a dingy water weedline bait just due to the depth of the weedline on the clear waters I fish (weedline in the 13-16 range depending on the weed bed).

[Cgolf]

Glad to hear I have not been the only one. I have always liked the action and thought they were pretty solid baits and was confused by those that were having issues with them. Will admit I do have a lot of Rapalas, probably my favorite overall brand, just not my all time favorite baits.

[Racerx]

Ironically, I had never given my Scatter Rap much use, but then I stumbled on a vid for it, recently, so I decided to throw it a little, about a week ago.  First cast, on the retreive, as the lure was approaching me, a decent Walleye nailed it.  Since then, I've been paying it a little more attention. If you give it a chance, change up your retrieve rate, the lure starts acting erratically, and seems to trigger a reaction bite.  My 2 cents, at least.

[Cmiller]

I am looking forward to working the deep divers next year, what depth can I expect them to scrape bottom on? Guessing that it will be a dingy water weedline bait just due to the depth of the weedline on the clear waters I fish (weedline in the 13-16 range depending on the weed bed).

I fish the deep divers with 8-10lb flouro, and can get it down to 10 feet consistently. Lighter line really makes these have great action.

[Cmiller]

I can't wait to try the deep shad as well.

[the reel ess]

I went into Cabea's to get a classic Rapala #13 in Gold/Black because the #11 killed them but was harder to cast. They didn't have that size and the "kid" tried to hand me a Scatter Rap. I didn't take it. My friend has caught fish on the Scatter Rap, but I caught them at the same time on the Shadow Rap. Where we fish, the gold color and floating vs suspending seem to matter more than specific model. It just felt like Rapala wanted to sell me one more jerkbait.

[Bluebasser86]

Couple of my favorite Scatter Rap pictures from the first time I used the thing. They were schooling on shad off a point at Beaver Lake, AR. Threw all kinds of baits at them and other than an A-rig or small swimbait, the Scatter Rap was the only bait and the only crankbait they'd touch. 

[smalljaw67]

I still have yet to grab one but I have used them. My buddy claimed his were bad so I used it and it worked perfect, so I gave it back and watched him use it and that is when I noticed the problem. Most anglers having problems are using it wrong, they start out reeling too fast and it causes it to blow out, my buddy would go at a moderate pace and then he would speed up to get it to track off center but instead of slowing back down, he kept the faster pace going and it was long before it blew out to the side. That bait needed to be constantly changed from slow to fast and back to slow again, the lip makes it unstable at a high speed and that is what makes it behave like it does but then you have to allow it to get back to stable otherwise it will blow out.