Gulpin' On Willard 7-27-22 (With Video)

[TubeDude]

I'm planning to hit the north marina area either next week or the week after and work those small Rapalas more aggressively.  I got quite a few hits on them on Wednesday and only fished them a little over an hour.  For general info, I was fishing them about 4-5 feet behind a small 1/8 oz. inline trolling sinker I make.  And I was varying my speed on either side of 1.5 mph.  The key seemed to be to keep it up in the water column, rather than near the bottom.  I was only pitching it back about 30 to 40 feet.  Those small Rapalas seem to have a better action at lower speeds than big billed lures like the Flickr Shads...and they more closely match the hatch of the baby shad.  They have worked well in the past.

What color or pattern of Rapala have you used?

The only ones I tried last Wednesday were the little 2" Rapala Rattlin' Raps.  I believe the color is "holographic blue shad".  There are several shadlike colors in their lineup and all have caught fish for me in years past during this time of year when the baby shad are a main menu item.  As you can see in this picture of my "Mini Crank" lure box, there are a lot of other small lures that will work too. 
  

I have also done well on my own prism tape doctored lures...lipless cranks, spoons and spinners...in the pattern I call "Wiper Bling".  And, while fishing from my float tube, there have been days when I caught a lot of fish by casting and retrieving these small lures while boaters trolling at mach 3 weren't doing much.  In fact, one of the best tactics is to cast out, allow the lure to settle to the bottom and then fast crank it back up through the water column.  Discovered this method many years ago while fishing for white bass and stripers in Arizona.  It works on Willard Wipers too.