Fishing Rattle Traps

[BassChump]

I was at Walmart the other day getting shoes for my daughter and while I was there I wandered over to the fishing stuff. I'm new at bass fishing and I have very little tackle. Just some normal lures ( Aglias, roostertails, blue fox, etc.) and of course my first purchase for bass was some Senkos.

Anyway, I've heard you guys talk about Rattle Traps so i picked up a couple.

Can you tell me how to fish these, what conditions, etc???? The lake I usually fish is small, probably less than a 100 acres, cold right now. Water temp around 49 although I was in a shallow cove on the northeast side of the lake later in the day and the water temp in that cove was 54.

I'm on the Oregon coast so it never gets very warm here until May or later so it's usually cooler and LOTS OF RAIN.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Woohoo!! If you guys can help me catch a few bass, this is definately going to be a fun summer.

[Grey Wolf]

Cast it out and retrieve it at differant speeds. Sometimes the fish will want a faster retrieve and sometimes a slower one will do the trick. I f you use a 1/2 oz. bait , you can fish it at what ever depth you want by counting it down to the depth you want it. It'll fall at 1 one ft. per second.

[iceintheveins]

I usually fish them with a steady retrieve that is interrupted by a two to four second fall, then I jerk it forward with the rodtip and continue. I put a few jerks into a steady retrieve and that seems to increase strikes. I count it down to the depth I want, then retrieve,

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

x2 what the other fellows said, but my most productive is a yo yo retrieve.Get it to the desired depth range and either pull up on the rod or rip it aggressively upwards then real the slack as you lower your rod.Also around drop offs and points I sometimes let it sink clear to the bottom and let it sit for a sec then rip it upwards with a single or double pump action then let it settle again.

[Sam]

Blue back is for bright days and black back is for cloudy days although I have caught them the opposite way, too.

Chrome ones work fine and work them like a crazy shad like the guys said.

Start out with the 1/4 ounce and work up in size depending on the size of the fish.

Now, a word about the hookset.  Don't get frustrated if you lose some fish on the Rat-L-Trap.

The hooks don't set right, although the newer models claim the hooks are improved.

My friends and I have lost many a nice bass at the boat or the shore when they come unbuttoned.

So this is what I do when I get hit.

1.  I use a swinging motion to the SIDE to set the hook.

2.  I put the rod tip in the water to stop the fish from jumping.

3.  I yell at the fish to "stay on."

Friends change Rat-L-Trap hooks.  Some to a Number 4 and others to a Number 6 treble hook. Usually they will use Owner or Eagle Claw or some other leading brand.

But, I don't do well with split-rings so I leave the original hooks on the Rats and keep yelling, "stay on."

And get a few of each color and size as you will lose them in both structure and cover.

Have fun.

[BassChump]

Great!!!! I try all those different type of retrieves. There are a few rocky drop-offs into deep water that I'll try those around. Could you guys explain the what type of conditions to use these on??? Along the weed line, etc.?

In the last post Sam said that I'll lose some of these in brush and cover. Do I fish these in downed timber??? At least in the lake I fish in, that would be deadly because there's lots of timber and it's stacked pretty heavily. I don't see how you could throw into stuff like that with exposed hooks. I'd lose it every time.

[frogtog]

That yelling at the fish works great, I have saved a lot of fish doing this.

[MNGeorge]

We use Rattletraps often and have for years.  Our experience differs greatly from Sam's in that we rarely lose a fish on them.  In fact, they usually come to the boat with multiple hooks in their face.  I do agree about the chrome with the blue back though.  It's absolutely our best color and the one we always start with.  Second choice would be some kind of red pattern.

[Wayne P.]

I use Traps in timber a lot. It's a feel you get used to after a while that lets you bring it thru limbs without getting hung up much. Using braid with the Trap helps with that.

[Shakes]

Braid is a good call with a lipless crank. Its difficult to lose the lure when you can pull the tree that you're hung up on clear outta the water. The most effective technique I have found is to tick the grass on the bottom. Reaction strikes like crazy.

There really is no way to fish these lures. Jimmy Houston calls them "idiot baits" because any idiot can fish one. Speed it up and slow it down like the others said. Just find the right technique for the certain day you are fishing.

Good Luck.

[BassChump]

Idiot baits????? Hmm. I'll take a stab at it and venture to guess I would qualify.

Sounds like it was made for me. lol.

[rondef]

I catch a lot of lmbs on different versions of the trap.  I like the blue/crome, black/crome, red and fire tiger.  I aslo have had good luck with my bluegill trap.  I caught three nice lmbs on traps today.

[Catt]

Reel keeping the trap a couple of feet below the surface and bounce it off wood.

Make a long cast, let the trap free fall to the count of 10, kneel on the deck, sticking 1 ½ to 2' of your rod tip in the water and slowly reel.

Slow roll like you would spinner baits

1/2 oz Red Chrome or Gold/Black Back/Orange Belly.

[dumb_dog11]

Braid is a good call with a lipless crank. Its difficult to lose the lure when you can pull the tree that you're hung up on clear outta the water. The most effective technique I have found is to tick the grass on the bottom. Reaction strikes like crazy.

There really is no way to fish these lures. Jimmy Houston calls them "idiot baits" because any idiot can fish one. Speed it up and slow it down like the others said. Just find the right technique for the certain day you are fishing.

Good Luck.

I would use mono becasue you want some strecth in the line with a hookset. Braid doesn't strecth so there is a good chance youll rip the hooks clean outta the bass' mouth

[hammer84]

I just started using traps this years and I'm really digging them.  Caught a bunch of fish on traps this spring so far.

FYI, I fish 90% time in ponds and small lakes from the shore.

I like traps because a lot of ponds I fish have quite a bit of grass/moss on the bottom.  I can get the trap just tick the grass when a crankbait just digs into the slop.

My fav so far is the Berkley Frenzy rattr.  They are 2.49 have good hooks and good colors.  I find orange to be a killer color in small lakes and ponds.

[Jeff H]

I like to fish them over the crown of midlake humps when the wind is blowing.  I catch lots of LMB doing this but have not nailed any bigger fish yet.  Mostly 12-16 inchers.

[Bass XL]

3. I yell at the fish to "stay on."

But, I don't do well with split-rings so I leave the original hooks on the Rats and keep yelling, "stay on."

Ok Ben Matsubu.  ;D

[BassChump]

Personally, yelling at the fish sounds like a strategy for me......... Does it work for everybody? Even a quiet, shy guy like me???? Won't the fish detect weekness?????   Or would it be best to just slap the fish into submission??? (in a loving, catch and release sort of way of course)    ;D

[Tpayneful]

I am an idiot as far as rattle traps go and I couldn't catch a cold with one.  Maybe it is just me or my lake with super clear water and not much grass.  Of course I couldn't sniff a bite on one all day fishing in Florida.  

[Wayne P.]

You will land more bass using braid than with mono. Most fishermen I know including myself make very long casts when fishing lipless cranks so they can cover a lot of water each cast. If a fish takes it "out there", getting a hook set past the barbs is not likely with mono due to the line stretch. Once the hook set is made, the angler's skill during the fight will prevent a loss providing the proper flex rod is used for throwing cranks to begin with. Most bass are lost due to the lack of hook penetration rather than the hooks being ripped out.