Secret Santa let you down? No worries, consolidate your Christmas card cash and head to the nearest sporting goods store to get the gifts from your wish list – Rapala® lures.
Best stock up now on Shadow Rap®s, Shad Rap®s, Scatter Rap®s and Original Floating® Rapala®s, lest your favorite colors and sizes not be available come spring.
Fish saltwater? Time to update your arsenal with Rapala®’s new Skitter V, X-Rap®, Magnum and Twitchin’ hardbaits, as well as VMC®’s new Coastal Black hooks.
“Rapala’s always made the premiere lures for saltwater,” says Capt. George Poveromo, host of George Poveromo’s World of Saltwater Fishing on NBC Sports Outdoors. “And I’m thrilled that their newest saltwater additions will only solidify their position as the true leader in bringing innovative and quality lures to those serious about the sport of saltwater fishing.”
Shadow Rap®s
While most jerkbaits follow a forward trajectory with each twitch of the rod tip, Shadow Raps will also dart side to side and, with a sharp jerk, spin around almost 180 degrees. They move vertically too.
Shadow Raps combine a horizontal struggle with a vertical fade, perfectly mimicking a dying minnow’s movements. They are designed to target bass and other gamefish in two to four feet of water. To catch fish in four to eight feet, there’s a deeper-running model, the Shadow Rap® Deep.
Both models come armed with three No. 6 VMC black-nickel, round-bend hooks and are available in 24 color patterns. Each measures 4 3/8 inches and weighs 7/16 of an ounce.
Shadow Rap® Shads
Similar to the Shadow Rap, the Shadow Rap Shad is taller in profile than the former, but not as long. And, rather than slowly sinking on the pause — as does an original Shadow Rap — a Shadow Rap Shad slowly rises when stopped, slightly wobbling and perfectly mimicking an injured shad.
An all-season jerkbait, the Shadow Rap Shad triggers fish in three ways — on the kick, on the wobbling slow rise, and with a snap back to life.
Shadow Rap Shads come in models that target two different depth ranges — three to four feet and five to six feet. The latter is called the Shadow Rap Shad Deep. Both models come armed with three No. 6 VMC black-nickel, round-bend hooks and are available in 24 color patterns. Each measures 4 3/8 inches and weighs 7/16 of an ounce.
Shad Rap®s
Rapala’s inimitable Shad Rap baits – now available in five new lifelike, seasonally specific retreating-crawfish patterns – are proven classics, equally effective fished slow or fast, cast or trolled.
“With all of the advances in fishing tackle in the last 20 or 30 years, the Shad Rap is still a super-effective bait,” says Ott DeFoe, a 5-time Basmaster Classic qualifier and 2011 Bassmaster Rookie of the Year. “It catches fish when nothing else will.”
The benchmark other crankbaits are measured by, the Shad Rap resembles bait found the world over. Constructed of premium balsa wood, its precise action, detailed finish and proven fish-catching patterns make it a “must-have” bait for all anglers. Hand-tuned and tank-tested for perfection right out of the box, Shad Raps feature super-sharp VMC® black-nickel treble hooks.
The new Shad Rap craw-color designs – Blaze, Delta, Mossy, Ole Blue and Rusty – are available in two Shad Rap sizes, 05 and 07.
Original Floating® Rapala®
Gamefish have fallen for Original Floating Rapalas since they burst onto the American fishing scene in the early 1960s. And the lures that launched the Rapala revolution remain productive, especially in clear water in spring and early summer.
Whether twitched on top as a surface bait, retrieved as a shallow runner, weighted with a split shot for medium depth or bottom-walked off a three-way swivel or bottom bouncer, an Original Floating Rapala’s wounded-minnow action will be irresistible to fish of all species, including bass, walleye, pike and crappie.
Original Floating Rapalas are constructed of balsa wood, hand-tuned and tank-tested to ensure their world-renowned action, straight out of the box. They feature premium black-nickel VMC treble hooks.
Scatter Rap®s
Cast or trolled, Scatter Raps in several shapes and sizes have produced everything from Midwest walleye and pike, to Texas largemouth and white bass, to Florida speckled sea trout, to California lake trout and largemouth, and smallmouth bass across the country.
“It’s truly an amazing, amazing bait,” says legendary angler Al Lindner, who’s caught countless North County walleye, bass and pike on multiple models of Scatter Raps. “It catches all kinds of fish.
A Scatter Rap mimics a spooked baitfish fleeing a predator, moving unpredictably from side to side, back to center, and then kicking out to one side again. That built-in ability to change directions is what makes Scatter Raps so effective, Lindner says.
Although Scatter Raps are built on familiar-looking Rapala balsa bodies, what differentiates them are their “revolutionary,” curved Scatter Lips, Lindner says. The have a built-in triggering mechanism that’s effective on multiple species in many conditions.
To catch fish on a Scatter Rap, he adds, no elaborate rod-tip maneuvers, wrist motions or jigging strokes are necessary. “You don’t have to do anything but reel,” he says.
Coastal Skitter V
An exclusive, innovative V-Rap® belly design radically alters the action of Rapala’s new coastal topwater lure, the Skitter V. Quick rod snaps create drastic direction changes, followed by soft, long glides on slack line.
“The belly acts a lot like a keel on a boat,” says Capt. Rick Murphy, host of Sportsman’s Adventures and the Chevy Florida Insider Fishing Report. “It’s made walking the dog a lot easier.”
