Amazed that Rapala replied so fast !

I sent Rapala pictures of a crankbait they discontinued years ago hoping to find it on Ebay. Within three hours I got an answer from customer svc.: Risto Rap.
I’ve been afraid to cast the three I have left having lost five others to large pickerel and a northern.
It’s one of the best trolling crankbaits I’ve ever owned and it has caught five species. I have three top bids on Ebay which are within reason with s/h extra. But I’ve seen my bid outbid far to often to have any hope of getting them. We’ll see.

Rapala suggested their Shad Dancer and though similar, the body is too streamline in comparison. I have similar lures like the Dancer and will give them a go in spring.

Take a look through Bass Pro they do a knock off off anything that catches fish. The quality won’t be there but the action might be.

Dang $18 each on E-Bay Ouch
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Discontinued-Rapala-Risto-Rap-RR4/174074866383?hash=item2887abaacf:g:GRIAAOSw6GJdsQZZ

Depending on if you’re looking for risto raps in 5’s 7’s or 9’s the dt series rapalas come close to matching them. The Risto’s were my favorite river walleye crank! Unfortunately the two full 3700 boxes that I had blew out of my boat on 494! Saddest day ever.

I’ve experienced a similar issue with other discontinued lures too. The Storm Subwart is one of my favorite river smallmouth lures but it was discontinued when Rapala bought Storm. I’ve still got a few but I often get worried about getting snipped off by a pike when using one. Same with an original Terminator Spinnerbait. They were made with a titanium arm rather than steel so they wouldn’t get bent out of shape when a pike hit them. Ebay still has an occasional offering but some of the subwarts are going for like 45 bucks and that’s too steep for me.

Risto Raps are very hard to find. I found some at a garage sale of all places last summer. The man wanted $12 each for used ones and $20 for the brand new ones. I bought them as they may be the last new in box ones I’ll ever see. They are a great walleye trolling bait.

Attachments:

1. 

   20200731_221143.jpg
   

The problem bidding on Ebay for items is that I almost always get notified that I was outbid. I won’t be surprised if it happens to all three bids. If I win the bid, each will cost less than $8 which includes s/h.

We’ll see…
I found other sources though expensive.

gimruis wrote:

I’ve experienced a similar issue with other discontinued lures too. The Storm Subwart is one of my favorite river smallmouth lures but it was discontinued when Rapala bought Storm. I’ve still got a few but I often get worried about getting snipped off by a pike when using one. Same with an original Terminator Spinnerbait. They were made with a titanium arm rather than steel so they wouldn’t get bent out of shape when a <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>pike hit them. Ebay still has an occasional offering but some of the subwarts are going for like 45 bucks and that’s too steep for me.

I caught by biggest LMB (8 lbs 1 oz) on a Subwart and still have it hanging in my garage. Still have a bunch of others as well; love that crank.

Spoon Minnow wrote:

The problem bidding on Ebay for items is that I almost always get notified that I was outbid. I won’t be surprised if it happens to all three bids. If I win the bid, each will cost less than $8 which includes s/h.

We’ll see…
I found other sources though expensive.

Make sure to only bid with a few seconds left. The have a ceiling bid you can put in and that’s why you get those notifications. It doesn’t show those ceiling bids until you make a bid that makes it use them

bassh8er wrote:

I caught by biggest LMB (8 lbs 1 oz) on a Subwart and still have it hanging in my garage. Still have a bunch of others as well; love that crank.

Is that a Minnesota or Wisconsin bass? That’s enormous if it is.

The closest lure I have found to the subwart is the bass pro XPS super shallow crank.

mahtofire14 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Spoon Minnow wrote:</div>
The problem bidding on Ebay for items is that I almost always get notified that I was outbid. I won’t be surprised if it happens to all three bids. If I win the bid, each will cost less than $8 which includes s/h.

We’ll see…
I found other sources though expensive.

Make sure to only bid with a few seconds left. The have a ceiling bid you can put in and that’s why you get those notifications. It doesn’t show those ceiling bids until you make a bid that makes it use them

Correct. Being a proficient sniper will greatly improve your odds and typically keeps final prices low. However it does require a bit more time and remembering you have items ending at certain times.

Thanks everyone. You’ve been a great help. I found out that lure prices zoomed up at the last minute and didn’t go higher. Sometimes I wonder if it’s intentional on the part of the seller having a buddy bid higher hoping someone will outbid a ridiculous price.

Spoon Minnow wrote:

Thanks everyone. You’ve been a great help. I found out that lure prices zoomed up at the last minute and didn’t go higher. Sometimes I wonder if it’s intentional on the part of the seller having a buddy bid higher hoping someone will outbid a ridiculous price.

That’s the problem with the auction format.Too much shill bidding,and if winning bidder feels he/she paid too much,they can just welch out(non-paying bidder).No obligation to pay,unlike the buy it now format.

And there are sniper web sites that will bid for you, where you give your max bid, and it bids in the final seconds of the auction. Lots of people use those sniper services, making it tough to fight on your own.

Thanks Tod – good to know ! Man do I hate staying up late at night trying to but never getting the lower bid to work. Some final bids are jacked way too high to believe someone valued the object that much!

Spoon Minnow, I have a couple I can spare. How about a trade for some of your panfish creations.

I have a couple I can spare. How about a trade for some of your panfish creations.

Sounds good to me.

Use the ones I’ll send like I suggest and you will catch fish on them – some amazingly well !

It will be mostly Mississippi River panfish. I’ll send a PM with my address and then you can give me yours. Dave

I’ve taken pictures of all the soft plastic lures I’m sending. No need to send the Risto Raps until you catch fish with my assortment which can be fished many ways. I’ll PM tips for each design and most designs catch pretty much anything that bites lures.

Most important is to match jig head weight and hook size to the lure depending on the action and speed retrieve. Weedless jigs and hooks are also rigged on some lures which fish have no problem being hooked.

I don’t know what line you generally use, but my preference is 8 lb test Kastking braid (4lb diam.) for best action and strike detection. I’ll pm you pictures of each design and tips.

Hopefully you’ll be amazed at how well and what they catch as they did for me. Fish don’t get tired of lure designs – especially these – only anglers do.

Frank

Franks, thanks!

I sent you an email and I’ll send out the Risto Raps as soon as I get your address.

I’ve seen plenty of photo evidence on the effectiveness of your designs! No worries!

Dave

Holy crap. 18.00 each. I think I have a bunch of these and I’ve never even tried them. Might have to give them a try this year. Will have to knock some dust off them.

“Will have to knock some dust off them.”

You won’t won’t be sorry. They especially catch fish when trolled:

For those of you who troll risto’s how fast can you go? Do the larger ones blow out? I thought the bigger ones had some problems with that.

Those of you new to fishing, if you find something that really catches fish, stock up a bit, would be easy to think that if the lure is so great they will never discontinue it-WRONGE!

Good thing I make most of my soft plastic lures and will never run out!

Spoon Minnow wrote:

Good thing I make most of my soft plastic lures and will never run out!

I know this may impede the action on the ristos that you are trolling, but maybe play with a heavier floro leader. I find that even the panfish are not line shy to the 20# floro I was using to catch that 10″ gill in my avatar. I catch the largest Pike of the trip on the jig/minnow combos intended for walleyes cause I don’t get bit off as my friewnds do fishing their 6 and 8 pound test, and I catch as many fish as they do in most instances.

Mark

Dave, I was wondering how you did with the lures I sent?

Frank