Rapala Shad Rap

The Rapala Shad Rap is one of the most versatile baits in the fishing world.  They work great for walleye, bass, pike and many other game fish.  

For Walleye I prefer the Shad Rap #5.  If you are fishing in clear water conditions stick to baits with a more natural pattern.  If you are fishing in a muddy or stained water condition go with bright colors such as firetiger or red crawdad.  If the fish are more aggressive the #7 can work great to attract a bigger fish.

For Bass the #7 works great.  The colors are pretty much the same as how you would choose color for walleye fishing.  

These work best when the water is colder in early season or cooling off in the fall.  I would stick to 10lb line or smaller when fishing these baits.  If you go larger these lures do not have as much action.  They do snag quite a bit when fishing around trees so if you feel a snag coming up just stop reeling for a couple of seconds to get the bait to rise out of trouble.

More Tips:  The colder the water is the slower you will want to run these baits.  A gear ration of 5:1 works great for lowering the speed of your retrieve.  

These are very hard to cast with a bait caster.  Try using a spinning reel to start when fishing with these.

If your hooks get dull try to re-sharpen them or change them out with a new hook like Owner ST-36.

Pull the bait along the bottom with pauses if you want to imitate a craw fish.

If you would like the bait to suspend try and replace the hooks out for a bigger size to get the bait to suspend.  For example the #5 Shad Rap comes with #6 hooks try out #4 hooks to get it to suspend.

Have fun fishing this season and I hope this helps you catch more fish with the best selling lure on the market!

If you would like to pick some up try out our low prices!  Click Here for Shad Raps

How do you use Shad Raps?