Been throwing a Bill Lewis floating Rat-L-Trap lately. Weighs 1/3 ounce and is about 3 inches long. Sells for about $7.00 at BP shops. It runs at less than a foot deep and floats tail up when paused. They come in lots of patterns, but the one in the photo's is my best effort at matching the shad in my favorite lakes. Anyway, the results from fishing the floating Trap have been great...catching just about everything that swims. Crazy thing is that the hard strikes...they really go after this thing. The Crappie in the 3rd photo has the bait lodged in its throat...not hooked...just stuck long ways!!


Now the fish story...I caught a 5 foot long gar on this bait. I'm not too keen on gar so in an effort to avoid losing my lure and not get bit, I used a net to land the thing. Well naturally it got all tangled in the net...teeth, hooks, everything. So after lots of flopping and such I took a pair of needle nose pliers and pulled the Norman speed clip loose from the lure, which was impossibly tangled in the net and gar. Not paying much attention I dropped the clip and line over the side back into the water and continued trying to get my lure. After lots of yanking an pulling I managed to use the pliers to rip the lure out of the gars bill. I ungracefully dumped the gar back into the lake and tried to settled down . As I started reeling the line and speed clip back to the boat...another gar about 3 foot long ate the speed clip and got the line entangled in its teeth and around its bill . After a little colorful language I just cut the line. Guy in a yak saw the whole thing . No bull...really happened

Lol, great story. I love rattle traps, they are a bait that I always have ready. As you mentioned, you can literally catch anything in the lake with them. Perch, crappie, whites, bass, gar, stripers, hybrids, etc.

I caught one last year on a rattle trap reached down with needle nose pliers and he flopped still have the scar on my thumb!

Nice fish. Good job.

Nice fish.