Rapala's X-Rap

[Fish_Rapala]

What do you guys think of the X-Rap?  And how do you fish them?

I love them, and fish them with a skip, skip, pause to the left, and then to the right, kinda like a extended walk the dog technique...

[Hinkle2891]

i have a few but i don't fish them often. they don't seem to dive as deep. although, i do like the action for steelhead. that's one of the first things i throw.

[.ghoti.]

Excellent bait. One of the best for springtime, cool water fishing.

I'd never had much success with them in the summer, until just lately.

When dusk hits, I use a buzzbait, spook, popper, toad, etc. When I see the swirls after the bait, but no hits, I know the fish are coming up for a peak, but turning away for some reason. When this happens, try an X-Rap.

Retrieve with a quick cadence, keeping the rod tip up to keep the bait in the top foot of the water column. Add a long pause every now and then. I use 14lb test to help a bit more with keeping the bait shallow. Don't let it come back to the surface, but also, don't let it get much more than a foot deep.

You'll find some X-Raps suspend better than others. Use the ones that tend to rise up more quickly for this technique.

Cheers,

GK

[XbassmasterX]

last wed. the x-raps were making a killin out on the lake near my house. some nice size bass and carp were hitting them

I like the 8s cuz of the size they put up a great action and had a good depth but  when I was catching them that day I twitched it bac then paused reelin in the sack as you twitched then repeat all the way back   they hit it pretty hard when we started to do that.

but then we tried to troll some super shad raps and kickin minnows and the x-raps 12s and (14s range)  but no luck doing it that way  :-/ but the other day the 8s were my go too bait that day

[MALTESE FALCON]

I have alot of success with the sweep pause, sweep pause, method.

Falcon

[brgbassmaster]

i do alot of erratic jerks through about half the retrieve then pause it and do small jerks with longer pauses and that really seems to work well for me...did really well this spring for smallies and largemouth.

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

Theres almost no limit to the ways you can work a bait of this type.

I normally fish it just like a spook,except it is under water.

Just mix it up....constantly 8-)

[Sam]

Sorry, but I use the Shad Raps in #5's and #7's.

They are great baits for Virginia lakes and rivers.  

[XbassmasterX]

sorry forgot to say that when I said we were using xraps in 12s and trolling super shad raps and stuff that was all for northern pike but I use the 8s for and 10s for bass     ( sorry for any confusion ) should b all clear now  8-)

[Tokyo Tony]

i do alot of erratic jerks through about half the retrieve then pause it and do small jerks with longer pauses and that really seems to work well for me...did really well this spring for smallies and largemouth.

That's my favorite technique - the super-fast erratic retrieve for the first half of the cast to catch their attention, then slow it down just a bit with pauses so they're able to hit it. If you run into some active smallmouth you could catch more during the first half of the cast  

Earlier this summer I was at my favorite smallie pond in NH experimenting with retrieve speed. I was literally reeling and twitching an X-Rap as fast as I could without pulling it out of the water, and the smallmouth were still able to nail the bait. Unbelievable.

[basser89]

I finally broke down and picked up an XRAP at the beginning of the summer. I have never had much luck with Rapala's but I figured I'd give them a chance. I've only used it on the upper Potomac but the smallies really seem to like it! It has a great erractic action which I love to use for smallies! I'll be picking up a few more for sure!

[LCpointerKILLA]

Xrap=one of my favorite inshore lures. It is a really good lure with an amazingly durable finish

[roadwarrior]

Outstanding lure when the bass are aggressive.

The quality of this lure is comparable to Lucky Crafts.

8-)

[iceintheveins]

X - Raps are must have baits, especially in size 8 and 10 for bass, but the 12 will work as well. I like to use 14 pound power pro and a medium action rod with a somewhat stiff action. Use a 2 foot fluorocarbon leader.

Sometimes they like it when it's twitched and jerked in without pauses, especially for smallies. Usually though, jerks with intermingled pauses of up to 10 seconds are best.

[loomis spookwalker]

I love them. Smallies can't resist em'.  Yes, walk the dog retrive with pauses of 5 - 10 sec. is the key.  They aren't as appealing as Lucky Craft but cost almost a third of the price with the same results.

Iceintheveins has the setup correct for this combination.

[Fish_Rapala]

To me anything over 8pound test messes with the X-Rap's action, I throw them on on 8pound Sufix Camo, on light spinning gear.

[J Francho]

Heavier line may change the action, but certainly doesn't stop them from catching fish.  I have X-Raps, as well as several other brands of similar, suspending slashbaits and at times, they all produce.  The fact that the bills on the X-Rap sometimes (read as eventually) break doesn't keep me from buying and using them.  This doesn't happen with some other higher price point baits.  I generally use 10-12# P-Line CXX for these baits.  Lighter line will help them get a bit deeper.