Here I thought Rapala was synonymous with quality – My how things have changed

Rapala had a sale a couple of months back, free shipping or something over $100. Anyway, I loaded up on some Shadow Raps, X Raps etc, unpackaged them and put them in one of my tackleboxes. I was tossing one of them last week on Mille Lacs, didn’t see anything wrong with that one and didn’t pay much attention to the others. I have looked at some of them previously within the past few weeks, specifically the perch one I was looking forward to tossing and didn’t notice anything.

Today I went to put some snap locks in the box and I noticed my Perch Shadow Rap was melted and bent, a lot! I started looking at some others and there were several that suffered from the same thing, both Shadow Raps and Deep Shadow Raps, 7 in all I believe. The common denominator was if I had more than one in a tray. Not all melted that were like this but too many. These aren’t cheap either, not to mention my lack of confidence to replace them.

I’ve been fishing all my life, always had a variety of Rapalas and I’ve never seen this. I’ve only had a couple of Rapala jerk baits like this in the past so this is my first real experience with having nearly a box full. I’ve had plastics melt together but that is to be expected. It’s not like it’s even been that hot, this is WI and MN for crying out loud, not Texas or Florida.

I had some Rippin Raps that were stacked up in the same trays with each other but they seemed undamaged. The picture of the box is what I had them stored in, after I’d taken them out.

I plan on contacting Rapala and see if they have anything to say.

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More

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Wow. The only time I even buy Rapalas is when they’re in the clearance bins. Otherwise, I’m not paying 10$ a piece for a lure. These “off brand” Rapalas work just as good or better than actual Rapalas do and they’re usually half the cost…

and another

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terrible

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The box I had them in

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I have a ton of those same baits, never seen that…..new ones….old ones….

How/when did they melt?

Were they inside a truck sitting in the box and on the dash??

They clearly were exposed to some very hot temps.

It looks as though the plastic reacted with something. Possibly the tackle box. I’ve never seen any lure do that except if a plastic worm had gotten mixed in with it. Very odd.

munchy wrote:

It looks as though the plastic reacted with something. Possibly the tackle box. I’ve never seen any lure do that except if a plastic worm had gotten mixed in with it. Very odd.

They don’t look gooey though? Looks like they were in an oven

I have literally hundreds of rapalas and I’ve never seen that. I would assume they need to get really hot for them to warp like that. I leave mine under a covered boat quite a bit and I know that gets really hot.

Maybe it’s a bad mfg run? I’d definitely contact them. My guess is they will replace. They will want to know about a defect like that.

I was out all day last Thursday, sun shining. Pulled one of them from the box, didn’t notice the others like that but it’s possible. Was in my boat over the weekend but that is very very common for me, never an issue except for an occasional worm or maybe jighead paint. Again, it hasn’t been that awful hot.

They weren’t sticky, just warped and wrinkly. The ones affected were barely, if at all, in contact with the box. The ones on the bottom of the tray in contact with the box were mostly unaffected.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the others in my box that aren’t obviously melted could still be out of tune or tweaked.

I emailed Rapala with pictures. Anxious to hear back from them, Monday I hope.

The box covered

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So one sunny day in the boat did that??

I have a few Husky Jerks that warped like that a couple years ago. Im not exactly sure when mine were ruined. I didn’t notice it until winter time while organizing tackle. I had ones that were obviously warped and others that appeared ok but were totally out of tune and couldn’t be fixed.
I assumed it happened when my Rapala boxes were left in the cab of the truck on a hot day. I’ve left them in the sun in the boat for days without issues.

B-man wrote:

So one sunny day in the boat did that??

I have no idea. Tackle box was in the back of my truck for the past week which is covered by a black toneau cover, maybe it got hot in there? Even still, these were not subjected to any REAL extreme conditions.

I’m going out in the morning and I’ll be trying the others to see if they are out of tune, as well as the Rippin Raps and X Raps that were in box too.

You must have got a batch of the brand new, yet to be released

RIGOR-MORTIS MINNOW, BY RAPALA

NEW FROM RAPALA, the RIGOR-MORTIS MINNOW has a unique shape and smell that will drive walleye bonkers. These lures bear a STRIKING resemblance to that minnow you left on your jig overnight, twisted, curved and crunchy, this crank sure looks munchy! The Rigor-Mortis minnow runs 1/2 as true as a normal rapala, and will retail for $13.99. A bargain at twice the price!

