Rat-L-Trap Help

[An Outdoor Guy]

So I got 3 Rat-L-Trap lures from strike king. The banshee series to be exact and I noticed when I'm retrieving them the lure is coming back kind of on its side. like not laying completely on its side but really close to it. Is there something I'm doing wrong? My setup is a 7'  MH F rod with 50# power Pro Braid. if that helps any. Rod tip was up during my retrieve because I was fishing shallow

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Many of my strike kings do the same I started buying other brands. But a good strike king catches fish.

[S. Sass]

Mine haven't been but most of mine are several years old. Maybe they changed the process in making them that is effecting them.

Im guessing you already checked the rest of the bait over for obvious problems. 

I would just go to a Spro, Cotton, or any of the other nice brands. 

[scaleface]

Might check the hook hangers and line tie to see if they are straight . They will throw a diving crankbait off , so they may a lipless to .

[the reel ess]

Bill Lewis makes the Rat L Trap. Any other is an imitation. Some imitations are good though, maybe even better. But I own a bunch ot real Traps and none do this.

[MickD]

Not sure what's up, but try a few things to try to sort it out.  I've never had a strike king do that.  First, try a low rod retrieve, then a low rod slower retrieve.  Any different?  As previously stated, make sure all connections to the lure are free and even, line attachment eye oriented longitudinally?.  Using a snap or snap swivel?  Original oval strike king split ring? I use just a light duo lock snap.  No need for swivel.

Using a leader?  I wouldn't think 50 Power Pro would affect the action that way, but maybe.

[crypt]

I have a couple that do the same thing,some don't. don't know why but they still work.  seems to do it mostly on medium speed. i use mono so lines not the issue.  my traps don't do it at any speed,no matter how fast or slow I reel em   go figure………...

[lo n slo]

are we talking about a Red Eye Shad here instead of a Rat-L-Trap?

[papajoe222]

Switch to an oval split ring or a snap. The regular split rings split-section can work its way around to the line tie of the bait and hang there. The result is more torque applied to one side or the other leaving you with a bait that wants to run true, but can't. 

[crypt]

1 hour ago, papajoe222 said:

Switch to an oval split ring or a snap. The regular split rings split-section can work its way around to the line tie of the bait and hang there. The result is more torque applied to one side or the other leaving you with a bait that wants to run true, but can't. 

I have a couple that do the same thing,some don't. don't know why but they still work.  seems to do it mostly on medium speed. i use mono so lines not the issue.  my traps don't do it at any speed,no matter how fast or slow I reel em   go figure…………tried that also didn't help.

[MainelyBASS]

Maybe throwing it on too fast of a reel? If you are burning it with a 7+ ratio reel along with braid, it might just be too powerful of a combo. The other solution would be to use pliers and bend the line tie, not the split ring, in the opposite direction that its side rolls on. If i had to guess, its one of those two, or both.

[Cgrinder]

Yeah, those sometimes need to be tuned.

[An Outdoor Guy]

14 hours ago, S. Sass said:

Mine haven't been but most of mine are several years old. Maybe they changed the process in making them that is effecting them.

Im guessing you already checked the rest of the bait over for obvious problems. 

I would just go to a Spro, Cotton, or any of the other nice brands. 

yep already checked all of them. they look fine which is weird to me as to why its not running true.

 

13 hours ago, MickD said:

Not sure what's up, but try a few things to try to sort it out.  I've never had a strike king do that.  First, try a low rod retrieve, then a low rod slower retrieve.  Any different?  As previously stated, make sure all connections to the lure are free and even, line attachment eye oriented longitudinally?.  Using a snap or snap swivel?  Original oval strike king split ring? I use just a light duo lock snap.  No need for swivel.

Using a leader?  I wouldn't think 50 Power Pro would affect the action that way, but maybe.

I am using a small KVD snap. the smallest they make. and the strike king has the oval shape split ring. I should try it without the snap and everything as you mentioned above.

6 hours ago, MainelyBASS said:

Maybe throwing it on too fast of a reel? If you are burning it with a 7+ ratio reel along with braid, it might just be too powerful of a combo. The other solution would be to use pliers and bend the line tie, not the split ring, in the opposite direction that its side rolls on. If i had to guess, its one of those two, or both.

yeah I'm throwing it on a MH F with a 7.1-1 lews mach 1. I don't think I was burning it but I was going kinda fast to keep it off the bottom. I was fishing it rather shallow

[jebar01]

 I use only Bill Lewis and Cotton Cordell rat-l-traps.  I have never had this problem.  Donate them to "Goodwill" and stick with those two brands and you will  be able to concentrate on fishing. Iwould also use 10 or 12 pound  fluorocarbon and not the heavy braid.  It is a great search bait!!!!

[jtharris3]

I agree with what was stated above. It's hard to beat the original Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap. I also like the Cotton Cordell and the Rapala traps. I always throw mine on a medium action rod with 12 or 14lb. mono.

[An Outdoor Guy]

The reason I don't use fluorocarbon is because I have 2 rods (medium heavy fast bait caster, medium fast spinning) and I need that 50lb braid (12lb diameter) for frogs and spooks as well. I found that using braid is a good "all around" line for me because I can throw top water frogs as well as lipless cranks and DT series/XD series to. I may not be getting the maximum depth out of them but hey you gotta do what you gotta do.

[Jaw1]

I'm not sure what the banshee series is, but the red eye shad series is my personal favorite and I can't recall having this problem with them

[Ratherbfishing]

You wrote you use use the smallest KVD snap available.  I personally don't use snaps at all but small ones, in particular, can throw off the "balance" of a bait.  Don['t ask me why or how, exactly.  I just know they do.