Rage Tail 2024

BrianB reply :

Let me start by saying "I am not bashing" just looking for a little help.

I just bought some more Shads and this bag does not have the action that the last 5-6 bags had. No matter what I do I can not get the tails to work right. If I real slow they just kind of wallow on the surface, and if I go fast it flips around like when you have a popper with a tangled hook.

And before anyone says it, I did rip the little attaching thing off so the tail is free to move. ;D

I bought this bag at Academy. Every other nag I have bought has come from Walmart....I doubt that makes a difference though.

Other than that no complaints. I have been catching bass left and right with the shads and the toads. My wife even caught her first bass out of our pond with the craw.

catchnm reply :

Quote
Every other nag I have bought has come from Walmart

Hmmmmm.....I didn't get mine there but I wonder if they'll let me trade her in anyway......she's malfunctioning........nags too much. ;D

RichardE reply :

Every other nag I have bought has come from Walmart

I think they school up there!!! ;D

Big-O reply :

BrianB, just woke up and had my first cup of coffee, and when I read your post, I spilled some in my lap. ;D

Sometime during shipping the tails will get jumbled a bit causing deformation. If this happens just take the baits out and reposition them on the clear plastic insert that is in the package, the opposite way tails are off and place in oven at 170 degree for 10 to 20 minutes. Won't hurt em a bit and will reform the plastic to original shape. Some folks reform soft plastics by placing in hot water for same time but I like the other way better.

If the plastic is slightly more firm than the first ones you used, then you can also stretch the tail at the sharp U bend, careful not to tear it and this also helps to tune the shad for the type of sound you prefer.

The firmer plastic Shad are being used on salt water flats applications as well and will hold the hook a little longer.

BTW what color shad are you throwing for best results and is this package the same color?

Below is a photo showing shad placement to reform.

Big O

www.ragetail.com

Big-O reply :

Brian,

Here is a photo of the Shad tail tuning for less agressive action on the firmer plastics. Stretch the tight U bend area of tail as shown but be careful not to tear.

Glad you are smackin the fish on'em and let me know if I can help you with any more info

Big O

Brian_Reeves reply :

I had one in my package that was tougher than the others. I took my pocket knife to it and slimmed it down some. Big-0's way is better, but the good ole tuning knife works every time on every lure ;D

Big-O reply :

Hadn't heard of that Brian but sounds like you gott'er done. Learn something everyday.

Thanks for the info

Big O

BrianB reply :

Now that you have all seen that I am a master at spelling ;D

I will try to tune them a little bit. I never knew you could do that with plastics.

Big-O reply :

Many plastics won't tune because they are really not designed for a particular action, but more so for a basic shape or look. If those stlyes of plastics get out of shape, they can be reshaped in the oven as well or in hot water. Be careful with the heavily scented plastics in your oven because Little Momma might take offense to smelling up her house.

Big O

www,ragetail.com

MNGeorge reply :

Does it have to be a regular oven or can this be done in a Microwave? If so, how long do you set the MW for and at approximately what power setting?

Big-O reply :

MNGeorge, Microwave is a No No with formed soft plastics because it melts them quickly. Some use micro to melt plastic to pour your own but must be extremely careful and cautious or it will burn the plastic and give foul smell and other bad results.

Big O

www.ragetail.com

BrianB reply :

I have given up on this bag

I tired everything mentioned and a few other things I found on line and the action of this bag (not nag.... ;D) just sucks. I don't get it.

Big-O, any idea on how often this happens?

I was very happy with the shads up until this bag. Was there some change made to the material recently, or did I get a bad batch? I can't afford to spend money on lures that don't perform.

Big-O reply :

Sounds strange to me BrianB. What color are these you are referring to?

Big O

BrianB reply :

Smokey Shad

Big-O reply :

Smokey Shad is a popular color and is a # 28 durometer plastic hardness. If you use Hot water as you mentioned, just heat water to too hot for touch (not quite boiling) and place the baits in water and let set for 10 minutes or 15 minutes. Take directly from hot water and place in cool or cold water and leave for same time. DONE!

Big O

BrianB reply :

I did one of them in the hot water. It was probably hot enough as I could not keep my finger in it. I don't think it was for 10 minutes though....I may have taken it out too early.

I will try it with another after dinner and let you know how it goes.

gobig reply :

I have not found a nag worth getting yet.

to funny ;D

BrianB reply :

I put the rest of them in 170f water for about 10 minutes, then in cool water for about 10 minutes.

I did soften the plastic quite a bit and the tails were re-centered.

The side affect was that the tail lasted about 40 to 50 casts and had a tear at the bend, and the shad rode down the hook a little easy.

The action was much more smooth and the shad went through the water much smoother. I did notice that the splash and wake was smaller than I had seen before. I had to reel a little faster to get a the splash and wake to really get going, but the lure tracked very, very well at slow speeds.

Now that I have done this, will the plastic firm up a little?

If not I will heat them for 5 minutes next time.

Big-O reply :

Yes Brian they will firm up with time. When plastics are produced, it can take up to 6 wks for them to cure completely and the final product will wind up being approximately 25% firmer. Most plastics are cured to 90% over a 1 week time period and the final 10% over the remaining period. Not really noticeable on normal or less action style soft plastics. But with the super action designs, the hardness ranges become much more important and sometime require tuning as previously noted. This in turn makes the smallest differences from perfect shape and hardness more noticeable to us. Not sure how much the fish care but ultimately our confidence in the baits action and performance is a big key to our overall success.

