Rapala Scatter Rap Minnow (My personal review.)

Personal product review of this product. This has no tie to the Rapala/Nor mark corporation and strictly my own opinion.

4/27/2013:

Took this lure in Clown and Silver Fluorescent Chartreuse to the Allegheny River near L/D 6. Fished with the SFC first and noticed a weird swimming action from the box, upon further inspection I noticed the nose splitring to be malformed causing the connection knot to slip occasionally and spin the ring causing a top surface sliding action or the knot would slip into the split ring slowly opening it. (These were minor issues IMO easily remedied and nothing that would push me from buying this lure.) To the quality and construction of the lure itself is spot on with Rapala and expected in my eyes. The lure is slightly light (3/16oz) for the size in my eyes but, I suppose its to be expected being balsa construction. Now onto the action as advertised this lure swims with a tight "searching" action and can be spiced up with a pause and slight twitch then continue with a standard moderate to fast retrieve. I noticed a slight pop and quick start pushes the lure to the 3-5 ft mark and a steady paced crank will make the lure quickly and with deadly results dip and wobble in and out of cover like a panicked bait fish.

Now an issue did arise after catching just 3 fish on the SFC (2 eyes and 1 smallie) upon dehooking the 2nd eye I inspected the line and connection knot for abrasions due to fishing the rocky shore I noticed the lip was gone from the head of the lure rendering it fairly useless aside from 3 split rings and 3 treble hooks. I would not take this as a reason to not buy this lure because it could be 1 out of 2,000+/- with an issue.

I switched to the Clown color and continued to have success . On top of the prior mentioned 2 eyes and 1 smallie. I managed to hook up and land another 19 walleye and I also had a pike follow and another swipe the bait.

In closing after using nothing but the Scatter Rap in just two colors and 6 hours I was extremely pleased and would recommend these lures to anyone who wants to add some "ZING" to their lure box and a great searching bait with quality construction and great fish producing and catching qualities.

Thanks to anyone who reads and replies!

Tom

I would send the lure back to Rapala and tell them what happen.   I'll give it a few months of real world fishing reports of these lures before I buy any of them.  They look like they would be the ticket for early season eyes on the shallow bite.    A lip should last more than 1 day of fishing.  It may be a design flaw or as you said just a bad one.  

i bet these will be killer for trolling

Sent the lure out back to Rapala they said within 4-6 weeks I'll be receiving a new one.  I bought 2 more last night as well.  Patiently awaiting the weekend to try them out at Pymie.

rippinlip

Thanks. Nice review. I was wondering about this lure.I think it would be good to troll with.

 
If you are going to troll slow, yes it is fine.  The ScatterRap "blows out" very easily at higher speeds.
 
Ironhed

Picked 2 Scatter Rap minnows (bleak and clown) up this week, plan on getting out to use them this weekend. Good thread Mags, and thanks for the reviews on how they are best used.

Ended up getting the lure back last Monday which was a far cry from 4-6 weeks.  Same one no letter or anything no questions cost me about total $10 for the $8.99 which meh I'm not upset about.   My girlfriend had used one at Pymie to no avail just 1 hit but Pymie was like someone turned the lights off and nothing wanted to play really.  Didn't use it at Shenango, but picked up 2 more minnow's yesterday when picking up an item from Cabela's site to store and bought a Shad model seeing as Shad Raps are very productive this version is sure to be a hit I'm hoping.  I'll emphasize a a bit more today after the trip to the Allegheny,  hoping this front didn't lock every jaw.

Casted the Scatter Rap Shad a few times at Pymie and the River in the past few trips to no avail.   I think partly because of the color I picked... (Carri bean Shad.)  Maybe in a darker more life like it would be productive but the action is the similar searching fleeing as the minnow.  Another issue could be since my toothy critter encounter I've been using a 10"  fine wire leader to prevent issues and allow for quick change but soon gonna strip it off and just retie each time I want to change lures to take off some of the line etc.  I also haven't run it along current or even used it in a smaller lake mostly just river and Pymie.  But I haven't given up on it yet lol.