So I jumped on the Ragetail Bandwagon... Now what? 2024

airborne_angler reply :

Went to BPS today and purchased 1 pack each of the following baits:

Rage 7 Inch Anaconda-BAMA CRAW color

Rage 10 Inch Anaconda-RED SHAD color

Rage Space Monkey-BAMA BUG color

Rage Lobster-WATERMELON RED & BLACK color

Rage Craw-CALIFORNIA CRAW color

Rage Shad-GREEN PUMPKIN color

Rage Toad-GREEN PUMPKIN color

So now I have all these choices and colors,whats everyones top producer(bait)/color. How did I do with the choice I made as far as colors?

Ive heard good things about all these baits.Anyone in particular I should try first?

Whats the best way to rig and present each of these? I know the toad and shad are best weedless and fish as a topwater.

Ive heard about a keel weighted rig,is this just a swimbait hook?

I know theres a video about some of these questions Ive asked,I would like personal first hand accounts. Im hyped and itching to try these out. Thanks for the responses.

Hammer 4 reply :

I got the 10" anaconda in bama craw, and greenpumkin..got my toads in green0umkin with chartruse ..haven't really put em to the test yet..anyways, I think you chose good colors..cept, how come you didn't get the 10" anaconda in bama craw..?

airborne_angler reply :

Think I got confused with the red shad color. I read places where people were slaying fish on a Berkley Power Worm in Red Shad color. That color stuck in my head when I choose the 10" anaconda for some reason.

May have been too,that if I throw a Bama craw colored 7 incher and dont get anything at all,and have a 10 inch in the same color im not likely to have confidence in throwing the 10 incher.

Guess im experimenting a little.

rfrazier reply :

My favorite is the 7" anaconda in bama bug. Throw it on a spot remover and slowly drag it along weed lines or docks.

Fishing Rhino reply :

Space Monkey, Rage Lizard, Rage Craw, Toad, Shad have all worked well for me. Colors, june bug, watermelon red flake, Texas craw, double header have all worked well.

I like the watermelon/pearl for the toad. I have the watermelon red, and watermelon chartreuse, which I haven't tried yet.

For the keel weighted hook, you cannot beat the Owner Twistlock. They cannot be beat. The difference between them and the other brands is their twistlock has a centering pin which keeps the coils aligned as you screw the bait on.

You can fish it in anything, and it is as weedless as weedless gets.

5/0 for the toad, 4/0 for everything else, according to the instructions. The toad has the thickest body.

To rig it, grip the hook with the keel down. Press the bait onto the centering pin with the eyes up. Three full turns will put the nose of the bait against the eye of the hook.

Run the hook up through the body of the lure, making sure it enters and exits along the center line of the body.

The point should be exposed to the bend. Then, slightly stretch the body toward the hook's eye. About 1/16th to 1/8th inch. Press the body against the point, and bury the point that distance just beneath the "skin".

Instructions come in each pack of baits.

If you want to try something different, which has worked very well for me, try fishing it like a jig.

In four to five feet of water, I leave the bail open on a spinning reel, or the reel in free spool on a baitcaster.

When the bait hits the water, do nothing for 15 - 20 seconds. Ten if you're impatient.

Take up the slack. If you feel a weight, increase pressure. If you feel a tug or jerk, set the hook.

If no weight, move the bait a foot or two, and give it a few seconds. If you don't get a strike, bring it back with a varied retrieve of different speeds, twitches and jerks.

Most of my fish have been caught on the drop, or the first motion of the bait on the retrieve.

In shallow water, through the weeds and over lily pads, I fish 'em like a top water, varied between gurgling on the surface, or just below, creating a wake on the surface.

The only wrong way to fish a Rage Tail is to not fish it.

You'll find the arms of the bait often get torn off by smaller fish.

Not to worry. As long as the hind legs of the monkey, the craw and the tail of the lizard remain intact, they'll fish well.

Lately, I've been favoring the craw simply because it doesn't have those tiny, easily ripped off parts.

Try 'em all. See what they prefer on a given day. What works the best one day, will not necessarily be what they want the next.

