The New Crankin' Rap From Rapala!

I'll say it right off the bat, the Rapala Crankin' Rap is my favorite lure in the selection of new baits for 2010 from Rapala. Rapala has rolled out 5 new additions apart from the Crankin' Rap for 2010: The Max Rap, the Flat Rap, the DT Thug, the Trolls-To-Minnow, and the Trolls-To-Shad. Shown above in the "Moss Shad" color selection, the Crankin' Rap has a look and feel very similar to that of the Glass Rap only with an altered lip design. The Crankin' Rap is available in a number of sizes to target an array of depths in the water column as well as 13 color combinations.

Weight	3/8, 1/2 ounce
Length	2", 2-1/2"
Running Depth	2'-14'
Target Species	Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Northern Pike, Muskellunge, Walleye
Color Combinations	Brown Bone, Firetiger, Green Crawdad, Hot Mustard, Hot Olive, Helsinki Shad, Melon Shad, Moss Shad(featured in this review), Original Pearl Shad, Red Crawdad, Regal Shad, Shad
Price	$6.99 USD

Design

The new Crankin' Rap is a powerhouse, incorporating a number of new features, which give this bait a distinct look and action. The first, and my favorite new aspect is the angled "quick-diving" lip design. This lip design causes the Crankin' Rap to dive down to its running depth much faster than a straight-lipped crankbait, which is great when casting short distances.

The body of the Crankin' Rap contains a single ball rattle that rolls back and forth in a chamber much like the rattle chamber in the Rapala Clackin' Rap. Additionally the transparent color selections have a Holographic film within the body. Two more points of interest on the Crankin' Rap are the Holographic eyes and the external scale pattern. The eyes are very similar to those on the new Max Rap, and the outer scales are a nice touch; I can't see them really making a difference in the amount of fish you catch, but nonetheless they look nice. Lastly, the hooks on the Crankin' Rap are incredibly strong, much stronger than those found on similar sized crank baits.

Field Test

The crew at BASStard Fishing put the Rapala Crankin' Rap through its paces on the water targeting Largemouth and Smallmouth bass in a wide array of fishing situations. Shown below in the "Brown Bone" color combination, the Crankin' Rap performed incredibly well in all situations fished. In addition to the "Moss Shad"(above) and the "Brown Bone"(below), the crew at BASStard fishing tested the Crankin' Rap in "Firetiger."

Although the Crankin' Rap produced fish in all conditions (excluding heavy weed cover) that it was fished in, it was really a star in a few situations. The first and most basic of these situations is just trolling it. This lure is available in a number of depth selections, use your fish finder to locate a pattern for suspending schools of bass and grab your Crankin' Rap that will target that specific depth and troll away.

Second, and my personal favorite is fishing rocky river backwaters for smallmouth bass. This is most effective in clear water situations where you can see your bait scrape the bottom so that you can be mindful of possible snags. To present the Crankin' Rap in this manner take a guess at the water depth and select the size that will run just a little deeper than that depth. Cast the bait out and crank it down to the bottom until it starts glancing off of the rocks; this will trigger some serious aggression strikes from smallmouth and largemouth bass alike. Don't be afraid to dip the end of your rod down into the water to allow the lure to run even deeper if you can't quite reach the bottom. The idea here is to mimick the action of a crawfish darting along the bottom through the rocks. Present the Crankin' Rap in this manner with varying speeds, pauses, and colors to refine the bite. This method also works great when the bottom is composed of sand/ silt as this bait will kick it up drawing the attention of aggressive fish.

The final method which we found to be productive is just a basic retrieve. Cast the bait out, hold your rod tip down, and retrieve the bait at a steady speed. Vary this speed at an array of depths with pauses and twitches to find which combination will be most productive that day.

Shortcomings

Every time the team at BASStard Fishing reviews a new product we try dilligently to find any and all flaws that may be bothersome to the consumer. The Crankin' Rap is the first bait that I really can't say anything bad about, it performed well in the field and showed no signs of physical weakness.

Overall BASStard Rating

-Happy Bassin' (Discuss This Article and Much More On The BASStard Forum!)

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