Rapala Flat Rap

[smalljaw67]

How many here use this lure? I got a few at Walmart and it got me thinking about these as they aren't cheap but I don't know of many anglers besides myself that really use them. I like the smaller FLR 8 when the fish are spooky or if it is a tough bite and I use it anytime I see any type of baitfish activity and it has really produced for me. The winner is the FLR 10, I used these along with my rogues in the river 2 years ago when the Flat Rap came out and the results were fantastic. I was using them with my rogues and I can still remember switching to the Flat Rap as the fish were only following the rogue. I was using a color called purpledescent which is a pretty natural color and in the water I couldn't help but notice how much this lure looked like the darters I always see. Well I guess the smallies thought it looked like darters also as they were killing the flat rap! Since that rip I have done well on both sizes, the best colors in clear water have been purpledescent, pearl grey shiner, and silver and if the water has a bit of color I found the chrome, clown, and hot tiger work well. The nice thing about these is the ease of use, my grandson caught a few bass on one and he doesn't use it like a jerkbait the same way I do, he basically just reels it down and lets it come back up and before it gets to the top he reels again and just keeps repeating the same pattern and he gets fish to hit it so it does work a couple different ways.

[Ratherbfishing]

I have a few of these. I noticed that with the smaller size, I can't use heavy line with it because it impedes the wobble considerably. And I haven't really tried to use it as a jerk bait so much as a subsurface crankbait. But I plan to use them a lot this spring. I've never met a Rapala I didn't like.

[elkriverangler]

I picked up several of them to try this Season along with some X Rap's. What I like about the Flat Rap is he Dual purpose Jerkbait/Shallow Crankbait applications. I assume since it is a Balsa Floater that it could be also be worked like a regular Floating Rapala and Twitched on the Surface.

Good to hear it is a good River Smallie Lure as that's what most of my Fishing is.

I have heard that the Lips break easy on these. hopefully that issue has been fixed.

[smalljaw67]

I picked up several of them to try this Season along with some X Rap's. What I like about the Flat Rap is he Dual purpose Jerkbait/Shallow Crankbait applications. I assume since it is a Balsa Floater that it could be also be worked like a regular Floating Rapala and Twitched on the Surface.

Good to hear it is a good River Smallie Lure as that's what most of my Fishing is.

I have heard that the Lips break easy on these. hopefully that issue has been fixed.

I've been using them a lot the last two season especially last season, it is an incredible bait when you fish actively chasing baitfish. As far as the lips busting, well I haven't run into that problem and I bang them off of rocks a good bit since the river I fish them in is shallow and extremely rocky. The lips breaking is usually a complaint of the x-raps and most of that can be because you tend to fish them in cold water and every bait is suseptible to that as I have had lips break off of LC pointers. I don't think it will double as a topwater the way the original floater does because it is a slow rise bait, part of what makes it deadly as a jerkbait or shallow crank. I usually don't use my floating rogues until the water temp gets above 60 and that is were the flat rap comes in because it rises a lot slower than my rogues I use it as a transition bait were instead of using a suspending jerkbait and a slower presentation and a floating jerkbait for a faster presentation, the flat rap gives me an intermediate presentation, faster than the suspending model and slower than a floater, a really good bait to have.

[mrmacwvu1]

i will have to give them a try this spring

[The Guy]

I have done very well on them, they cast great and look great in the water. I did break the lip off of one by slamming it into the side of my boat at 100MPH after I snagged something and pulled it off, but you can't blame that on the bait.