Tips for lipless crankbaits

[Huckfinn38]

I think I caught 3 fish on these in the last few years. Whats some tips for success?  Best time of year?  Best structure?  I primarily fish a high pressure lake so suggestions there?  I would think silence lipless would be best but no success on them yet and not many options to choose from.

[LrgmouthShad]

Best time of year is the cold-water period but also a little on the front and back end. My best retrieves are a slow steady retrieve, a slow retrieve with periodic rod lifts and pauses, a burning and kill retrieve, a retrieve where I vary the speed a lot, and yo-yoing them on the bottom. They come through wood sometimes and can be ripped out of grass or tugged out of the top of it. A lipless ricocheted off wood, ripped or pulled out of grass, and yo-yo’d on the bottom accounts for most of my success with this bait.

[FishTank]

Don't use a straight retrieve. Stop and go has worked for me. Also, if the your in deep water or if the bottom will corporate, I let it fall to the bottom, bounce it a little and then retrieve it, like a dead or dying fish. 

[Huckfinn38]

22 minutes ago, FishTank said:

Don't use a straight retrieve. Stop and go has worked for me. Also, if the your in deep water or if the bottom will corporate, I let it fall to the bottom, bounce it a little and then retrieve it, like a dead or dying fish. 

I have tried burn, slow, and varying speeds while yo-yoing

[BigAngus752]

The when and where are more important than the retrieve itself.  As far as the retrieve goes, you just want it to appear to be a baitfish in distress.  Bounce it off stuff.  Especially rocks.  The when and where are during the most active feeding seasons, which means prespawn and fall.  In spring and fall if I can find a windblown bank with rock on it then I have nothing on deck except a lipless and a spinnerbait.  I've spent entire days with just a lipless catching 30 plus fish in the fall and I ALWAYS fish the wind.  Wind blows the bait, bass follow, and the lipless acts like and injured baitfish.  Summer not so much.  I will pull them back out again in late October.  I've posted pics of 10lb striper I've caught in less than a foot of water on a 1/2oz lipless in November.  One of my favorite lures spring/fall.  

[Pat Brown]

Wind and clouds and dirty shallow water with hard bottom are what I love for a lipless.  Rain works too.  Try downsizing to a 1/4 oz model. I'd use the rattling ones - they seem to catch the most and the biggest for me under ideal conditions for a lipless crankbait.

[Spankey]

I’ve found them great for locating fish, reaction bites and during a tough bite and you need that fish. A fish. 
My crankbait fishing this year has not been for crap. Scratching my head as to what has happened or what my problem is. 
But I still believe in the Rat-L-Trap and my style of fishing my crankbaits. 
It will come back. I think if you throw it often and try to make happen it will come about. Good luck with it and fish it in all cover situations. 

[Mike L]

Traps are most effective when ripping free from submerged grasses of all kinds. 

I never had much faith in or success using a straight line or even an erratic retrieve. 
There always seems to be a better choice 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[scaleface]

If snags are not a problem, hop a Red Eye Shad like a  worm on classic structure like points.

[LonnieP]

I fish Lipless in the spring, fall and early winter with fall being the most productive. I’ve caught them on various retrieves but the 6 or so bass I’ve caught between 5 and 8 pounds with a lipless I was using a straight retrieve around structure.

[Catt]

Original Rat-L-Trap 

Grass 

Early pre-spawn 

 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

Small 1/4 lipless in the fall and 1/2  or 5/8 in the early prespawn.  Most of my fish are caught yo yoing them, ripping from grass or burning and stopping. 

[Catt]

[Bankbeater]

I fish with them mostly in the fall and spring when the bass are wanting to chase.  I work them past brushpiles, and any submerged vegetation that I can find.  I'll burn the bait back for a while and then slow it down.  I keep doing that until I get it back in.

[Spankey]

16 hours ago, Catt said:

Original Rat-L-Trap 

Grass 

Early pre-spawn 

 

I believe in many other posts about Rat-L-Traps that I made mention that I really only need three of them. Chrome w/ black back, chrome w/ blue back and gold w/ black back. 
Like yours, the lack of finish does not seem to affect them. I prefer them over a new one. 
Bone w/ orange, firetiger, white and chartreuse scale work well up here also. 

[Catt]

@Spankey

 

[Glenn]