I was wondering if you guys have seen the quality of Rapalas have gone down? I having the wire rip out of the body by the back hook ripping out after catching 1 fish, treble hooks breaking off, the bills coming off after awhile. I don’t mind spending money on a premium product but they definitely aren’t made like they used to.
Happy Memorial Day everyone, say thanks to a veteran and have fun with family!
My only gripe has been the hooks. That has varied over the years from using better hooks to going cheap. I understand if you save five cents per lure times how many they distribute, your looking at some serious money.
As for the issues you stated, that’s been very isolated. I toss the few bad ones a year in a box with a letter and send them back to Rapala. If they don’t see the problems, they can’t fix it.
I have had a few shadraps with the wire ripping through the body, but that has been after many, many, many fish have been caught. It is a sign of the times to produce a product as cheap as possible and sell it for as much as you can get for it, isn’t that the American way.
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As for the issues you stated, that’s been very isolated. I toss the few bad ones a year in a box with a letter and send them back to Rapala. If they don’t see the problems, they can’t fix it.
X2
Rapala brands are pretty much the only cranks I use, so naturally any malfunctions will likely be with the brand. I catch a lot more fish on them, and personally rarely have any issues with them. So if mine started breaking, you bet I would send a letter to Rapala with the baits detailing what happened when each one broke, so they could correct any issues in the future.
I have to agree. I to have had the wire rip through the body on shad raps. The DT’s are one of my confidence lures for walleyes and bass but they are very fragile. I have had the bills come out of the body on several and the paint/body crack on many others. It kinda sucks because they are some of my favorite lures but the level of quality at least in these baits is not very good. I realize they are balsa bodies but man 6-7 dollars a crack you would hope they would be a little more durable.
I realize this….but after spending $300 on raps one day, go out the next and have issues. If the quality is going down, then why still charge the same? Ha ha. I don’t think they are even making them out of balsa anymore if I heard correctly?
I had three lips come out this spring. Never had happen before. Fairly new too. Otherwise no issues.
Are you slapping them on the water to remove weeds while casting or are you holding the bait itself with a fish on the hooks?
Slapping the bait can break the bill off or crack the body and holding the bait with a fish thrashing or a fish tangled in a net thrashing will pull the wire out the side of the tail.
I use a ton of balsa and wood style baits when i have had baits fail those are the reaons why.
Just casting them. The lip came off and the bait kept going.
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I realize this….but after spending $300 on raps one day, go out the next and have issues. If the quality is going down, then why still charge the same? Ha ha. I don’t think they are even making them out of balsa anymore if I heard correctly?
Clint:
If you are breaking as many as you say you are, or even just one, you would know that the Rapala brand lures are balsa through and through. A strong benefit to their construction are that they stay in tune better than any other crankbait I’ve run, past or present.
I log alot of hours with cranks of all shapes, sizes, and brands. New baits, old, and everything in between. I logged about 5 hours Friday with some new out of the box Shad Raps, dragging them through Lake Pepin. At times, they were banging on rubble, zeeb’s, and wood. I didn’t break a single one, nor did I all of last year.
Malfunctions for any crankbait mfrs. products are rare at best. Like Kroger said, a balsa product like the DT given its size and surface area can break with repeated slaps against the water. I’ve seen hollow body floating plastic baits eventually spring a leak when repeatedly slapped against the water too. As has been mentioned, I think you need to send all of these offending baits in and see what’s going on.
Good luck in getting to the bottom of it.
Joel
I’ve replaced some hooks but I usually mangle them with needle nose during removal. I’ve never had one break but did have a large chunk of paint come off a new scatter rap after a pike. For forty years of fishing them though they’re pretty darn solid.
Thanks Joel. I kept the raps so I’ll see what I can come up with. Thanks for the input!!
Now I don’t use raps much…hardly at all now a days with catfishing, I ain’t as good as I once was
But I’m as good once as I ever was…
I had a couple lips come out. I just took them back to where I bought them and they happily replaced over the counter.
Oh yeah, I was a weed slapper until these Ido guys told me that wasn’t the way to take weeds off. 
The only time I’ve had them break is in the mouths of dogfish. I’ve had multiple times of doggers just crushing them to the point of being unusable because the bait is cracked in half. Not sure what force is needed to do it but its got to be a lot. I hope Rapala doesn’t start cutting corners.
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