Lost art of the rattle trap

I haven’t thrown this booger in ages........

Month of February I used to toss this out over a grass flat on Fork, Ray Roberts and this strikes were just vicious, now with tendinitis in both elbows I just can’t enjoy as much.

Is it a lost art for y’all now or just not spoke about very much anymore as a tactic???

Still just a good as before.

The key is what you said you did in the past, "over a grass flat", if you can find that they will still produce.

My buddy and I caught 17 last Friday fishing traps over grass in an East Texas Lake, and yes my arm was sore at the the end of the day.

Find the grass.

Nothing like slow rolling a trap over grass and just ticking the grass...then ripping it out and BAM! Love it!

Not a lost art at all. I catch a ton of fish on a rattle trap December-February. If anything the old Bassmaster articles on winter fishing tactics were wrong.

I caught dozens during June using a Rat-L-Trap over grass!

Still highly effective, over here in north central tx where grass is scarce they choke it just slow rolling it bouncing off the bottom

Still eating it!

CC hot spot and heddon sonic are lipless cb’s too! Rattletrap’s claim to be the first is another manufacturers fantasy!

I am not saying this just because you did. Yes, February is the key month for me and a lipless crank bait.

Still works. Red comes on strong in the winter.

What is red imitating?

Why a crawdad color bait that does not act at all like a crawdad? Do you fish a shad bait slow bouncing it on the bottom like a crawdad? Why do they put a glass bead on a Texas rig with slip sinker to sound like a crawdad when there fishing a worm? Who knows?

To me this is absolutely the best time of year to throw one, I've done my absolute best numbers chunking a perch, tequila sunrise, and chrome blue all in 1/4 ounce and winding it just as fast as I can go.

The reason “ripping rattle traps” through/over grass is a “lost art” is because grass is a “lost art”!

Does it really matter as long as the fish eat it....

The trap is still an effective bait the problem with Fork is the idiots keep killing the grass out there.

Something a fish will bite.

I don't know why they eat it but dang they eat the paint off a red one knocker in shallow grass. Literally 1ft sometimes. Combined with a chatterbait, my go to baits now through early March

when i was between 8 and 14 years old the only thing i fished was a peco perch ( rattle trap ) and a creme worm. had a lake house on lake holbrook in east texas. A beetle spin was all i ever used for crappie. every time i have trouble catching them i just go back to what i learned to fish when i was a kid.

Fall, prespawn and anytime in grass is money

Tom Reddington posted a article on here years ago about red traps, when and how to use them. Made me a believer for sure

one day your eyes and mind will open when you realize bass fishing is about a reaction strike, until then.... troll on.

What about the micro size?

They are smaller.

I’ve gotta say some of the replies here were quite funny! I’m a rattletrapper (not sure if that’s a word) and I still use them, it’s a lot of fun to be ripping them back to you and it feels like you’ve hung up on a stump or the rod nearly jumps out of your hands...

I use the rattletrap a lot. It has always produced throughout the year. Silver/Black.

I remember in the mid to late 70's on Toledo my buddies and I would take a chrome rattletrap and a red magic marker and paint them. You could still see the hint of chrome thru the red paint and I think with the sun shining it gave it a different look.

I've got an impressive collection... That's about the only good I can say about them... After 20 years of winter, early spring trips to Rayburn and purchasing the 2 or 3 hot colors I've got 3 Plano boxes full of them... Why does the "hot color" change every year???... Dan

What rod do y'all like to throw traps with? Always used them but just out of curiosity. Just a CB rod?

Lipless cranks are still a valuable tool in a well-rounded lineup, especially fall-spring. The "Bill Lewis Rattle-Trap" isn't as prominent now just due to more lure variety these days. There's still a place for the true Rattle Trap though.

I like to throw a trap on a medium action rod as they seem to throw them less with that rod.

Lipless are as good as ever. Don't need grass to throw it either. It's all I throw with a chatterbait this time of year

My PB is a 12 3/4 lbs caught on a firetiger rattlin rap. Caught several over 10 on lipless cranks

Caught some big girls in February on 3/4oz red craw traps. Yo-yoed off the bottom in staging areas. No grass in sight.

It's definitely not a lost art on Rayburn. There are so many being cranked on Rayburn of a weekend that you can hear the rattle from Lufkin.

That's what she said!

Every weekend and some days during the week!

Actually it does in a way. Often time a bass will spit out a crawfish to get a better bite on it, pincers do got go down well head first. When it spits it out the crawfish attempts an escape and the bass and others bass around become very aggressive. This escape is captured very well with a trap ripped free from the grass or a squarebill bouncing off cover.
I experienced this a lot with smallies in Canyon bouncing jigs off the bottom. You have to weight to feel the weight of the fish, the first few nibbles are the smallie positioning the jig for the swallow. Set the hook too soon and you miss.

I have a Falcon Buccoo "Trap Caster" 7' medium heavy. I love it.. will cast a mile.. good back bone.

Still throw them , replacing the hooks is a must for us . Oval snap ring , short shank up frt. and regular shank on the back and of course we us the red hooks .

Yep, I fished bayou boogies (traps), creme worms and h & h spinnerbaits. Maybe a hellbender crank bait from time to time. They all still work.

Absolutely my favorite bait from October through March.
April through September can be good also.

I've caught a boat-load of big bass on a #7 Buck Perry Spoonplug trolling 45' deep over the hydrilla flats at Camelot Bell on 8# mono...

No lost art!
Take a Hula Popper, a Pico Perch, a Tarantula spinner bait, and a Creame Worm, and go to any lake in the country and catch bass.