Wes H.

The switch to the Triple Grips was done while we were still making the 'Traps in the USA. Around 2008 or so. They truly are a superior hook to the old, dull Eagle Claws that used to go on them. It was unanimous, all the pro-staff wanted the Triple Grips and had actually been changing them over themselves for years. We just decided to make it one step easier and have them come dressed with the Triple Grips. Really, the only thing material-wise that's changed with Rat-L-Trap over the years are the hooks and the packaging. Otherwise, we constantly review the colors to see what is selling and what's not. We cut some poor performing colors yearly, and also add colors most every year. The biggest evolution of the Rat-L-Trap in recent times is no question the intro of the Hammer-Trap. It has some of the traditional traits of the preceding, original 'Trap, but also has features like: flutter-fall, tri-tonal sounds, and a much heavier vibration overall. It'll never take the place of the original 'Trap, but it definitely gives anglers another "pitch" to throw.

To give a quick timeline on Rat-L-Trap production, I was the President there from 2010 to 2022, and now work for GSM which acquired Bill Lewis in '22. I was raised in the Lewis family, and can provide some history, too. The Rat-L-Trap was molded in the Midwest originally and assembled, painted, and packaged in Alexandria, LA. In 2010, a contract manufacturer in Wisconsin also started painting and packaging lures to completion. They had done chrome plating for Bill Lewis leading up to that. This group continued to make Rat-L-Traps until they got a major contract with Tito's vodka to do their bottle cap chrome plating. They no longer wanted to do Rat-L-Traps. Thankfully we had started making some of our newer lures in China at a select, high-quality factory already. So when we no longer had the production capacity in Wisconsin we were able to shift to the factory overseas. The Alexandria factory had been downsized in the early 2000's. However, we continued to do small batch runs, custom colors, etc., at the Alexandria location until the acquisition in '22. But as for the main volume of 'Traps nothing has changed. They've been made in the same place since well before the acquisition. As a person who's personally thrown 'Traps since the 80's, I can say with confidence, the quality is better than ever. I hope this helps!