Rapala Pro Fishing Tips & Tales
Crossover Appeal

With certain fishing lures, a glorious history pigeonholes them.

When most anglers see a Fat Rap, they immediately think bass. Hold up a red-and-white spoon, and visions of northern pike, or perhaps pickerel, come to mind.

With other lures, original design intentions and marketing efforts can stereotype them in the minds of the fishing public. Because it has the classic shape and swimming characteristics of a bass crankbait, and because bass pro David Fritts was instrumental in its design, the Dives-to, or DT, is an example. For sure, the DT is a great bass bait. But because it casts well, dives to maximum depth quickly and triggers strikes, it has wide application for other species as well.

The DT is also an underused trolling tool, because the various sizes run at depths not covered by other lures, and because it tracks true at many speeds.

The truth is that virtually all artificial lures have crossover appeal.

“We have to stop thinking that certain lures only catch one type of fish,” says Rick Murphy, a Florida guide and Rapala pro who pursues both saltwater and freshwater species. “The truth is, if a lure does a good job of imitating prey, predators are going to try to eat it.”

The key phrase here is ‘imitating’ prey. Many lures, beyond what they look like on a store shelf, have the capacity to be worked in a variety of ways. That can broaden their appeal to a wide variety of fish species.

The key aspect in all of this, stresses Murphy: understanding the fish you are trying to catch. “If you know some fish are turned on by speed,” he says, “that helps you decide how to present the lure to them. Other species, especially when conditions are tough, might need to be coaxed (with a slow presentation).

“Lures don’t just automatically appeals to one species to the exclusion of others. I always try to think beyond what a lure’s reputation is, and come up with ways of using it for other fish, too.”

Murphy laughs about how, “that redfish or snook doesn’t know that lure was designed to catch bass, or walleyes. All it knows is that it looks like something to eat.”

This whole concept, of crossover appeal, is a hot topic these days with tournament pros. Competitors with endorsement deals and prize money on the line have to produce, regardless of weather conditions or fish moods.

Their approach to problem solving is what we should all adopt.

“Our pros ask for every lure we build,” says Rapala’s Mark Fisher. “They make it their business to test a lot of baits, in a lot of different ways. They constantly come back to us, with reports about catching fish other than the ones the bait was made for.

“The new Twitchin’ Rap is a classic example. We really built that lure for inshore saltwater flats fishing. It’s a shad body shape, made out of balsa, with no lip. But you can make that bait truly dance no matter how fast you bring it back. The saltwater guys keep reeling, very fast, while at the same time twitching their rod tip right back at their toes. It chugs along and tracks true, and a lot of times you have to maintain that speed once you get a fish interested, to trigger the strike.

“But guys like Bernie Schultz took that same lure, slowed it down, and found it to be a killer on freshwater bass. You can fish it slow or fast, depending on what the fish want. Even I was a little surprised when I heard from our walleye guys that they tried Twitchin’ Raps when they found walleyes suspended in flooded timber. They backed away from the fish, cast into the timber, and worked that bait like it was injured. They caught numbers of walleyes doing that.”

Lure makers sometimes try to counter stereotypes and widen a lure’s appeal by coming out with more sizes and colors of existing baits. The balsa Shad Rap is an example of this. It may have made its mark on walleyes, but bass anglers have long since discovered its effectiveness on their favorite fish. New colors like crawdad and bluegill have further entrenched it as a bass bait.

Then musky, striper and tarpon chasers found this lure with the introduction of the Super Shad Rap, a larger version.

Crossover appeal does not have to end with obvious, direct applications. Again, the Super Shad Rap is an excellent example: open-minded trophy bass hunters have experimented with it, and don’t always like to talk about what it can do. Ditto for big walleyes, especially at night. Cast it out and retrieve it slow and steady, or troll it over large expanses looking for scattered monsters.

Examples can go on and on, so it seems that crossover will be getting more attention in coming years. For now, just keep it in mind, and try to imagine your own applications for the idea. Look at the lures in your tackle box with a new perspective. Think about what else they can do, besides what they have traditionally done.

While it may be important to promote baits for specific species and specific situations, it’s true that a good lure will catch other fish, too.

But only if you give it a chance.

Note: This article was crafted by the Rapala Pro Staff. For more fishing insights, go to www.rapala.com.