Bill Lewis Rat-l-trap vs Strike King Red Eye Shad

[Dane Morris]

Hey guys I'm gonna head out to Oklahoma this week and I wanted to pick up some lipless cranks for my trip. I was debating whether to get the rat-l-traps or the red eye shads. You guys would know best since I rarely fish with them. Also, can you recommend any good colors for the different seasons.

 

Thanks guys,

Dane

Tight Lines!

[iceintheveins]

The red eye shad has a better action on the drop and a slightly wider wobble. It casts better too. The Rat L Trap is a better burning bait IMO and has some better colors.

[Todd2]

You don't always have to stick with one brand..unless you sponsored :). Like the previous post, the red eye has a slow wobble on the fall, rattle trap sinks like a brick but sometimes that's what they want. Ever watch a Cordell spot hit the bottom? The back half floats up. Grab a few of each, if you can.

Colors...chrome/blue, some reddish color craw, and chartreuse. These are all I use.

 

Retrieves....burning, and my favorite, yo yo off the bottom with the Cordell spot.

I keep it pretty simple..I think..lol

One more tip, if you keep getting hung up, take off back treble. It won't effect your hookups as much as you think.

Lipless cranks are underrated...IMO

Good luck.. 

 

 

[jdw174]

I'm not much of a Rattletrap fan.  Much prefer the SK and the Spot.  I have one old Chrome/Blk Spot that the nose is bashed up and is covered with tooth marks.....but it still catches 'em.

[bigbassin']

I'd grab some of both. As others have mentioned the action is a little bit different and sometimes they'll hit either, and other times they'll only take one.  As far as colors go, chrome/blue, gold/black, sexy shad, and a red color should cover all of the bases.

[scaleface]

I've had better luck with the Trap , but I havent gave the RES a whole lot of playing time .

[Fishes in trees]

The old Berkley Frenzy lipless crank is better than either of the two baits you mentioned, IMO.  So is the Cordell Spot, IMO.  I have a couple of Red Eye Shads that I purchased a couple of years ago and they don't compare to the Frenzy, IMO.  I have a pretty substantial collection of Rattle Traps that hasn't seen water in close to a decade.

[thebillsman]

I just grabbed two BassPro XPS Silent Lipless Cranks for $6 and free shipping.

I like lipless cranks but the heavy rattle is a little too much for the ponds and lakes I fish. It can be overwhelming. Often times I can hear them from 10 yards away.

[Bluebasser86]

I'm pretty fond of the RES tungsten 2 tap.

[Senko lover]

I love the RES and throw it almost every time I'm on the water. Great bait. 

[Dane Morris]

12 hours ago, iceintheveins said:

The red eye shad has a better action on the drop and a slightly wider wobble. It casts better too. The Rat L Trap is a better burning bait IMO and has some better colors.

 

6 minutes ago, Senko lover said:

I love the RES and throw it almost every time I'm on the water. Great bait. 

 

1 hour ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I'm pretty fond of the RES tungsten 2 tap.

 

1 hour ago, thebillsman said:

I just grabbed two BassPro XPS Silent Lipless Cranks for $6 and free shipping.

I like lipless cranks but the heavy rattle is a little too much for the ponds and lakes I fish. It can be overwhelming. Often times I can hear them from 10 yards away.

 

1 hour ago, Fishes in trees said:

The old Berkley Frenzy lipless crank is better than either of the two baits you mentioned, IMO.  So is the Cordell Spot, IMO.  I have a couple of Red Eye Shads that I purchased a couple of years ago and they don't compare to the Frenzy, IMO.  I have a pretty substantial collection of Rattle Traps that hasn't seen water in close to a decade.

 

1 hour ago, Fishes in trees said:

The old Berkley Frenzy lipless crank is better than either of the two baits you mentioned, IMO.  So is the Cordell Spot, IMO.  I have a couple of Red Eye Shads that I purchased a couple of years ago and they don't compare to the Frenzy, IMO.  I have a pretty substantial collection of Rattle Traps that hasn't seen water in close to a decade.

 

3 hours ago, scaleface said:

I've had better luck with the Trap , but I havent gave the RES a whole lot of playing time .

 

3 hours ago, bigbassin' said:

I'd grab some of both. As others have mentioned the action is a little bit different and sometimes they'll hit either, and other times they'll only take one.  As far as colors go, chrome/blue, gold/black, sexy shad, and a red color should cover all of the bases.

 

6 hours ago, jdw174 said:

I'm not much of a Rattletrap fan.  Much prefer the SK and the Spot.  I have one old Chrome/Blk Spot that the nose is bashed up and is covered with tooth marks.....but it still catches 'em.

 

7 hours ago, Todd2 said:

You don't always have to stick with one brand..unless you sponsored :). Like the previous post, the red eye has a slow wobble on the fall, rattle trap sinks like a brick but sometimes that's what they want. Ever watch a Cordell spot hit the bottom? The back half floats up. Grab a few of each, if you can.