Like Rapala’s freshwater Skitter Walk lures, the Skitter V is loaded with a single ball bearing that emits a unique, fish-attracting “clickety clack” noise. It measures 4 inches, weighs half an ounce and comes armed with two No. 4 VMC® black-nickel round-bend hooks. It’s available in 10 color patterns: Bone Chartreuse, Chrome, Gold, Gold Chrome, Glass Ghost, Gold Olive, Hot Olive, Hot Pink, Red Ghost and Silver.
Coastal X-Rap® Long Cast
When coastal fish are spooky, back off ‘em and sling ‘em an X-Rap Long Cast or X-Rap Long Cast Shallow. Designed to deliver extreme casting distance, they’re also built tough to handle attack by all the aggressive saltwater predators they attract.
The X-Rap Long Cast dives four to five feet, depending on line size and retrieve speed. The lipless X-Rap Long Cast Shallow runs a foot to two feet deep.
A fast, steady retrieve gives X-Rap Long Cast baits a strong rolling and wobbling action with minimal resistance. Twitching them on the retrieve will create X-Rap Slashbait action. Pause your retrieve to make them flutter on the drop.
Both the X-Rap Long Cast and X-Rap Long Cast Shallow are available in sizes 12 and 14 and come in 12 color patterns: Albino Shiner, Bone Chartreuse, Blue Sardine, Fusilier, Glass Ghost, Gold Olive, Hot Olive, Moss Back Shiner, Olive Green, Red Belly, Red Ghost and Silver. 3D holographic eyes add lifelike detail.
Coastal X-Rap® Saltwater SubWalk
When inshore fish get spooky, throw ‘em an X-Rap Saltwater SubWalk. Designed to perform a walk-the-dog swimming action just below the surface and down to two feet, it sinks slowly when paused and features horizontal fins on the tail section, giving it a wide-sweeping, hard-gliding cadence.
Featuring both attitude and flash, the X-Rap Saltwater SubWalk triggers an attack instinct in all the inshore species anglers target most. Its slow-sinking action allows a glide-and-drop presentation that puts it into pockets where big wait to ambush prey.
Featuring a translucent body and 3D holographic eyes, the X-Rap Saltwater SubWalk comes in two sizes and 12 color patterns: Albino Shiner, Bone Chartreuse, Blue Sardine, Fusiller, Glass Ghost, Gold Olive, Hot Olive, Moss Back Shiner, Olive Green, Red Belly, Red Ghost and Silver.
Both sizes of X-Rap Saltwater SubWalks come armed with two VMC Coastal Black 1X Inline Single Hooks. Size 7 measures 2-3/4 inches and weighs 7/16 oz. Size 9 measures 3-1/2 inches and weighs 3/4 oz.
Husky Magnum® 15 & 25
When trolling for large coastal gamefish like snook, tarpon, mackerel, cobia, grouper and snapper, tie on a Rapala Husky Magnum 15. When running deeper for wahoo, tuna, king mackerel, cobia and grouper, pull a Husky Magnum 25.
Both new Husky Magnums create attraction like no other coastal trolling bait. They feature a translucent heavy-duty plastic body, an internal scale pattern, flash foil, a distinct high-frequency rattle and a slow rise on the pause.
The Husky Magnum 15 can be trolled as deep as 15 feet. It measures 5 1/2 inches and weighs 1 1/4 oz. The Husky Magnum 25 can be trolled as deep as 25 feet. It measures 6 1/4 inches and weighs 2 3/8 oz.
Both the Husky Magnum 15 and 25 come armed with two rugged VMC® 4X Perma Steel® Hooks (sizes 2/0 and 4/0). Both are available in 10 color patterns: Blue Sardine, Bonito, Dorado, Hot Pink UV, Purple Mackerel, Red Head, Silver, Silver Blue Mackerel, Sailfish UV and Wahoo UV.
X-Rap® Twitchin Baits
An aggressive side-to-side action gives Twitchin’ Minnows and Twitchin’ Mullets a unique walk-the-dog presentation just below the water’s surface. This attitude and flash triggers the attack instinct in the in-shore species anglers target the most. Both keep tracking true at a fast cadence, but sink slowly when paused.
The Twitchin’ Mullet measures 3 1/8 inches, weighs 7/16 oz. and comes armed with two 2/0 VMC® Coastal Black™1X Inline Single Hooks. Twitchin’ Minnows are available in two sizes. Size 10 measures 4 inches, weighs 1/2 oz. and comes armed with two 2/0 VMC® Coastal Black™1X Inline Single Hooks. Size 12 is 4 3/4 inches long, weighs 15/16 oz. and sports two 4/0 VMC® Coastal Black™1X Inline Single Hooks.
VMC® Coastal Black Saltwater Hooks
The best saltwater hooks became more potent with the release of VMC’s new Coastal Black hooks, which feature micro-thin layers of black finish to withstand the harsh conditions of saltwater fishing.
Chemically sharpened, the innovative new hooks are three to five times more corrosion-resistant than traditional black finishes. Innovative engineering makes them sharp and strong. “There’s been a multi-step chemical process in order to shape the point of this hook and it makes it very, very strong,” says Capt. Rick Murphy, host of Sportsman’s Adventures and the Chevy Florida Insider Fishing Report. “It’s 20 percent stronger than tin.”
VMC’s new Coastal Black hooks are available in all the most popular saltwater models – Inline, Circle, Live Bait and Treble.
