Rat-L-Traps

[Brett's_daddy]

Are rat-l-traps made for burning across the tops of grass or made to bounce off the bottom as far as retrieve goes? I'm trying to figure out what I have to cover the bottom bouncing yo-yo technique and the straight burning retrieve and what I still need.

[Finessegenics]

Both! They work equally well. Which to choose depends on time of year or how active the fish are. Bottom bouncing works well in cooler water, especially during the fall. Mimicks a dying baitfish well. If you want another option for bottom bouncing, try a blade bait or jigging spoon!

 

Burning a rat-l-trap over the top of weedbeds is extremely popular during the warmer months where fish are generally more active. You can also try that with a spinner bait. 
 

 

 

[jimmyjoe]

   ^^^^ what he said. ^^^^     Actually, I have Lewis Rat-l-Traps for slightly deeper work, and I have Cotton Cordell Super Spots for slightly shallower work. Over grass beds, I'd probably use the Super Spot.

   Some people definitely prefer Red-Eye Shad by Strike King for yo-yo work. Just thought I'd mention it.      jj

[Finessegenics]

2 minutes ago, jimmyjoe said:

I have Cotton Cordell Super Spots for slightly shallower work. Over grass beds, I'd probably use the Super Spot.

My favorite!! 

[Fishes in trees]

There are lots of different brands & styles of lipless cranks out there. My current favorite is an old, long discontinued Berkley Frenzy lipless crank - mostly because they had a couple of unique colors and when you used a stop & drop technique, I liked the nose first shimmy that you got.  On a straight retrieve I think the Berkley Frenzy baits work as well as any other lipless crank and maybe better than most.  I think that the time & place for lipless cranks  is any time you have vegetation and room between the top of the vegetation and the surface to scoot a bait through it.  There have been more than a few springs when I haven't got to go fishing in March, but every spring that I've gotten to go fishing in March I've caught a few BIG fish very shallow on the lipless crank.   Seems like surface water temp goes from 38 or 39 degree water to low to mid 40 degree water, the big fish want to come up and it seems just look around, early afternoon.  They don't stay there, just looking it seems, but my experiences have been if I can be on a shallow flat, (helps if it is kinda close to deep water, but it doesn't necessarily. have to be) and run that bait trough 1 to 3 feet of water, before the vegetation growth has really started for the spring, I'm gonna catch a few BIG fish.  The rest of the year, there just has to be space between the top of the vegetation and the surface, throw the bait and bring it back fast enough to keep it out of the vegetation and if fish are in the weeds they will come up and hit you bait. 

[jimmyjoe]

5 minutes ago, Fishes in trees said:

but every spring that I've gotten to go fishing in March I've caught a few BIG fish very shallow on the lipless crank.   Seems like surface water temp goes from 38 or 39 degree water to low to mid 40 degree water, the big fish want to come up and it seems just look around, early afternoon.  They don't stay there, just looking it seems, but my experiences have been if I can be on a shallow flat, (helps if it is kinda close to deep water, but it doesn't necessarily. have to be) and run that bait trough 1 to 3 feet of water, before the vegetation growth has really started for the spring, I'm gonna catch a few BIG fish.

   Exactly. It works with other types of lures, though, too. I use Mepps spinners. But my pattern is exactly the same as yours, and I get exactly the same results. Nice to get the spring monsters after a wintertime of sitting around, isn't it?         jj    

 

   P.S.  Duh! No wonder! I just now saw where you are!    ???      jj

[Bankbeater]

Unless you have a lure retriever you'll lose some baits this way, but I like to let my spots and traps sink all the way down to the bottom, sit for a few seconds, and then start a slow retrieve back.

[TnRiver46]

2 hours ago, Brett's_daddy said:

Are rat-l-traps made for burning across the tops of grass or made to bounce off the bottom as far as retrieve goes? I'm trying to figure out what I have to cover the bottom bouncing yo-yo technique and the straight burning retrieve and what I still need.

Both! And in between 

[fin]

One difference I've noticed about Rat-L-Traps and Cordells is that they sit with the nose up and the tail down. Academy’s lipless and Strike King’s Red Eye sit level. All of them run nose-down when retrieving because the nose acts like a lip, but I don’t understand why Rat-L-Traps and Cordells are balanced like that.

[swhit140]

Another thing about the Rat-L-Traps is they have several different weights/sizes also. Sometimes it works good to use a lighter weight lipless to help keep higher in the water column. 

[Bluebasser86]

Different traps are better at doing different things. Some sound different, they vibrate different, have different fall rates, ect. I have my favorites, but carry a box full to cover all my bases.

[Catt]

Rat-L-Traps were designed to fish the standing timber of Toledo Bend & Sam Rayburn.

[Spankey]

The Rat-L-Trap is one of my favorite all season bait. Sort of old school. I’d go as far as saying it will score your first fish of the season and the last if that’s how you want to fish. 
 

I have only fished Lewis and Cordell traps in different weight sizes. I believe the RES, Rapala trap and the others are equally as productive. I can’t say more productive. 

[jimmyjoe]

21 minutes ago, Spankey said:

I believe the RES, Rapala trap and the others are equally as productive.

   I've got a few of those 7/8 oz. Rapala Rippin' Raps. Those things really head to the basement if you don't keep up the speed on them. I don't usually need that kind of depth where I fish. OTOH, they're not called "Rippin'" Raps for nothing. They're just fine for high speeds across flats.    jj

[DitchPanda]

I've got several different lipless baits... at least 5 or 6 different brands...the 2 I've had best luck on are the Cordell spot and the spro aruku shad jr...they both are a little lighter and have a decent flutter on the fall..to be fair I don't fish much grass 

 

[greentrout]

 

rattlin' rapala 3/8 oz. texas red crawdad...

 

good fishing ...

 

[greentrout]