Strike King Red Eye Shad vs Bill Lewis Rat-L Trap

[GReb]

I’ve tried quite a few and the Bill Lewis just seems to out produce them all where I live. The smaller 1/4 oz “Jr” version is the real star in the fall. I still consider myself a beginner when it comes to lipless fishing. 

[Dwight Hottle]

1 hour ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I’m just sayin… I don’t like hardbaits as much anymore and I very much dislike treble hooks but when long-time, expert fishermen like @Catt and @Dwight Hottle both have their PBs off of lipless even withstanding how much Catt talks about Texas rigs and jigs and Mr. Hottle’s success with jerkbaits… yeah that just says something to me. I’m gonna keep trying to catch fish on lipless

As I recall @A-Jay caught his PB largemouth on a RES lipless. 

[LrgmouthShad]

30 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

As I recall @A-Jay caught his PB largemouth on a RES lipless. 

I think you’re right. Forgot about that too

[BassNJake]

The old Excalibur rattle baits were my favorite

 

 

[Aaron_H]

2 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I’m just sayin… I don’t like hardbaits as much anymore and I very much dislike treble hooks but when long-time, expert fishermen like @Catt and @Dwight Hottle both have their PBs off of lipless even withstanding how much Catt talks about Texas rigs and jigs and Mr. Hottle’s success with jerkbaits… yeah that just says something to me. I’m gonna keep trying to catch fish on lipless

 

 

Lipless is my all-time confidence lure, caught multiple PBs on them. Excellent way to trigger big strikes year-round in my experience.

 

As for the OP, I tend to throw the RES more these days as I tend to yo-yo or pop/pause more often than not and the RES has a better action on the fall than the Bill Lewis. But the Bill Lewis put trap fishing on the map and it's a hard one to beat, especially for chucking and winding up shallow.

 

The ones I throw the most:
RES standard and 2-tap

Booyah One Knocker

Thunderhawk Sergeant rattling and silent

Rattlin' Rapala

Rat-L-Trap

Berkley Warpig

 

My biggest two bass on a lipless were 9lb 1oz on the Booyah, and 8lb 9oz on a standard RES, both PBs at the time.

[Fishlegs]

I probably fish a lipless more than anything except a TX rig. Big bass will definitely hit a lipless.

 

The Rat-L-Trap is tried and true, but I've never had much luck with them. The ones I've had the most success with are Yo-Zuri, H20 Xpress, RES, and Booyah.

[A-Jay]

1 hour ago, Dwight Hottle said:

As I recall @A-Jay caught his PB largemouth on a RES lipless. 

Yup ~ @Dwight Hottle

3/4 oz RES in Sexy Shad 

That was a heck of a week.

The rattle bait bite was pretty consistent.

A-Jay

 

[Bankbeater]

I fish with Rat L traps, Super Spots, and RES.  I've fished with traps and spots longer than I have fished with the RES, but I have had the best success with the 1/2 ounce spots.

[LrgmouthShad]

1 hour ago, Aaron_H said:

 

 

Lipless is my all-time confidence lure, caught multiple PBs on them. Excellent way to trigger big strikes year-round in my experience.

 

As for the OP, I tend to throw the RES more these days as I tend to yo-yo or pop/pause more often than not and the RES has a better action on the fall than the Bill Lewis. But the Bill Lewis put trap fishing on the map and it's a hard one to beat, especially for chucking and winding up shallow.

 

The ones I throw the most:
RES standard and 2-tap

Booyah One Knocker

Thunderhawk Sergeant rattling and silent

Rattlin' Rapala

Rat-L-Trap

Berkley Warpig

 

My biggest two bass on a lipless were 9lb 1oz on the Booyah, and 8lb 9oz on a standard RES, both PBs at the time.

I’ll be throwing it more but you gotta follow through on your idea to make your 2023 grind the spinnerbait. Find a cloudy day in the prespawn or right now and throw a single colorado. Booyah covert’s will work fine

[Smells like fish]

Cotton Cordell’s Spot lures. How do they fish along side the Bill Lewis? They seem to have more in common that the RES does with either. 

[LonnieP]

Bill Lewis for me. Could be a confidence thing because I’ve probably caught at least a dozen bass between 5 and 8 pounds on them. Come with better hooks as well. 

[Aaron_H]

1 hour ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I’ll be throwing it more but you gotta follow through on your idea to make your 2023 grind the spinnerbait. Find a cloudy day in the prespawn or right now and throw a single colorado. Booyah covert’s will work fine

 

I think Jan-Mar is going to be Jerkbait City again so I can try and build a pattern versus 2022 prespawn, but I promise I will make spinnerbait a focus for 2023 (if only to rub it in a certain Tennessee moderator's face haha). I have a compact double willow that I like a lot, I'll look into picking up a single Colorado since all of mine are either double willow or Colorado/willow.

