Storm Hot – N- Tots

I recently purchased a few of these lures to give the Walleyes a different look in the areas I fish. My one concern is that are they suppose to run like they are out of tune. I tried casting and trolling them but they would not run straight. After they would dive for a couple of seconds they would sway off to one side and then appear on the surface. However, not all of them would do this. Would trolling speed have anything to do with this problem? If anyone has any suggestions please let me know. I like their action and would like to get a chance to catch an eye on one. Thanks in advance.

JimL

I can’t speak for the Hot – N – Tots but I’ve had other lures do this if there was too much speed. But mine may have also been slightly out of tune. Just stating that I’ve seen water speed flip some of my divers.

Jim

My limited expeirence is the Hot and Tots need to be tuned by bending the lip in the same direction they want to run. To me they seem to be very touchy in getting them to run straight. They don`t seem to troll at speed as well as say bomber long A`s which I use a lot of . Trolling side by side the long A`s will run true at very fast speeds, where in my expeirence the hot and tot`s don`t do as well. Seem to do better at slower speeds. Just my limited expeirence.

Tom P

I think the hot n tots have a much wider wiggle than some other cranks… this makes it harder for them to run at speed without spinning out…..

About tuning the tots… it’s my experience that tuning the lip itself is a sure fire way to damage the lure. Some may have found that not to be the case and that’s fine but I’ve always had good luck simply tuning the metal snap that connects the lip to the line to work very well. Simply tweak in the opposite direction of the roll and you’ll be in good shape.

I’ve not been able to get tots to run much faster than 3.0 – 3.5 mph without problems. Some cranks run well at high speeds…. most don’t.

Either way, enjoy those metal lipped tots while you can. I hear Rapala is planning on redesigning them.

James Holst

Moving Waters Guide Service

http://www.movingwaters.net

Thanks James…..Never thought to just bend the snap to straighten em out….DUH might be a whole lot eaiser and quicker.

Thanks again for the good info. I will try this next time I am out. Good luck to ya all.

Jim L