Defective Rapalas

[Blackhawkxp]

Is any one else having trouble with Rapala Lures?  I bought 6- SSR-7's in various colors and i have 2 left after one day of fishing.  The front lip breaks off or the tail treble rips through the balsa when fighting a fish. Just curious if any one else has been seeing this or if i got a bad batch?  

Edited May 27, 2015 by Blackhawkxp

[EBass]

Send them back Rapala and complain.  

[raymondk]

switch to salmo;s   rapalas are good for about 10 fish, I had a salmo that I caught close to 100 fish off of one lure until a big northern took it on me.rapalas are not made the same as they use to. I am at the point of thinking of  removing from my tackle box.I just have faith in them anymore.

[tacklejunkie]

For what they cost you would think they'd be flawless

[Deitz Dittrich]

Are you slapping the water to remove weeds?  Rapala are known to not handle this stress very well, however I feel if they changed the lip design it would hurt the action.  I love rapala lures but have learned to pick weeds off, not slap.

[Blackhawkxp]

I don't typically fish the SSR style rapalas much so i don't have a lot of experience with that style of  lip design and their longevity but they definitely seemed to be much more fragile than the standard shad rap.  It looks like they glue the lip to the lure and the eye is in the body.  The standard shad has the eye in the lip so they must reinforce the bill?  I am guessing this is why the lips are more prone to breaking off on the SSR styles?  We did have good luck with them and i am sure i will buy new replacements but i was just wondering if i was the only one with this kind of failure rate.

[JP Z]

As Deitz said, I've had problems with my Rapalas breaking if I slap them on the water to get the weeds off.......not the same as an all plastic bait by any means.

[mrpike1973]

Same here also the new shadow raps have actually filled with water and are junk.

[Rick G]

As others have said, the new Rapala luers are not of the same quality as they were years ago.... they do still catch a lot of fish though

[Great Outdoors]

I seldom use crank baits, but have had the lip pull loose several times on Shad Raps, and don't trust them anymore!

[jerkbait]

I have had 2 tail dancers pull the lip out on big walleyes. 1 pulled out about half way up, the other just as I was netting the fish.

[mrklean]

I have had them break at the lip from weed slapping and it wasn't even very hard, brought them back to Cabelas and they refunded me

[tunrevir]

I fish shad raps often and have not had issues other then with "weedslapping" now I hand pick the weeds off.  I have had large fish stretch the treble out of the rear of the bait when thrashing in the net but a little epoxy and it was back to fishing.  If you are unsatisfied with the quality, like others have said, return to retailer or get in touch with Rapala and see what you can work out.  For a bit of added insurance when I am fishing big fish waters, I will run a light bead of super glue gel along the lip where it meets the body just for a little extra insurance.

Tunrevir~

[corncob]

Rapalas may well be less than sturdy , BUT, it is hard to beat their sweet action.

[slipperybob]

I've had my share of broken bills.  Something that I just don't expect, but that's also why I have a bunch of them.  I am buying more from different makers just because of price point.  

[Darrell68]

I think most of the Rapalas are now made in China, that's why they are JUNK! They are no longer made in Finland. Laurie Rapala (the founder) must be turning in his grave...

Darrell68

[delcecchi]

If they are junk, it is not because they are made in China.  It is because the Rapala company accepts junk from the producer.   The Chinese are capable of and do produce very high quality products when the customer insists on it.  If the customer wants low prices and quality is negotiable then quality suffers. 

There is an old story about the price of oats...  High quality oats are expensive, but if you will take the ones that have already been through the horse, they are a lot cheaper. 

[freebledsoe]

I see this is a couple months old, but I'm interested too.. I haven't bought any Raps this year, mainly because I've only been on the water twice. Don't have a hitch anymore so I can't pull my tiny fishin boat to the lake 

However, I've never had problems with Rapala quality, just the price. I mostly buy Shad Raps in varying sizes, along with some traditional/original style floating Raps. The best thing about them is they are almost always "tuned" to run straight and true out of the box. I know what depth they will run with a certain amount of line out.

If they have changed to where they are breaking bills off and pulling hooks through, that really sucks and I'll have to find a different lure company. I know of Salmo but they aren't cheap either if I recall correctly, so its hard to spend money on lures I have no comfort level with. What would be comparable to a Rapala Shad Rap, from Salmo or other good lure co.?

[delcecchi]

I don't know if it is a real problem or not.  I haven't bought many rapalas lately, been living off my stockpile, except for a couple of shadow raps. 

I think if the problem was pervasive, we would be hearing much more noise about it. 

I'm also surprised that there aren't more counterfeit Rapalas and other lures around.  Given the retail price and the Chinese attitudes towards Intellectual Property, should be a slam dunk. 

Edited September 25, 2015 by delcecchi

[slipperybob]

Not to deter people from buying rapalas but salmo are a higher quality imitator.  Not a duplicate cuz they do wobble and dive differently.  Sometimes a rapala produces, sometimes its a salmo, and other times urs a totally different manufacturer.

[guideman]

Just so you all know, almost all the fishing tackle you buy is made in China or Japan and has been for a number of years.  There are still a few made in the USA, Muskie baits are a good example.  Even some local companys you all know well get all of their components over seas.

"Ace"

www.aceguideservice.com

Muskies and More.

"It's just fishing man" 

[live4chrome]

No rapalas, but since rapala bought luhr Jensen I have break at least 1 or 2 quick fish a day. I like the colors but the quality sucks now. between them cracking and filling with water, the noses breaking off and hooks pulling out on fish I am done with them. I switched over to the original T-50 Flatfish and have had no issues. Its a much better built product that can handle the big fish we catch

Live4Chrome

Chadwick's Fishing Guide Service

Guided Trophy Trout and Salmon Fishing on Alaska's Kenai River.

Edited November 26, 2015 by live4chrome