Rapala is finally getting consistent competition in the market and has not stepped up their game to hold their ground. The % of space in my crank boxes dedicated to Rapalas is declining with each passing year. Broken baits from strikes, crappy paint, and untuned or balanced baits out of the box are more consistent issues in the past 3-4 years than ever before.

That’s some funny sh!t right there. Funny because it’s true

I have had the same issue same baits and all my Rapala Brats split filled with water and sank. they sit in the boat under cover and sit in a cool shed all summer. I no longer by many Raps because of this makes me sad I lost $100 bucks worth last year won’t be happening again

Break off the lips and you’ve got gliders.

Never seen this.

Yeah who knows, maybe they now have an amazing action that is irresistible to trophy fish!

Any response from rapala? On that note what is everyone’s non go to rapala cranbaits? I’ve heard good things about flicker shads but haven’t bought any. I really like the lipless ratl traps.

I bet someone went with the lowest bidder on one of the components on rapala end. A lot companies like to screw with stuff when it’s working fine. I had saucony go and completely change running shoe I’ve been buying. Added two ounces and made a cushioned shoe stiff as heck.

slipbob_nick wrote:

Any response from rapala? On that note what is everyone’s non go to rapala cranbaits? I’ve heard good things about flicker shads but haven’t bought any. I really like the lipless ratl traps.

The flicker shad are decent. Good easy cheaper trolling rigs. I use on the river.
I buy alot of jackall and lucky branded stuff as well. Live target has also been good to me on a few of their cranks.
I quit buying raps after I noticed crappy hooks on the jerk baits. And boy was that disappointing, I really love the shadow rap jerk bait in perch color.

I’ve got 3 Scatter raps that are junk in my boat from my trip to Devils Lake 3 weeks ago. 2 the lip broke off and 1 the back 2 hooks pulled out. All on pike that were not more than 28 inches long. Their product is turning to junk.

Have had a few husky jerks warp like that.Picked up a few to replace the warped ones and within a couple fish(one didnt even last 2 casts)the lips cracked on them.Have had quite a few floating raps that catch one fish and the lip breaks off or falls off,shad raps as well.Still keep a few husky jerks,floating raps,and shad raps on hand as they have their time and place but not a chance I will sink a bunch of money into them anymore.Pretty much just use Salmo now.If they break or I cant get them back in tune(neither happens often for the amount of use I give them) I send them in and they send back brand new ones within a few days.

Are there any brands that still use balsa wood? Does rapala have any models made out of balsa wood anymore? I have some 1″ sinking raps I used for bluegill that I think are balsa wood, maybe. But I don’t think they make them anymore.

my bet is that it was caused by too much heat from direct sunlight on that clear plastic lid.

this is a not uncommon occurrence with plastic muskie cranks, i’ve lost a few Depthraiders. with the larger size, i suspect it’s even easier for the sides on big baits to warp like that. the most frequent time is when baits are stored in a clear top tackle box that’s sitting in the sun. it’s surprising just how hot it gets really quick – and it’s not the air temp, it’s the direct sunlight under a magnifying clear plastic lid.

it’s a frequent enough issue (for $20-$30 per bait!) that Just EnCase deck boxes come with a shaded film on their clear plastic lid to cut down on the sunlight after learning the hard way. i’d move your lures inside the box and save that quick access lid for terminal tackle.

We have noticed a decline in quality too.
We were canoeing in the Quetico for 8 days earlier this month. Catching Lakers on raps 20-30ft down, the tail dancers. We had fish destroy 4 different lures during the trip. 2 of which the back hook broke completely off and broke the back end. We did nothing different than previous trips, only thing we could come up with is that the quality of the baits has gone down hill.

BoatsHateMe wrote:

Today I went to put some snap locks in the box and I noticed my <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Perch Shadow Rap was melted and bent, a lot! I started looking at some others and there were several that suffered from the same thing, both Shadow Raps and Deep Shadow Raps, 7 in all I believe.

Let us know what you find out. I have two Shadow Raps that did the exact same thing, while everything else in the box was fine.