I went out last night to a local pond and started throwing one of these. Keep in mind I have hardly ever caught anything on a lipless crank. I was trying to break out of the mold and try to build some confidence in something other than soft plactics. I fished from about 7:00 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. and caught about 9 fish with one of them being probably my PB for a largemouth. I was just throwing it out and cranking it back in. I think this was probably the best fishing outing I have ever had for largemouth. I hear the red eyes and the rat-l-traps are the main lipless cranks that most people like, but I can't get hardly a bite on a rat-l-trap. So my question is what was the deal last night? Was it the lure or was it just the time of year and any lipless crank would have worked. If you like the rapala lipless...why over the other brands? or if you don't like it...why?

Its a good bait, but IMO the Rat-L-Trap has a better action.

My uneducated guess is that you were in the right place at the right time and that a number of different lures would have caught fish. I've used rattling Rapalas and they're fine as far as I'm concerned.

I'd go with the right place, right time notion. Different baits work for different people. Me, I can't catch a cold using a Rattle-trap. Currently, the old Berkly Frenzy rattle bait is working for me. Prior to that my favorite rattle type bait was Cordell Spot.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/99241-rattlin-rapala-review/

I've caught a lot of bass on Rattlin' Raps, but I've found that, at certain times, another lipless crank will work better. It just depends on what the fish want.

The only issue that I've had with the Rapalas is the finish. It doesn't seem very durable. I have several that the top coat of the finish wore off very quickly. They still catch fish though.

Tom

Don't buy a Rapala Rattlin rap in chrome blue back... you'll fish the pond out..if you keep fish...

The rattlin rapala is one of the most overlooked rattlebaits out there. Sure, you don't hear about it, and its not trendy to use, and you don't see tournament pros throwing it, but the last time i checked, the best fisherman listen to the fish...

It is a good time of the year to use them but perhaps it imiced the size of the forage in the pond. I own 1, it is a blaze orange bait and to look at it you would not think any kind of fish would hit it but you would be wrong. Fishing dirty water, this thing is great but only in a small window, March to May and only in drty water. That time of year, the waters I fish are usually clear but if there was a good amount of snow a few warm days raises water levels and the waters get dirty as a result and the only thing I'm able to get bit on when that happens is that blaze orange rattlin rapala.