Maybe its just me but I really like some of the rapala lures but quality now appears to be much worse than years ago. I have some older rapala cranks that are tough as nails but I am finding some of the newer stuff not the same. I know balsa can be that way but I have 2 brand new baits that are cracked around the bills and the whole thing pulls out. Purchased them in March durning the basspro sale and put them into my bins ans didn't look close enough to see the issue until i went to tie it on. I have a rocco that pretty much has the same issue.

 

Justa wanted to see if it was just me or is this a more common issue these days with the balsa baits.

Did you slap them on the water to clean off grass?  I learned that one the hard way with a DT fat.

 

 

32 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

Did you slap them on the water to clean off grass?  I learned that one the hard way with a DT fat.

 

 

Nope, I had read about that the dt6 was new out of the box. Not sure how the crack got there but in both cases the bills could be pulled out. Now that I think about it I have a shad rap that was split across at the rear hook attachment.  

I had I DT16 that came in the package with a big crack in the side. Unfortunately I couldn’t return it because the 30 days had passed before I opened it and realized. 

It’s an old score, exactly why I quit using them a decade ago.. too bad, great concept, bad execution 

9 minutes ago, 10,000 lakes Bassin said:

I had I DT16 that came in the package with a big crack in the side. Unfortunately I couldn’t return it because the 30 days had passed before I opened it and realized. 

Thats what I have, I bought a bunch during sales, most appear to be fine but I have several with cracks. I emailed rapala customer service and will see if I get a reply. I had an issue with a strike king crank and emailed them and they sent me a replacement. Will see if they will replace them, I know i will look at them closer if purchasing locally but when ordering online kind of hard to do it in that situation.

3 minutes ago, bishoptf said:

Thats what I have, I bought a bunch during sales, most appear to be fine but I have several with cracks. I emailed rapala customer service and will see if I get a reply. I had an issue with a strike king crank and emailed them and they sent me a replacement. Will see if they will replace them, I know i will look at them closer if purchasing locally but when ordering online kind of hard to do it in that situation.

Yep, I’m always stressing when ordering rods and even reels online. Actions on rods or build quality, you risk much with ordering half blinded. 

2 minutes ago, F14A-B said:

It’s an old score, exactly why I quit using them a decade ago.. too bad, great concept, bad execution 

Yeah, and it would be so bad but they are not cheap but I really like the dt series and some of the other cranks.

 

Heck I really like the berkly frittside 5's but if you sneeze on the bill you will break it. I not a professional and when i cast long and hit a dock or the shore I cringe everytime since im not sure if its coming back whole. But both of these catch fish so I will keep getting them but only buy them when on sale knowing that they are not the most reliable.

1 hour ago, bishoptf said:

Nope, I had read about that the dt6 was new out of the box. Not sure how the crack got there but in both cases the bills could be pulled out. Now that I think about it I have a shad rap that was split across at the rear hook attachment.  

 

I figured based on your description, but thought I’d ask.  The edge of where the bill inserts is a weak point in the main body (from an engineering perspective).  But that doesn’t make it right and it still shouldn’t happen in normal use.

Yep. I've also had quality issues with Rapala. Had the hooks on a 4 3/8" floating minnow break on the first fish I caught on it. Brand new out of the package. One treble was bent out, another one snapped in two. 

The fish was a 25" pike, and he fought hard, but I've had my own garage build lures fair better against tougher fish, and I use the cheapest of the cheap eagle claw trebels I get from Walmart. Such a renowned and storied brand like Rapala should do better. Especially since they have a bit of a brand name tax added to their price tag. Like @F14A-B said, "Great concept. Bad execution."

I've had that happen on a dt8 once but I always look in the box when I buy one and haven't had one like that in years.

I don’t really remember a time where Rapala’s quality was exceptional. I love rapala and use lots of their lures, but durability isn’t on of the reasons. I’ve been breaking lips off DTs for 15 years. 
 

I think Rapalas are what they are. They are priced at the mid to lower end, durability isn’t great, hardware sucks, excellent action and patterns, and they flat out catch fish. 

9 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

 

I figured based on your description, but thought I’d ask.  The edge of where the bill inserts is a weak point in the main body (from an engineering perspective).  But that doesn’t make it right and it still shouldn’t happen in normal use.

Imo, you gotta be able to bump cover and if you’re not then folks are missing out. That said these were the worst I ever used for that work. I settled on Yozuri crank baits. They are solid and take a pretty good beating and don’t break the bank. The OG Risto Rap were stellar crank baits but I’ve been out of those for a long while now. 

14 hours ago, F14A-B said:

Imo, you gotta be able to bump cover and if you’re not then folks are missing out. That said these were the worst I ever used for that work. I settled on Yozuri crank baits. They are solid and take a pretty good beating and don’t break the bank. The OG Risto Rap were stellar crank baits but I’ve been out of those for a long while now. 

Man I have a lot of cranks, i think i may pick up some Berkeley dime 6 and see if they work as good as the dt 6, maybe be more durable. Which yozuri cranks do you like the best, need to add them to my list. 

 

I will say right now if you want to try an awesome crank that is on sale at tacklewarehouse is the duel core cranks...the weight transfer system and the baits are great. I think they are discontinuing them in the usa since they didnt sell well but they are awesome cranks and for $5 a steal.

Yup, Dual is the parent company that manufactures Yo-Zuri baits & hybrid lines. They are very good baits and I’ve been predominantly using them since 1999. 

So now that I have searched some about the quality of Rapala and found post on this forum going years back having the same issue so it appears to be it is what it is kind of thing.

 

Maybe I should start a new thread but I really like the dt series, i'd like to here what are some alternatives that I can look at that are very close to the action. I think the Berkley dime series are plastic replicas is that true and what other options?

