• Wear Out the Fish!
• Balsa Lures with “Swagger”
• Best Lure in my “Go-To” Arsenal
By David Gray
“Gimme my GO-TO bait!”
Most all of us have heard that, especially in a fishing tournament, or right after a tournament when the winner says, “I just went to my “GO-TO” bait and it hammered them!” You know, it’s a bait or lure we throw when our confidence is down, the bite is tough and it seems we just can’t get a fish-catching pattern put together.
The most important feature for a lure to reach “GO-TO” status is that it must perform, wiggle, wobble, dig down, float high or slurp along to attract a curious fish so that we catch fish consistently when we throw it. Our confidence is sure and high when we throw this bait.
In a slow or tough bite condition, we reach for that one GO-TO bait to eliminate the possible that it is the lure that is not working. After we throw that one, we’re sure that fish must not be there and it’s time to move and try a new location.
Rapala says DT® (Dive-To) series baits:
• Get to the strike zone and stay there longer, we find: they do.
• Their streamlined shape and strategic weight placement allows them to be cast to 150 feet, we find: they do cast farther than many crankbaits.
• Pull easier and we find: DT series have a uniform retrieve force less than some baits.
• Are hand tuned and tested, and we find Rapala DT baits do have a superior performance right out of the box.
My favorite sizes are the DT-6 and DT-16. Both sizes fish well for me. They come equipped with premium VMC Sure-Set Hooks that don’t miss on hook-ups from short strikes. As for GO-TO baits I always keep the DT6 (runs 6 feet deep) and DT16 (runs 16 feet deep) in two colors: Parrot (which I think outperforms Firetiger on most days) and Pearl Grey Shiner which seems to work everywhere.
Rapala DT series lures come in 5 sizes and depth ranges from 4 feet to 16 feet.
Look ‘em over in this video for a better look:
If you like ‘em like I do, check out the best assortment and inventory here: