Lipless crank baits will catch a surprising variety of coastal gamefish.

Story and Photography By Robert Sloan

Back in 1991 I was fishing with Joe Garcia on Sabine Lake. It was October and we were chasing birds that were feeding on shrimp and shad. The fishing wasn’t that good and the birds were downright spooky. Just getting within casting distance was a task.
We were trying to make longer and longer casts. I was just about ready to give up when Garcia made a cast with a chrome and blue Rattle Trap. I thought that was kind of stupid until he made a couple of cranks on the reel handle and suddenly bowed up on a big trout.
“What’s the matter?” he said. “You’ve never seen anybody catch a trout on a ‘Trap?”
Actually, I hadn’t, but it didn’t take long for me get another one out of his tackle box and get in on the catching. Garcia was a bass fisherman from South Carolina and he brought along a few of his go to lures that might be a crossover for catching trout. But using a ‘Trap made all the sense in the world. It was kind of matching the hatch. A chrome ‘Trap looked just like a shad or menhaden. It’s was loaded with rattles and had a tight wobble – everything you needed to attract the attention of trout and reds. To this day I don’t leave the house without a few lipless cranks.

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