Ya know, I sure like throwing a LOT of crank bait....hard baits, deep divers and I have yet to experience a 'BIG' hit....LOL, I'm beginning to think these are more designed to catch fishermen not fish!
This cold water, I have been throwing 1/2oz Rat-L-Traps and 10 to 14' deep diving rattle type baits , but not much luck but, the water is still very cold.
Guess I'm expecting too much, too soon

depends on the water temp....if it's in the mid 40's-50's...I'd use a jerkbait or a flat sided crankbait....

Where are you fishing ? Crankbaits catch me lots of fish every wheres I fish... except Fork that is. Come fishing with me sometime Fred

Pick up your trap and dont put it down.

Admission. Have only fished Eagle Mountain Lake this season. Going to HAVE to look for a lake, close by with more structure and shoreline with reeds/etc. and shallow, warming waters.
LOL

Traps
Jerkbaits
Small Finesse Cranks


Try a Suspending Crank, they work great this time of year too. Good luck Mr. Lee!

I've been having luck with 1/4oz red traps but with a yo yo retrieve "drag up ,let aink,reel in slack and then drag up again" vary the speed you do this till you catch fish. I'm a die hard strike king fan but have to say sebile has one of the best traps I've used Latley. Quality hooks and price. Actully this last month I haven't caught any on my red eye shad. They've all came off the Sebil I fished three hours yesterday threw everything and my only tiny fish came off the sebile in a craw pattern.

Jerkbaits are killer right now

Hmmm....lighter/smaller...creature type..
Ok, thank you. !!!

Grass = Traps (or any flavor you like of Lipless Baits) (Hint: on Braid to rip it free from the grass.)
Rocks, Stumps, Boat Docks, (hard structure) = Cranks

Did very well last weekend from the kayak on Coleto Creek with lipless. Fished my favorite H2O until I lost it then switched to a Strike King...both in shad color. But that is a power plant lake so water temps are higher than reg lakes right now.

Lipless crank baits will catch fish this time of year. It all about covering water & slowing down when you catch one.

Hope so ... just bought several on sale at Academy!
I hear they will catch fish at almost any time during the year.... so
will find out!

Lipless....ok. 1/2oz or 1/4oz or heavier? Is Red Rat-L-Trap working at all?

Some lakes like RED some don't. Rayburn & Toledo are well known to favor that color. Your favorite lake might not. Many of the Chrome/Blue Back or Chrome/Black are probably the best UNIVERSAL ones. There are speciality colors that may do better like the Sexy Shad or the Fire Tiger or the Gold or Copper depending on the water conditions and clairity. On Rayburn we typically use the 1/2 or 3/4 this time of the year to keep it deeper over the submerged grass beds to barely "tick" the grass. The Trap bite will start to slow down for the quality fish as they move up to bed when they prefer the lizards, senko, flukes, the slow stuff. Starting in May for the Post Spawn and after the Shad Spawn the 1/4 oz smaller size works good because it mimicks the smaller newly hatched bait. As the summer progresses the 1/2 will do good for schooling and bank beating. These are all "general rules of thumb."