Big-O reply :

Hey a_a, sounds like you did just fine on your color choices to me.....on the Shad I like Smokey Shad alot and it seems that you can't go wrong with Watermelon/Red or Green Pumpkin no matter where you live.

Here is a link to the Rigging instructions from our News Site and this is a personal 1st hand account too, I wrote'em. Just click on the Rigging in Title bar at the top of the page, or click on a particular bait title and the rigging inst. are listed as well as photos of rigging where needed. Please pay special attention to the RageShad and Toad rigging, hook sizes etc. and you will have excellent results. If you have further questions, pm me here or email me at steve@ragetail.com

With all of the designs, I am sure you will enjoy the variety of action they provide and hope you find the fish to ck'em out on.

Thanks everyone for helping Airborne_Angler out with the info.........

Big O

www.ragetail.com

airborne_angler reply :

I understand the design of the Owner hook mentioned above,but would an alternative work?

By alternative I mean taking a Zoom Horny Toad hook and using a rubber core twist lock sinker on the hook,with the rubber core romoved and the sinker crimped tightly against the shank of the hook?

Lets take the whole "Keel" weight out of the equation,Would Zoom Horny toad hooks work with most of these Rage baits as alot of them recommend a 4/0 or 5/0 hook.

I ask this because I currently have Horny Toad hooks,and dont have the funds at the moment to go out and purchase the size of hooks recommended for these Rage baits... Heck I cant even get anything that size locally. The only tackle sold in town is sold at Wal Mart and they only carry sizes up to 3/0

Hammer 4 reply :

When I first used the toad, I t rigged with a superline 0/5 offset gammy..I tie 99.9% of my baits with a palomare knot. Sometimes the toad would seem like it was swiming on it's side just a bit, is that from not having the hook totally straight, or the knot..? I don't feel I'm getting the action from my toads like the pros do..? :-[

Sorry A-A..don't mean to highjack your thread..

airborne_angler reply :

Its all good,we know some moderators dont like the forum to be flooded with similar topics

Fishing Rhino reply :

Quote
I understand the design of the Owner hook mentioned above,but would an alternative work?
By alternative I mean taking a Zoom Horny Toad hook and using a rubber core twist lock sinker on the hook,with the rubber core romoved and the sinker crimped tightly against the shank of the hook?

Lets take the whole "Keel" weight out of the equation,Would Zoom Horny toad hooks work with most of these Rage baits as alot of them recommend a 4/0 or 5/0 hook.

I ask this because I currently have Horny Toad hooks,and dont have the funds at the moment to go out and purchase the size of hooks recommended for these Rage baits... Heck I cant even get anything that size locally. The only tackle sold in town is sold at Wal Mart and they only carry sizes up to 3/0

Yes, they will work. It requires more patience and attention to detail to screw them in properly without the centering pin.

I have some zoom horny toad hooks with the spiral lock, and also a supply of hitchhikers, (I think they are called) which can be connected to the eye of a hook to attach the bait.

I much prefer that arrangement to the hooks with a jog near the eye to hold the bait.

I have some keel weighted hooks and used them for the Rage Tails. Three trips up the line when a decent bass was hooked shredded the nose of the bait. How the bait passed over the keel weight was beyond me, but at times, it did.

Any hook with a spiral lock will prevent this, and make your bait last longer. Try the Owner Twistlock, and the Zoom Horny Toad hooks. You'll see how much nicer the centering pin rig is to install a bait.

The Owner hooks are expensive at two bucks apiece, give or take. But, they are economical. A bait will live much longer rigged on them, compared to the standard "worm hook" arrangement.

Big-O reply :

You can use other hooks on the Shad and Toads but the least expensive and most available hooks that give the best performance for them are the Superline Gammy EWG's.....

Twist lock hooks are great as well but more expensive as mentioned previously. The key to success on the baits is avoiding deforming the bait shape during hooking process. Also the EWG hooks provide an excellent keel effect for the baits. Swimbait hooks allow further casting and help the baits to ride the waves better in winded conditions. You can purchase clip on hook weights seperately and they are very inexpensive as well. This allows you to add or remove the keel weight at your leisure and whichever size you feel necessary.