Good job,

Big O

Pond Hopper reply :

I know nothing is ever perfect, and there are lemons, but if I had to boil or cook plastics before using them I would find other plastics to use. Especially when the maker knows about the flaw and cannot find a way to correct it. And this comes from someone who really like the Rage Chunks.

hercdoc reply :

I have to agree with Pond Hopper. If it doesn't fish as advertised out of the package, then I will find another company that I can fish their lure as advertised. I don't have time to find out once I get to my fishin hole that my lure has to be baked, cooked, deep fried, or microwaved. My 2 cents worth.

Big-O reply :

Catch your drift Pond Hopper. Sometimes one of these bags of soft baits get smashed up a bit from shipping and handling and need a little attention. This is tough to control but I'm working on it. We all have gone into the stores and reviewed the baits on the shelf and all of us like to feel the baits. Heck that's part of the fun in buying softy's and most of us do our best to place them back like we found them, but some baits won't get placed back exactly correct and even these still work fine most of the time.

Big O

Big-O reply :

Quote
i think this is one of those things that is just a 'cost of doing business'..........on both ends. Soft plastics are just that ; soft. (add shipping, and fancy individual-type packaging, and you have quite a few variables to deal with 'O'. )
i know when i put 50, 7" baits in a bag, that some of them are going to need a little room before they're "ready". Usually this comes, as you leave the 'crooked one' til last. ;D

Aint it the truth Brent, Nothings perfect in this world but that's what you and I are for, to make it better and get it a little closer to perfect than the other guys.

Big O

BrianB reply :

Yeah, I really don't want to cook any lures before I use then either.

But I like the Shads and Toads so I will continue to buy them as long as the majority of the bags are fine.

I am going to get a few more bags and check them out before I go to Florida next weekend.

Pond Hopper reply :

Big-O,

Not a big deal, like I said I have had no issues with the Chunks, and after Brent chiming in(who I have a few of his baits) I see it is just a cost of doing business. Now that I think of it Mattlures says to boil his baits to get natural form too.

Not trying to downgrade the baits, just the curiosity that killed the cat I guess.

BrianB reply :

Quick Update:

The first two shads I used after cooking them, ripped at the bend of the tail after about 50 casts. Since then I have been using the same one without it ripping.

Also, they are catching the bass again. When I first opened these bags I could not get a bite at all. after cooking I caught one yesterday, one last night and two today. All between 1-2 Lbs. I know they aren't lunkers, but that is all there is in the pond 50 feet from my house. ;D

I am headed to FL next weekend and will try them there on the bigger bass.

Big-O reply :

Good luck man, I hope you slam'em. Be sure and give me an update.

Big O

jig reply :

i got one bag of the rage jig trailers and they work awesome.my question is how long do you guys get out of one bait because i was only getting one fish out of some of them and went through a whole bag in one full day. just wondering if it was the bag or do they rip apart fairly easily?

little_stephen reply :

Im a model builder when Im not fishing, so I know all too well about plastics and how they tend to do what ever they want to do. molding just makes plastics tempermental. I wouldnt try the microwave, its designed to cook(heat) things differently than regular ovens or other heat sources..... Id use hot water, fill a glass bowl with hot water, carefully put the lures or in my other hobbies case, model part in, let it soak for a few mins, then wearing rubber gloves, take it out and try to reshape it..... If that doesnt work, some times a hair dryer can do the trick, be careful tho. small adjustments are best, ESPECIALLY in water temp. a few degrees and ull trash ur baits. dont forget that the plastic is going to want to twist/wapr back to its old form as it cools.

-I could be all wrong about the microwave tho..... let me know how it turns out if u decide to try it.

*Sorry for not reading thro the whole string....... happy you got them working!*

BrianB reply :

Well I got back from the fishing trip the other day. I had a great time getting the Florida Strain LMB's. Those fish are absolutely beautiful

We fished for 3 days and caught some good numbers. Biggest fish was a 3-1, My biggest was 2-6. Lots of 2Lb'ers though.

Not much great news to report about the Rage Tail Shads. I bought 3 more bags before I left, and 2 of them were horrible. While I was down there I did the hot water thing again. That helped a little bit, but still not as god as the first 5 or 6 bags I ever bought.

Just for kicks, I also tried the microwave method......Don't even bother trying it. What a mess.....HAHA It started to soften up the shad but ended up destroying it. I did it just a few seconds at a time too.

The good news to report is that the Rage Tail Toads did very well on the bass down there. I would say that about 75% of the bites I got were on the toad.

I fished Manns toads, worms & craws, Rattle Traps, Spinnerbaits, buzz baits, X-raps, sub-walks, and the above mentioned Rage Tails, and the RT Toads performed the best.

The only problem I noticed is that the toad would sometimes swim upside down, but it did not slow down the bite at all. What would cause that?

After this trip I think I am done with the shads. Too bad, because I love the action when they were working.

eyedabassman reply :

Just wanted to know if any of you have fished the Shad or Frog when the spawn was on? I have a tournament coming up and they are starting to spawn.

Brian_Reeves reply :

I didn't have much luck with any topwater during the spawn. I did pretty good with the craws though, if that helps.

BrianB reply :

I fished these all through the spawn here in south MS. They worked well for me, but the topwater action really picked up last week.

No one knows why the toads swim upside down sometimes?

BrianB reply :

I think that a moderator should be able to edit the thread title.

I am not trying to stir up anything though, either way.

BrianB reply :

Nevermind, I figured out how to edit the thread title.

And I forgot to add that we tore them up last night with the toads. ;D

I am about to go out again, we'll see what transpires today.

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Rage Tail 2024

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