I have a handful of USA made traps. Is there any reason that I shouldn't upgrade the hooks and throw them as needed? Do they work better than the new traps? Do they have collector value? I've looked on ebay, but it doesn't appear that the monetary value of old traps is such that I could replace them with new traps from the store, IE $6.00 each.

Fish them

May not be better than the new but probably not worse either.

I love old traps.  They work just as good today as they did back in the day. 

I would hang onto them.  I had a bunch of Excaliber traps.  I didn't know they discontinued them and kept throwing them.  I got down to like 7 or 8 total, went to buy more and heard the bad news.  Supposedly Booyah's are the same, but IME I've quite a few baits that were put back into production after being discontinued and they weren't the same.

I ended up coming across these for a reasonable price. I got them to use, since I lose a lot of traps. But I figured it I'd ask before losing these too. They ain't nothing special, or special colors that I can tell. Just traps. Not sure if I'll upgrade the hooks, since I'll loose them anyway, but might.

Fish them.  They are worthless if they just take up space in your house.  When you run across a special one that for some unknown reason works better than the others, mark it and use it on days you feel you need a special trap.  There is always one out any 100 identical crankbaits that work far better than any others.  Those are special and need to be treated as such. 

Good advice, I forgot about that.

The really old Rat-L-Traps have lead shot inside.  The newer ones have steel ball bearings.  Lead has a "softer" sound than steel, so perhaps the old Rat-L-Traps have a different sound when retrieved.

Thanks Bass302.

 

I hate to throw them because I lose a lot of them. I think I've lost about 7-8 since I started throwing them a couple months ago.

I still have a bunch of old traps because when I first started fishing you really only had Bill Lewis and Cotton Cordell and then differernt smaller brands like Luhr Jensen etc. but those were only 2 we ever used.

 

I just change the hooks because most are silver and look like saltwater hooks on my old traps. I like the color patterns and they seem to work as good as the new ones. 

 

You can often buy Rattle Trap bodies on Ebay & in Bulk really cheap. I would search buy rattle trap bodies without hooks in bulk from tackle shop.... I know a tackle shop purchased every bill lewis rattle trap he had in his factory when stopped making them. He still has 100,000's of thousands. I saw a video on you tube about it. Whatever state Bill Lewis is from, is where this place is and he had boxes and all Rattle traps were like 2 bucks. 

 

Now they come with triple grips so probably a good option to replace trebles with. 

I'm confused,... Are you asking if you should save them as "Collector" items?

 

I only ask because I am always confused when people say they are afraid to use certain lures for risk of losing them. I have to wonder what other purpose they have, and why buy them if too scared to lose them. Anything in my tackle assortment is fair game for use. 

 

I save old lures that were my Dad's or something that have sentimental value in his old tackle box. I could also understand if something had value for collecting, but if that is the case,... My gut says save a couple, but beyond that,... Fish away!!

5 hours ago, primetime said:

I know a tackle shop purchased every bill lewis rattle trap he had in his factory when stopped making them. He still has 100,000's of thousands.

I’m confused, GSM aquired Bill Lewis and they are still producing Rattle Traps.  

Yes, Bill Lewis co. is alive and well and still making Rat-L-Traps in the USA.  The fact they were acquired by GSM didn't change anything.

 

Some eBay sites claim they are now made overseas, but that is more of a ploy to get you buy the "American Made" versions. LOL!  Then, of course, the rumors are being spread on social media sites.  Shocker, I know.

When I buy a Rat-L-Trap in town from Walmart or Academy, they are made in china.

And you know this because....???

Sometimes the colors that are out of production are the ones you want to be fishing with.

Well, y'all had me second-guessing myself, so I asked an industry insider who's close to the companies - both Bill Lewis and GSM.  I trust him.

 

He said Bill Lewis has been making Rat-L-Traps in China for years - long before the GSM acquisition. 

 

So, a distinction without a difference as far as the GSM acquisition goes. They're the same baits they've been making for a long time. 

 

I stand corrected tho.  I hadn't realized they moved production overseas.

I'm not disparaging the new traps by the way, I like them and they have been working great for me.

Does anyone know when the production was changed from USA to china? Did that coincide with the hook change to the Mustad triple grip hooks?

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! 

@Wes H. Thank you!

 

I think I speak for everyone when I say, that we'd love to hear more about Traps and their history. It's one of the most iconic lures ever made.

 

Do you know when the switch to the triple grip hooks was made? Did it coincide with the begin of manufacture in China?

1 hour ago, Bazoo said:

@Wes H. Thank you!

 

I think I speak for everyone when I say, that we'd love to hear more about Traps and their history. It's one of the most iconic lures ever made.

 

Do you know when the switch to the triple grip hooks was made? Did it coincide with the begin of manufacture in China?

 

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. 

The Heddon Sonic was the first Rattletrap type lure I remember fishing, that was in the late 1950's.  Lure selections were only a micro selection of what we have today;  in the 40's and 50's we used River Runts, Creek Chub Pikies, Jitterbugs, Hula Poppers, and my favorite, the Tin Liz.  I still run into occasional situations which cause me to wish I had a Tin Liz tied on.  As a kid, I remember winning a Big Bass competition on a frog pattern wooden Jitterbug, with two tiny minnows attached to the rear treble.  Huge smallmouth!

And my old time favorite The Hawaiian Wiggler.

 

On 9/30/2025 at 10:25 PM, Bazoo said:

Thanks Bass302.

 

I hate to throw them because I lose a lot of them. I think I've lost about 7-8 since I started throwing them a couple months ago.

Throw them on straight braid. Set drag looser accordingly and maybe use a lighter action rod. I started using the Heddon Sonar for winter bass and it works well. I mean, in winter 3 fish in a day is good. Anything more is icing. Also works on big crappie. But I was losing two a trip because you have to let it go to bottom over and over. I started throwing them on 30# braid and haven't lost one since. I have gradually been moving toward straight braid on almost all my combos. Lures cost too much to lose.

 

I find the CC Spot and even the Academy store brand H2O lipless cranks get more bites for me. So I swapped the good hooks off my Traps onto those lures. 

6 hours ago, Wes H. said:

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! 

 

Welcome, Wes!

 

Perhaps you would be able to shed some light on this conundrum:

 

 

@Bazoo has the rest of us scratching our heads on what it could be.