DT's have been like that since they debuted, they are effective at both catching fish and putting a dent in the wallet. 

On 6/20/2025 at 8:28 PM, F14A-B said:

It’s an old score, exactly why I quit using them a decade ago.. too bad, great concept, bad execution 

 

Same. I stopped using them years ago.

 

2 hours ago, zell_pop1 said:

DT's have been like that since they debuted, they are effective at both catching fish and putting a dent in the wallet. 

 

35 minutes ago, FishTank said:

 

Same. I stopped using them years ago.

 

Yeah looks like they will replace them if you ship them back but with as expensive as shipping i can just purchase new ones qhen they are on sale. Strike king will just send you replacement if you take a picture.

 

Agree about the durability but at least the dt6 for me catches fish. Trying to find an alternative that is silent and has a tight action as a replacement for dt6. Berkley has a dime 6 and a dredger 8.5 but not sure if they would match the action and if they are any more durable. I know I have some frittside 5's and the bill on them is pretty easy to break.

 

Anyone have any dt6 options on m all ears.

29 minutes ago, bishoptf said:

 

Yeah looks like they will replace them if you ship them back but with as expensive as shipping i can just purchase new ones qhen they are on sale. Strike king will just send you replacement if you take a picture.

 

Agree about the durability but at least the dt6 for me catches fish. Trying to find an alternative that is silent and has a tight action as a replacement for dt6. Berkley has a dime 6 and a dredger 8.5 but not sure if they would match the action and if they are any more durable. I know I have some frittside 5's and the bill on them is pretty easy to break.

 

Anyone have any dt6 options on m all ears.

 

I stopped using Strike King (except the 6 and 10XD). I also stopped using Berkley's cranks as well. I bought a ton of them when there was an awesome discount code floating around. All of them ended up not holding up but to Berkley's credit, they did replace a few. I gave them to a buddy of mine and they too fell apart. 

 

As far as what I like as an alternative and these go to about 5-8 feet depending on line and conditions....

 

Bill Lewis ATV 2.5

Evergreen CR 08 

Megabass Z2 Crank

Megabass Deep X100

OSP Blitz DR or MR

Megabass Griffon MR-X

Deps Evoke 2.0

 

I also prefer 10lb FC over mono. IMHO, this seems to be the best, on average, line to help get to and keep the correct depth. 

 

12 minutes ago, FishTank said:

 

I stopped using Strike King (except the 6 and 10XD). I also stopped using Berkley's cranks as well. I bought a ton of them when there was an awesome discount code floating around. All of them ended up not holding up but to Berkley's credit, they did replace a few. I gave them to a buddy of mine and they too fell apart. 

 

As far as what I like as an alternative and these go to about 5-8 feet depending on line and conditions....

 

Bill Lewis ATV 2.5

Evergreen CR 08 

Megabass Z2 Crank

Megabass Deep X100

OSP Blitz DR or MR

Megabass Griffon MR-X

Deps Evoke 2.0

 

I also prefer 10lb FC over mono. IMHO, this seems to be the best, on average, line to help get to and keep the correct depth. 

 

Which of these are silent...I see many $$$ cranks on the list, i'm cheap so probably the bill lewis maybe the only ones on the list but will keep the list and see if any of them go on sale, thanks for the list.

Well that Duel TW sale just bit me. 18 on the way. 88 after tax.

FM

25 minutes ago, Fishingmickey said:

Well that Duel TW sale just bit me. 18 on the way. 88 after tax.

FM

Yeah I bought a bunch also, the duel hardcore are really nice cranks...

53 minutes ago, bishoptf said:

Which of these are silent...I see many $$$ cranks on the list, i'm cheap so probably the bill lewis maybe the only ones on the list but will keep the list and see if any of them go on sale, thanks for the list.

 

The Deps Evoke 2.0 is silent and the Bill Lewis ATV is sort of silent. It has a weight in it that balances it and it gives off a little bit of sound if you shake it hard but not much.  Nice thing about both of these is that they come with great hooks and they come through cover better than most. The MR-X Griffon comes in a silent version if you can find it but this bait takes some getting use to. You have to run it at the correct speed. Too fast and it rolls on its side. Too slow and it doesn't do much. I sort of fish it like a jerkbait and pop it. 

 

I order the Deps and Megabass stuff from Japan. It's cheaper. The ATV can be found at most places in the US and are not that bad price wise. 

 

Another to look at that I forgot is the Megabass Flap Slap. Great bait as well and it's silent. 

 

My wish list/requirements for crankbaits....

 

1. It catches fish

2. It doesn't get hung up

3. It runs correctly out of the box

4. Good hooks out of the box

5. Easy to cast and retrieve

 

I have found with crankbaits that I would rather pay a few extra bucks to get what I want in the bait. If it gets hung up less, that's one less I might have to replace. If the hooks stink, that's also an extra expense, which a lot of them are bad these days. It use to be that with a Strike King or even Rapala cranks, I would have to buy multiples (sometimes up to 5) of them to get one that would run the way I wanted and would consistently catch fish. That too was an extra expense. Also, as the years went by, I started to look at what was in my boxes that actually caught fish and what I had left/hadn't lost. The ones I had left weren't from Rapala, Bandit, or Bagley which were my main baits for years. Today, I still loose one from time to time but much less than years ago. The only thing is now it really hurts. 

38 minutes ago, Fishingmickey said:

Well that Duel TW sale just bit me. 18 on the way. 88 after tax.

FM

What?... I how did I miss this. Thanks. They are pretty good baits as well. 

Spro makes the rock crawler in a smaller size that dives to 6-8 ft, is silent, and comes with Gama hooks. I’ve caught piles of fish on them. 
 

Another favorite is the Bandit 200

 

I’ve broken nearly every DT I’ve ever bought.