Texas Transplant
Well-Known Member
This is a more detailed report on the new DT-10's from Rapala. In my tournament report, I mentioned them.
I fished two different DT-10's on Saturday in the SC Federation tournament. Mostly, I fished the one with the blue/shad/org belly spot color. That's what I caught both of my fish on. Check my library if you would like to see a pic of the fish.
These baits, as most of the Rapala line, work very well. They dive quickly, and keep a very down profile in the water. Both from achieving 'dive to (DT)' depth, and from a nose down position. They have a tight wobble, but not an extremely fast wobble. Since they float, once you've hit grass/structure, you can back off and float off the cover, most of the time.
I fished them with a medimum retrieve speed. Greatest success came in coves/cuts where there was grass, but not 'heavy'. Most grass was 3-4 feet under the surface.
I really like these baits as they work nice, and you can cast them a country mile. They do NOT work you to death. I probably cast/retrieved the two colors that I used a minimum of 200 times on Saturday.
One word of caution. David Fritts (big part in the design of this lure), indicated at the recent Bass U. class, that these baits had a thin lip, and would not take abuse. Tied on a brand new never been used fire tiger DT-10 mid afternoon on Saturday. Unfortunately, my boater decided to switch to a side arm delivery and we had a NASCAR pile up of the two crank baits (shad rap and dt-10). His came off competely (and sunk), mine broke off. It cracked the bait down the middle, and broke the lip, right where he said that it could fail. In short, the lip will not take much abuse.
I've now replaced the lure, bought a couple of other colors and backups, and purchased 2 of the DT-16's to try. I'll be trying them this weekend (club tourney), and will post a report on how they work. Especially interested to see if they 'wear me out' on the retrieve like some of the othe deep divers do.
Tex
I fished two different DT-10's on Saturday in the SC Federation tournament. Mostly, I fished the one with the blue/shad/org belly spot color. That's what I caught both of my fish on. Check my library if you would like to see a pic of the fish.
These baits, as most of the Rapala line, work very well. They dive quickly, and keep a very down profile in the water. Both from achieving 'dive to (DT)' depth, and from a nose down position. They have a tight wobble, but not an extremely fast wobble. Since they float, once you've hit grass/structure, you can back off and float off the cover, most of the time.
I fished them with a medimum retrieve speed. Greatest success came in coves/cuts where there was grass, but not 'heavy'. Most grass was 3-4 feet under the surface.
I really like these baits as they work nice, and you can cast them a country mile. They do NOT work you to death. I probably cast/retrieved the two colors that I used a minimum of 200 times on Saturday.
One word of caution. David Fritts (big part in the design of this lure), indicated at the recent Bass U. class, that these baits had a thin lip, and would not take abuse. Tied on a brand new never been used fire tiger DT-10 mid afternoon on Saturday. Unfortunately, my boater decided to switch to a side arm delivery and we had a NASCAR pile up of the two crank baits (shad rap and dt-10). His came off competely (and sunk), mine broke off. It cracked the bait down the middle, and broke the lip, right where he said that it could fail. In short, the lip will not take much abuse.
I've now replaced the lure, bought a couple of other colors and backups, and purchased 2 of the DT-16's to try. I'll be trying them this weekend (club tourney), and will post a report on how they work. Especially interested to see if they 'wear me out' on the retrieve like some of the othe deep divers do.
Tex
