adding willow leaf to rattle traps

[kjfishman]

I saw something online about adding a willow leaf in place of the rear hook to a lip less crank bait to minimize hangups. Found a package 3 willow blade spins for $2.50 and modified a few  lip less crank baits.  Now just need to get out and test them. Any tried this yet?

 

[georgeyew]

Haven't tried it yet, but it looks promising. Let us know how well you do with it.

[rod snapper]

Ive wanted to try that for a while, but of course haven't gotten to it yet. But it looks great.? try it out, and tell us how it goes. It helps solve the problem of too many snags, and spices up the action.

[fishballer06]

Yep, I've done this for years. In fact, in the 90's and early 00's, I can remember Bill Lewis selling them with a willow blade on the rear. 

 

To answer your questions, yes, it helps with hangups. Especially whenever you're burning them over the tops of grass. Downside is hook up ratio. One less treble is three less hooks to grab that fish when they bite. It's a gamble to take because at times, it can give you more bites as well because of the added flash. 

 

For future reference, you could build these yourself for much cheaper than $2.50 for a 3 pack. You could probably buy a multi-pack of ball bearing swivels and willow blades for around $5-6 total, and be able to build yourself 20+ of these. 

[BASS302]

I've never done it to a rattletrap, but I've done it to one knockers, red eyed shad, and other lipless baits.  I like to use a snap swivel so that the blade size, type, and color can be easily changed.

[Catt]

16 hours ago, fishballer06 said:

I can remember Bill Lewis selling them with a willow blade on the rear. 

 

16 hours ago, fishballer06 said:

Downside is hook up ratio. One less treble is three less hooks to grab that fish when they bite.

 

I tried the Traps with the Willowleaf but the hook-up ratio stunk.

 

Unless they're absolutely choking it I've caught more on that back hook than the front one.

[Jigfishn10]

16 hours ago, fishballer06 said:

Yep, I've done this for years. In fact, in the 90's and early 00's, I can remember Bill Lewis selling them with a willow blade on the rear. 

I could not for the life of me remember who manufactured lipless cranks this way! Thanks for posting, this was driving me crazy...

 

7 minutes ago, Catt said:

Unless they're absolutely choking it I've caught more on that back hook than the front one.

Really? That surprises me, I very rarely hook them on the rear hook. How strange is that.

 

To the OP, I've never tried them although I'm no gonna lie, my interest is peaked. I may have to give it a whirl this spring. I have some extra swivels and willows hanging around and will have to make some up.

[Catt]

2 hours ago, Jigfishn10 said:

Really? That surprises me, I very rarely hook them on the rear hook. How strange is that. 

 

I've caught em outside mouth many times ?

[Jigfishn10]

10 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

I've caught em outside mouth many times ?

Fish slashing the bait?