Balsa oder plastic?

[muskiehunter]

I recently bought a couple of J-5 Rapala's for my kids and I swear they are plastic.When I looked the box over it doesn't have made of balsa anywhere.I'am out in left field or are these now made of plastic

[Jason]

Those small J 5's are plastic . At least the newer ones I have seen are .

[muskiehunter]

Well that sucks

[trouttracker92]

Well i must jump in on this one,I am not saying Jason is wrong, But I use and have alot of j 5"s, They are all made of wood, I have yet to see one made of plastic here in Vermont,
But now I will have to do some homework on this one, I would Hate to see Rapala switch over
to all plastic lures, It would save them lots of money if they did but the whole rapala concept
was built on balsa wood, If that were to change that would make all the balsa wood lure out there collectables, Rapala corp, with go to the dogs if they switch to all plastic lures, But it is
headed that way, anything new from rapala seems to be mostly plastic,THAT SUCKS, are you surethey are Rapalas & not rebels stuck in a rapala box, there are a lot of wise asses out there that swap things around to get a cheaper price, I have never done it, but I know some cheap asses that have, Can someone post a pic of a j-5 plastic,

[Jason]

Go look at the pics of jointeds I have . All the new Hajime's are plastic . And Im sure there are a few others also . With out digging them up , I think the second gen HT , GFR , G , and B then maybe a few others are also .

Welcome to 2008 , I think they will all be plastic in no time at all .

I hope not , but thats the way I see this going .

[cdj711]

yeah, more and more plastic in RAPALA boxes.

maybe this is just so they can charge a lot more for the CLASSIC EDITION
(H13 just came out, and i guess there will be following some more).
they re-edited the FR5, MFR3 some years ago. balsa.

seems they stop the F18; alot of balsa is going in one of these.
and in some years maybe we see a re-edition of the F18.

just sold off all my RFR7, and going more and more into the 60s and 70s stuff.

prices for these are already going up.
you could get a 30+ year old for around 4 or 5, sometimes even less, now some colors are more like 10 - 20, and some like the GBP regularly making much more.

well, wouldnt we all like to see the RAPALA in the league with 30s or 40s heddons, shakespeares, and others.
if they go on with all plastic, this will be sooner than you think.

wolfgang

[muskiehunter]

Yes the new J5's are plastic,I took one apart to see.Also look at the boxes no where on the box does it say made of balsa.Once I figure out how to get a picture posted here I'll post it for you to see.

[trouttracker92]

I have alway said Rapala will be all plastic soon, But I did not think it would be so soon, And
like I said I use alot of the j-5"s and i yet to see one made of plastic, I knew You know who
would get a shot in, Oh well, and yes I Do live in the year 2008, But like i said no plastic has
hit Vermont yet, So I will order from Bass pro, If they are plastic I will get a bunch, And put
away all the balsa wood I have, It sucks that such a thing could happen, I have pretty much
stuck with rapala lure because of the balsa wood, Lauri Rapala would roll over in his grave
if he knew this was going on, I better buy up all the wood i can on ebay before it"s too late,

[muskiehunter]

That makes 2 of us and I'am sure alot more of us will be as well?

[trouttracker92]

Well I just talk to services at bass pro & cabela"s, I was shocked, All the Original Floaters
and all the Jointed Rapalas are all made of plastic, I was ??, What the hell is going on,
This is messed up, I will be up early saturday, going to walmart,Kmart, target, Dicks, I am
going to dip in to my trust fund, and buy all the wood i can fit in the truck, Now the next
thing Rapala is going to do is close all the plants and move the to mexico, Pay the help
ten cents and hour, why not the lures won"t be worth much more than that anyways,
PLASTIC< END OF RAPALA<

[t0m1]

There is no end to Rapala.Multi-international corporation who owns media is unstoppable.

And plastic..cheapest material ever = maximal profit. I'm quite sure that they have already tried to make lures from cow's dung but it was probably more expensive than plastic.

Thats true that collectors and many fishermen don't like plastic, but if you imagine a common guy in his boat he gives a sh*t is that lure wooden or plastic if he gets fish with it. Sad but true.

So yes, more and more of Rapala's are plastic in near future. Better get used to it

[muskiehunter]

From a business point of view its a good move to improve profit,but as collectors it sucks.And with the global economy going it makes sense as more people have less money to spend on lures, so if the price of Rapala's drop they will probably still make a hefty profit as Rapala's will still be attractive to fisherman everywhere.I'am not a economist just my opinion.

[trouttracker92]

Well i will say one thing, If i got to buy plastic lures, My money will go with the winning teak,

LUCKYCRAFT LIVE POINTER< It is a step ahead of rapala for fish catching, ( Gota keep an open mind)

[cdj711]

Hi Steve.

well, i think, from a collectors point of view (if i may say so), it is better if rapala is doing all of the future stuff in plastic.

and dont think prices will go down ... you know the basic stuff plastic is made of is oil, and with this getting more scarce, the prices of plastic lures will never go down, even if you could make from one barrel about 10,000 rapala ...

just a thought,
w.

[muskiehunter]

Hi Wolfgang,

Good point.That would make the balsa models more desirable.

