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No matter where you live or what species you target, there’s a Rapala bait that will put fish in your boat this spring.
Bassmaster Elite Series angler and Rapala pro Brandon Palaniuk is looking forward to winning tournaments this spring with his beloved Rapala DT-4’s or Rippin’ Raps.
“I’ve got two favorite ways to catch fish in the spring,” he says. “If you’ve got rock and wood, I go with the DT-4. If you’ve got a lot of grass and big flats, then I’ll go with a Rippin Rap.”
The DT-4 has been Palaniuk’s “number one bait” since he was nine or ten years old, he says. His season begins this weekend with the Bassmaster Classic, the young pro’s third-straight trip to bass fishing’s biggest stage.
In-Depth Outdoors TV host James Holst is looking forward to catching huge walleyes on film with his two favorite spring stickbaits, the Original Floating Rapala and the Husky Jerk.
“Stickbaits are one the best early-season baits going,” he says. “They fish well shallow, where most early-season walleye can be found feeding, and an angler can pick up the pace a little in search mode.”
Headquartered in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, not far from the banks of the mighty Mississippi - a trophy walleye fishery - Holst must first wait for what Ice Belt denizens call “ice out,” when winter’s ice melts from lakes and rivers, allowing open-water fishing again.
DT-4 for bass
In Rapala’s DT series of baits, the letters stand for “dives to,” the number the depth to which the baits will dive (when paired with the correct line, rod and reel). So, DT-4’s dive to a maximum depth of four feet, making them a great bait with which to target shallow-dwelling pre-spawn bass, especially on fisheries without much vegetation, like Grand Lake O’ The Cherokees - site of this weekend’s Bassmaster Classic.
When spring fishing in 45- to 49-degree water on such rocky lakes, one of Palaniuk’s go-to DT-4 tactics is targeting transition areas on sloping banks. He looks for 45- to 60-degree-angle banks with rock or wood - “something that those fish have to hold onto that’s holding a little more heat,” he explains.
In choosing bait colors, he matches the hatch, depending on bass’ primary forage. “If I’m Up North, I’m usually throwing some type of bluegill pattern,” he said. “You can throw a crawdad pattern from north to south. I get into the shad patterns more down south.”
Palaniuk throws his DT-4s on 15- to 17-pound fluorocarbon line. If bass are holding really shallow, he’ll up-size to 20-pound fluorocarbon line, which he says allows the lure to run higher in the water column, decreasing hang-ups.
If his electronics indicate that bass are holding deeper than shallower, Palaniuk will “go all the way up to a DT-16.
Rippin’ Rap grass bass
On fisheries with predominant vegetation - generically referred to as “grass” by most bass pros - Palaniuk will tie on a Rippin’ Rap.
“They put off a lot of sound and comes through the grass really well,” he says. “And they’ve got a lot of really good finishes and color schemes.”
Upon locating a patch of thick vegetation, Palaniuk will “move outside of that and find the stuff that’s a little more sparse.” He casts to the sparser vegetation and retrieves his Rippin’ Rap over and through it, “just ticking the sides and top of those little grass patches.”
As the Rippin’ Rap collides with vegetation on the retrieve, Palaniuk
You almost just kind of let the rod load up a little bit - almost like you are shaking a worm there - and then as soon as that rod starts to load up, then you rip it out. Give it just a little bit of a pause and then keep it moving forward.”
James Holst:
As soon as late-winter temps creep north of freezing and begin the slow progress of knocking down the snow piles built up over a Minnesota winter, Holst has his first sign that the spring walleye spawning run is already in motion.
Catching early-season walleyes on rivers typically requires only simple presentations, Holst says. This time of year, finding fish is more difficult than getting to bite when found.
“Slowly rising water levels preceding the spawn will put schools of fish in perpetual motion, as they seek suitable current levels and food, all while making an slow upstream journey on their way to their final destination where they’ll eventually spawn,” Holst says.
So finding fish is job one. That means covering water efficiently, ruling out unproductive water.
“Once a pod of fish have been located, that’s when the stickbait really shines,” Holst says. “The Original Floating Rapala has likely caught more walleye than any other lure ever made, and for good reason. It has a very tight and subtle action that appeals to cold-water walleye that often have other things on their mind besides food.”
When Holst begins targeting spring walleyes on the Mississppi, water temps are in the low to mid thirties. He slows down his retrieve with a twitch-pause-twitch cadence, which “can be deadly on cold-water walleye.” At this time, he prefers No. 11 and No. 13 Original Floaters.
Holst ties on a Husky Jerk in stained water and at night, “when its rattles can help a hungry walleye find my bait.” In the spring, he favors No. 10 and No. 12 Husky Jerks.
In both baits, Holsts favorite colors spring colors are silver-black, gold-black and firetiger. He fishes both on 10-pound Sufix 832 Braid with a 6-foot, 9-inch graphite rod.
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