July 17, 2013
By Ned Kehde
On June 30, we posted the first of the four gear guides about Rapala's new Scatter Rap series of baits. This blog features the Scatter Rap Shad, which was design to add another dimension or angle to Rapala's classic Shad Rap. That angle is the lip design.
Ott DeFoe of Knoxville, Tennessee, is a successful professional angler on the Bassmaster Elite Series and works for Rapala. Defoe says that the traditional Shad Rap is a stellar cold-water crankbait, and by attaching the Scatter Rap lip onto a thin, shad-shaped body, Rapala created an extraordinary warm-water crankbait.
In years past, when DeFoe wielded a crankbait, he worked rigorously to have the crankbait ricochet off objects, such as a stump, boulder or the bottom of the waterway he was probing. And if he was plying lairs where it is impossible to get the crankbait to ricochet off of an object, he would twitch and shake his rod. But according to DeFoe, the newly designed lip allows the Scatter Rap Shad to exhibit what DeFoe calls a deflection action, and that action occurs when he accelerates the speed of his retrieve. Thus, by simply altering the speed at which he is retrieving the Scatter Rap Shad, it will change from a tight, straight and vibrating wiggle to one that displays a wide and darting wobble, simulating what happens when a traditional crankbait ricochets off of an object. DeFoe and others at Rapala have two descriptions for the way the Scatter Shad Rap moves, and they call it "an aggressive sweeping action" or "an evasive swimming action," noting that a baitfish that is being pursued by a largemouth bass doesn't swim in a straight line, and the Scatter Shad Rap replicates a pursued baitfish moves.
Dan Quinn of Hudson, Wisconsin, is the Field Promotions Coordinator for Rapala, says that the Scatter Rap is 2 ¾-inches long, weighs a quarter of an ounce, dives to a depth of five to eight feet of water, sports two VMC No. 5 black nickel treble hooks, and it is devoid of rattles.
It is available in 16 colors, and the suggested retail price is $8.99.
Endnotes
(1) We are eager to get reports from Midwest finesse anglers who occasionally employ small crankbaits, such as the original Shad Rap, about the effectiveness on the Scatter Rap Shad. When we get those reports we will post them on the Finesse News Network and updates to this blog.
(2) In the days to come, we feature a gear guide about Rapala's new Scatter Rap Crank and Scatter Rap CountDown.