[LrgmouthShad]

40 minutes ago, Aaron_H said:

 

I think Jan-Mar is going to be Jerkbait City again so I can try and build a pattern versus 2022 prespawn, but I promise I will make spinnerbait a focus for 2023 (if only to rub it in a certain Tennessee moderator's face haha). I have a compact double willow that I like a lot, I'll look into picking up a single Colorado since all of mine are either double willow or Colorado/willow.

Not having a single colorado in your collection is like not having pliers in your tool kit. Trust me on this one, and I’ll trust you on the lipless.

A different blade combo might work better for you at different times, but not having a single colorado makes the collection incomplete. All this hype around double willows and willow/colorado saying its the only spinnerbaits you need is hurting people. Just ask the bait monkey, lol. But seriously, single colorado is old school, and old school still catches fish. If I want a big bass in the cold water period, a single colorado will at the very least be tied on. 

 

[TnRiver46]

2 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I’ll be throwing it more but you gotta follow through on your idea to make your 2023 grind the spinnerbait. Find a cloudy day in the prespawn or right now and throw a single colorado. Booyah covert’s will work fine

My buddy gave me a box full of single Colorado blade spinner baits . He must hate me 

[papajoe222]

There are three that I rely on; Traps, RES and Hot Spots.  Each has their unique sound and come through the water differently. For a straight retrieve, the Trap is hard to beat. For a lift drop retrieve, the RES shines and for brush and rock a Spot maybe won't catch as many, but if you loose one to a snag, it won't hurt your wallet as much.

I wish SK still offered the Diamond Shad, a chrome one was a killer for me for years.

[Revival]

My PB was caught on a RES, but I still use a mix of them.

 

- RES

- Traps

- Yozuri Rattlin Vibes

- Booyah Knockers

- Xcalibur’s 

[Bankbeater]

13 hours ago, Smells like fish said:

Cotton Cordell’s Spot lures. How do they fish along side the Bill Lewis? They seem to have more in common that the RES does with either. 

Spots aren't weighted the same as traps, and the rattles are different.  Rat-L-traps will cast out better, but for me it depends on the size of the bait I'm fishing with.  The 1/4 ounce traps outproduce the 1/4 ounce spots, but the 1/2 ounce spots catch more than the 1/2 ounce traps.

[RB 77]

RES for deeper fishing or Yo-Yoin', Trap for shallower stuff or burnin'! My two got-to lipless right behind the LC LV 500. 

[Smells like fish]

I find they’re great at catching trash too

[DitchPanda]

I far prefer the RES because I prefer to yo yo a lipless. If I'm going to do a straight retrieve I prefer a Cordell super spot.

[Smells like fish]

I noticed my 8.2 geared Curado was laying res on the side, what is the optimum reel ratio for burning and maintaining equilibrium?

[Revival]

8 hours ago, RB 77 said:

RES for deeper fishing or Yo-Yoin', Trap for shallower stuff or burnin'! My two got-to lipless right behind the LC LV 500. 

Out of curiosity,  about the LV 500 do you like more than the RES and Trap?

 

I think I had a few but never had any luck with those things.

[A-Jay]

5 hours ago, Smells like fish said:

I noticed my 8.2 geared Curado was laying res on the side, what is the optimum reel ratio for burning and maintaining equilibrium?

IME successfully 'Burning' a RES , like over shallow vegetation for instance, usually needs to happen at a somewhat slower 'speed' than some other rattle baits on the market.

So while a reels gear ratio 'matters' some, slowing down the retrieve handle speed does as well.

Certainly can be accomplished with an 8.2 or above reel but you might nod off during the retrieve as you'll need to turn the handle so slow.

IMO, there are better choices for burning than than the RES.

Still, the bait works well with a constant retrieve, but it just needs to be slower than some other baits. 

On the other hand, The RES has a great shimmy on the fall, one of the best in fact,

and IMO, this is where it excels.  So some type of stop & go retrieve can be very good in many circumstances. 

I fish RES with the rod and pick up line with the reel ~  moderate sweeping motion mostly.

I want to give that built in shimmy deal every opportunity to do it's thing. 

Either way, considering my preferred reel cranking cadence, which is on the fast side, I use 6.3 - 6.6 speed reels for lipless baits quite a bit.

Reels up to and including 7.3 (the fastest I fish) have their place, but this isn't one of them for me.

YMMV

A-Jay

[TOXIC]

So, am I reading this right….some of you yo-yo a lipless like a blade bait or spoon?  I have only ripped it through grass or burned it in open water.  I feel like I might be missing a productive technique.

[A-Jay]

4 hours ago, TOXIC said:

So, am I reading this right….some of you yo-yo a lipless like a blade bait or spoon?  I have only ripped it through grass or burned it in open water.  I feel like I might be missing a productive technique.

If you've not ever fished a rattle bait like a blade bait or

even fishing it like a jig (on cleaner bottoms),

you could be missing bites.

A-Jay