Here is a link for squeeze on weights, I use 1/16 to 1/4 oz depending on conditions.

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_10201093_100010003_100000000_100010000_100-10-3

Hope that helps......

Big O

www.ragetail.com

Hammer 4 reply :

I toss mine weightless..re: my wierd action..I take it that it's not the "knot" but the knot head gettin the hook crooked.. lol

Fishing Rhino reply :

Owner also makes a twistlock hook w/o the keel weights.

Next time out, I'm going to rig the monkey, craw, and lizard both ways, and see what happens.

Might be better because it will not fall as quickly through the water column.

I use the weighted because I fish a lot in the pads and water hyacinth, and sans the weight, the lure will not pull the line across the top of the pads to get to the bottom.

Pretty much the same for the hyacinth, which grows in the rocky shoreline. There are some pockets between or alongside the rocks which can be two to three feet deep, and I want the lure to "drop into the pocket as it passes.

The keelweight helps for this. Open water, the plain hook is likely preferable. I'll make a good faith effort to find out.

Hammer 4 reply :

O.K...so I went to the local pond, and tossed the RT toad, got it figured out, it ran true and with really good action. Unfortunatly the fish weren't interested in Anything we tossed at em..

Catt reply :

I use Lonnie Stanley's Swimmax Hooks

http://www.fishstanley.com/swimmaxhook.html

Fishing Rhino reply :

Quote
I use Lonnie Stanley's Swimmax Hooks
http://www.fishstanley.com/swimmaxhook.html

Interesting hooks. I bookmarked the url so I can try some.

Look like they'd shed weeds, particularly filamentous algae, even better than the twistlock.

The cone spiral poses a question, since it appears that it would spread the head as it is inserted. The other thing that comes to mind is that it would tend to make the bait fall head first, moreso than the Twistlock which would tend to make the bait fall more horizontally. Center of gravity thing.

The Owner should resist the tendency to roll or twist more.

I can see where each would be preferable, depending on the bait with which it is being used, the type of bottom and cover present.

For sure I'll get some. If nothing else, they will make for a different presentation.

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

Quote
So I jumped on the Ragetail Bandwagon... Now what?

tighten your grip 8-)

airborne_angler reply :

Quote
tighten your grip

Good one Russ

CWB reply :

The Rage Tail baits are absolutely worthless. Send them to me immediately! ;D ;D

Seriously, Big-O gave us an excellent clinic on rigging the newer line at the roadtrip which could be available somewhere in the archives. Glenn?

I think you can get tips off the website also and probably from YouTube.

Welcome aboard!! Another member of the growing Rage Tail army.

CODbasser reply :

i am getting ready to join the army...have never bought any, but you guys have pretty much sold me on them... deff gonna get the chunks...what else would you guys get for starters...if you were say buying 3 bags..what would they be and what colors...

Blues19 reply :

Hey all, I just bought some 10" anacondas for night fishing. Would a 5/0 Gamakatsu hook be the hook to use? And should I go straight or EWG? And when texas rigging should the hook point be on the side of the spine of the tail or the side of teh curve of the tail? Hope that makes sense. Anyone have a rigged picture of one? Thanks Guys.

And when using the space monkey, do you just work it like a craw or creature bait? THANKS!

roadwarrior reply :

Go to to the Rage Tail website and watch the videos:

http://www.ragetail.com/

I use a Gamakatsu 5/0 Round Bend to Fish the 10" Anaconda:

http://www.cabelas.com/prod-1/0030842113363a.shtml

The alignment is along the seam, tail up, but I don't know that

tail up or tail down makes a difference.

8-)

Blues19 reply :

Thanks Roadwarrior! So, about the alignment, if you lay the worm out with the curl tail going up, does the point of the hook come out on that side of the worm or the back? Just wanna get the best presentation! Thanks

roadwarrior reply :

Out the back in a straight line with the tail, then Texposed.

On a different issue, I am using a 1/4 oz weight, unpegged, but

I think Big O has been suggesting a keel weighted hook. So, there

are many ways to skin this cat!