Colors...chrome/blue, some reddish color craw, and chartreuse. These are all I use.

 

Retrieves....burning, and my favorite, yo yo off the bottom with the Cordell spot.

I keep it pretty simple..I think..lol

One more tip, if you keep getting hung up, take off back treble. It won't effect your hookups as much as you think.

Lipless cranks are underrated...IMO

Good luck.. 

 

 

 

12 hours ago, iceintheveins said:

The red eye shad has a better action on the drop and a slightly wider wobble. It casts better too. The Rat L Trap is a better burning bait IMO and has some better colors.

Thanks so much for all your advice and help guys. Your detailed responses really help out an amateur angler like me:)

[BassB8Caster]

3 hours ago, thebillsman said:

I just grabbed two BassPro XPS Silent Lipless Cranks for $6 and free shipping.

I like lipless cranks but the heavy rattle is a little too much for the ponds and lakes I fish. It can be overwhelming. Often times I can hear them from 10 yards away.

Before today I felt the same way. I fish small ponds 200 acres and less in a kayak. I have 2 rat I traps, one perch design and one red craw. I've tried them several times in the past with very little luck. Tried all types of retrieval, shallow, deep, in grass over grass, etc. Today was windy on a new pond with grassy bottom. Decide to try the red craw trap and I hammered them. Nothing big, biggest 2 lbs. But consistently caught them. No idea what was so special with this pond, but they wanted the red craw trap. If it weren't for someone suggesting the trap in another shallow pond thread, I may have skipped the trap and went to a spinner or chatterbait.  Something I'm more comfortable with.  Just goes to show you never know. I have not tried any other brand rat l trap though. Heard good things about chrome too.

[Cgolf]

This past week I fished the RES a lot due to it being to windy to effectively fish plastics and did really well. We got hit with two cold fronts during the week and it still produced bass and a couple of bonus Musky. My father in law fished a trap and caught fish too. Not to throw another in, but the rippin rap also produced, but not quite as good as the RES. I hadn't thrown the bait much over the years, but it will be a bait I have rigged on deck at all times now, versatile baits. 

[blckshirt98]

Rat-L-Trap has a really narrow, tight, straight, fast-vibrating action to it...it's almost like a chatterbait.

[iceintheveins]

The Cordell Super Spot is better than a Rat L Trap IMO as well, they just don't have the color selection they used to have. The same weight Rat L Trap casts better than a Super Spot though for some reason.

[Bluebasser86]

13 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I'm pretty fond of the RES tungsten 2 tap.

The 2 tap that did a lot of work for me this winter. This was in February, it got even more beat up, and this winter was the start of it's tour of duty.

[fishballer06]

I'm a Bill Lewis type guy, but I own both. 

[greentrout]

Rattlin' Rapala 

[fishnkamp]

I have a ton of these baits. We use Rattle Traps, Red Eye Shads, XCalibur xr50 & xr75's in both standard and one knocker series (these are now Booyah bait).  It is amazing sometimes the rock fish here on the bay will lock in on one specific sound and action and ignore the others.  So when they leave the deep water in fall and enter the creeks my boat deck has 5 rods with different lipless cranks.  The lure that the fish seems to chose can change with the tide or day.  Try some of each.

[senile1]

For me, it depends on the day which lipless crankbait works best.  There are days when only a certain type of rattle or knock will get a bite.  And then there are the days when a silent bait is best.  

[Wprich]

I personally seldom use rattle traps, I much prefer to use the red eye shads and the rapala rippin raps myself.

[the reel ess]

I have a bunch of Traps, but only use the gold/black one because it kills where I fish most of the time. It's becoming just plastic white from all the use. It has caught me a lot of bass and I'd climb a tree to get it back. But my buddy has even better luck, or so it seems to me, with a CC Spot. I can't vouch for the Red Eye. Since I see they don't have a metallic gold, I probably won't be buying one.

[Cgolf]

2 hours ago, the reel ess said:

I have a bunch of Traps, but only use the gold/black one because it kills where I fish most of the time. It's becoming just plastic white from all the use. It has caught me a lot of bass and I'd climb a tree to get it back. But my buddy has even better luck, or so it seems to me, with a CC Spot. I can't vouch for the Red Eye. Since I see they don't have a metallic gold, I probably won't be buying one.

Unless I am misreading your post, check out the Red eye in gold black or gold sexy, they should work for you.

[the reel ess]

10 hours ago, cgolf said:

Unless I am misreading your post, check out the Red eye in gold black or gold sexy, they should work for you.

Not gold enough. The Trap is VERY gold (online pics don't do it justice) and the Spot is darker gold. I know it sounds like splitting hairs, but it really seems to make a difference.I actually took one of my daughter's markers to it to make it darker gold. But I wore a lot off catching fish and bumpiing bottom.

It's probably a confidence thing, but hey, it works.

[S. Sass]

My go to lipless is the Spro Aruku Shad. But many of the other brands work as well. I like the color choices of the Spro and Rattle Trap. I have many of them in different brands and colors. They all catch fish.