Great X-Rap Bite on the Big Pond

Water temps have climbed just enough for a good X-Rap bite out on the big pond. Fished with Tony Roach late last week and had 55 – 57 degree water temps. By mid-day, with some sun, fish were up on 4-6 foot rock humps and near-shore flats with scattered boulders. Lots of pre-spawn piggies, and great average size as always. Middle of the day we did best on the transitions where rock humps fell off to sand, then later afternoon as the wind picked up we fished rock and shorelines that were getting beat up. Where calm, emerging reed beds in rocks went well for us too. Fish those baits fast, as it seemed to trigger more strikes. Some fish would tail the bait right up to the boat, then smash it well within sight. Lots of fun!

#10’s in Olive Green and Rusty Crawdad were all we needed. Hot pink was the front-runner until a pike ate it!

Joel

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Those are absolute toads!! What length and action rods where you using?

Thanks,

FDR

I could’ve had a better rod for the job, as I was using a 6’8″ Legend Extreme Medium Fast. Perfect rod for the job in my mind would be something a bit shorter (depending on your height) with a soft tip and slightly slower action. You want to slash straight down, maybe a touch to the side, to work that bait all day as aggressively as you need to.

Joel

Thanks Joel.

Those are some tanks Joel! I love the X-Rap but I’m curious if you had a chance to throw any Shadow Raps at them as well. I did very well opening weekend casting shallow rocks with it.

Will

We tried Shadow Raps earlier in the day with limited success, but we didn’t catch many fish during that part of the day anyway. We should’ve broken them back out after the sun warmed the shallows a bit more, as you’re the second person in as many days that had a good smallie outing or two with those baits. Next time for sure!

Joel

Nice fish that thing is huge it needs to skip a few meals. Good job.