8-)

Big-O reply :

RW is on the money and here is a link to RT News/Info site and just click on Rigging in the header bar or choose the bait you need info on in the same header bar...it's all there.

http://www.ragetail.com/news/

Hope that helps

Big O

www.ragetail.com

Blues19 reply :

Thanks Big O

rondef reply :

All you have to do is toss the baits out and then hold on tight. These baits are amazing and they are the only plastics that I use any more.

Fishing Rhino reply :

For the sake of full disclosure, those on a strict budget need to be judicious in their use.

Any who have read my posts know that I am effusive if my praise of the rage tail baits.

But, the very thing that makes them effective, their wild action, has one drawback. They are fragile, especially the small appendages of the lizard and space monkey.

The loss of those appendages do not seem (to me anyway) to diminish their fish catching ability.

Bluegills, crappie, yellow perch, and other "nibblers" seem to go for those parts.

Pickerel sever the larger parts with ease.

Lately, I've been using the craws because the smaller fish have become extremely active, and destructive.

I have about seven one clawed craws on the bottom of my canoe from yesterday's fishing.

But I also caught a bunch of bass, several decent and one lunker. More than a fair trade-off to me.

But for those counting pennies, this post is a heads up.

roadwarrior reply :

Well now, it's like two different views which are both right!

"I say the glass is half full, you say it's half empty."

As a long time GYCB fan, I find Rage Tail plastics to be

extremely durable. In fact, I would prefer a softer

plastic with the same bait designs.

Bassin_Fin@tic reply :

Quote
Well now, it's like two different views which are both right!
"I say the glass is half full, you say it's half empty."

As a long time GYCB fan, I find Rage Tail plastics to be

extremely durable. In fact, I would prefer a softer

plastic with the same bait designs.

:

x2 The rage products are especially durable.I can re-use a craw or annaconda many many times and they are also very compatible with mend-it.

As far as claws,tails,appendages falling off I would like one person to name me a plastic bait,any bait at all that doesn't happen too.Well of course it will not happen if you don't like catching fish.

Fishing Rhino reply :

Well, you cannot glue what you do not have.

They are not merely torn, they are gone.

The toad, the craw, and the anaconda are durable. As durable as any other plastic bait.

Perhaps there are more of the little "robbers" where I fish.

But since they occupy the same bottom as the lunkers, there is no escaping them.

This problem of amputation is a recent occurrence as activity of all fish, particularly the "undesirables" has picked up.

Maybe it's the way I fish them, but since they catch plenty of bass, I'm not about to change it.

I will say that a single rage tail can catch many bass. I've done it, and during that time frame, I might have argued that they are durable.

Maybe with the spawn over, the little critters have returned to the lily pad beds and other areas where the bass had been spawning, and shooing away intruders.

There is no way of getting away from them now.

Other than for jigs irretrievably hung on the bottom, I lost my first "rig" of the year a couple of days ago.

Felt a heavy rap, set the hook, started to fight the fish, and tick, the line went slack. Hook with wacky rigged worms, gone. Yes, that's right, wormS.

Bad knot tie? That was my first thought.

When I examined the 30 pound test fluoro leader, it had been sliced off at an angle, as if cut by a knife. Pickerel no doubt.

ChiCityBasser reply :

Glad to say I jumped on board starting with the Rage Tail Chunks and Shad. I tried the Shad out and love the action but now hits but the water temps were still low when I tried it out. Next trip out I tried the Rage Chunks on a Stike King KVD Swim Jig and and 7 quick hits and my personal best of 2.5lbs so far. I love the action and now I've added the Rage Craws to my arsenal and last night I added the Rage Toads as well. So far the Blue has been my most productive in the Chunks but have the Green Pumpkin in the rest and for the Toads I with with the Green Pumpkin and Chartreuse and the Green Pumpkin and White and they will both get some use over the weekend.

Great baits and love the action of them all

8166

So I jumped on the Ragetail Bandwagon... Now what? 2024

related Fishing Tackle topic

previous topic

next topic

most viewed Fishing Tackle topic