Its hard to say if the price will drop. I would think they would, you can make more with less so to speak.With plastics base being oil and the way the global market fluctuates with oil prices and right now oil cost is way down to what it was 6 months ago.If Rapala does go to all plastic I wouldn't be suprised if we see them coming from a factory in Saudi Arabia.LOL

I really can't forsee Rapala going all plastic.Unless they disregard company history and pride,ya know.Being famous for making lures from Balsa wood is what Rapala does best.They may make a lot of plastic lures but I bet they keep specific models balsa(hopefully) May be they have a tree hugger running the company.LOL!!!

I for one won't quit buying or using them.I was raised fishing with Rapala lures and will never quit using them either.

[cdj711]

Hi Steve.

i think what we will see in the future (or we do already) that most rapala are plastic, and a selcet few (which might be called CLASSIC COLLECTION or FISHERMENS FAVOURITE or whatever) will be balsa.

the price for plastics will be about the price it is now, maybe a little more, for sure not less, and the price for the balsa lures will be (much) higher than it is now.

just a guess.

w.

[muskiehunter]

Hi Wolfgang,

By the cost of the Husky 13 in Finland being around 20 bucks,I would have to say you hit the nail on the head.


Steve

[muskiehunter]

If Rapala chooses to make more lures out of plastic that will be fine by me from a fishing stand point.I'll still buy them,yes I have fished with Luckycraft lures and they do catch fish but so do the GFR's and GSR's and they are about 10.00 cheaper.

Luckycraft lures are not the best fish catchers either.When is the last time a major tournament was won with a crankbait.The MWC tourney here last summer was won using crawler harnesses and bottom bouncers,this has to be the one of the best Walleye combos around.And Bass will almost always be caught on some kind of soft plastic bait set up whether its a worm,creature,of the ole stand by tube bait.

Here is the big one for me Luckycraft doesn't make any baits big enough for Mr.MUSKIE!!!!!!

And any way you look at it does Luckycraft have any World records caught on their lures? I don't think so!!!

[blastsniper]

The Rapala x-raps are the only lures im gonna buy if rapala goes all plastic.
The jointed x-raps and the x-rap walk 13 are very nice for the pike here, and the deep ones are good for the zander here.
And all the small ones work for perch.

But it would be pretty funny and sad if rapala decides to produce plastic original floaters.

[muskiehunter]

Yes the X-raps work great for Pike. My favorite is the SXR-14 GG.

[shadrap712]

Hey Steve,
Most major and minor walleye tournaments are won pulling crankbaits from ice out to ice in.

[muskiehunter]

Hi Jeremy,
I should've been more specific as to type of fish.Most Bass tournaments are won on baits other than crankbaits,and yes I agree with you on Walleye tourneys being won on crankbaits.A few years ago the RCL was won up here on crankbaits.The winner was trolling with Reef Runner Ripsticks in the Purple Demon color,can you imagine hauling in 400,000 grand in one shot!!!!
In the waters around where I live anglers seem do catch more Walleye's on crawler harness and bottom bouncer combos.

Do you fish the MWC tourneys? If so another one is being held here in 2009 maybe we can meet up an BS a little.

Steve

[blastsniper]

I was thinking that the proffesional fisherman use expensive lures like megabass for tournaments.
Was thinking that the megabass lures really give some advantage by being brutally well painted.

[shadrap712]

Hey Steve,

No I haven't gotten into the MWC as I like the pro-am format. This way I don't have to worry about someone else. I feel the the pro bass guys get into a route of the way they fish. It seems to me that they use the same type/style of lure for every tournament and very few of them are crankbait guys. Most tournament fisherman can not afford to use the mega bass or lucky craft lures.

[muskiehunter]

Hi Jeremy,

I'am not sure exactly how the Bass guys go about figuring out what baits they use,but I would think they use their sponsers products.I know a few of them use Luckycraft (Reese & Swindle) because they are sponsered by them.I agree as well about them not being crankbait guys.The only one that sticks out in my mind for using alot of cranks is Kevin Van Dam.He likes to cover the most water in the shortest amount of time.This method has worked very well for him.

[blastsniper]

I bet you can win the tournament by using the good old fin-s shads. Zander here in the Netherlands love them, and Zander and Walleye arent really that big of a difference. (i think..)

[Bodeen]

I don't follow the tournaments, but I am pretty sure they are artificial lures only...no live bait. Not sure how they run the walleye tournaments, but crawler harnesses are utter killers on walleyes. Take the harness and the jig and I'll bet the overwhelming number of walleye caught per year are caught on those two. Not to say I haven't caught my share of walleyes on shad raps and Aglias but they won't be my first choice on the water. (most of the time lol).

[shadrap712]

Bass tournaments are all artifical lures. We can use live bait on the walleye side. I'll take my crankbaits first on any body of water. You can move so much quicker to find active fish any time of the open water season. I do not know much about zander but I thought they were mainly close to the bottom. Do they suspend at different depths?

[muskiehunter]

I like to use both of these (crawler harness & Jointed Shad Raps) as they are both deadly on Walleyes,but if Rapala was to make all plastic I personally would not switch to Luckycraft lures as they are to expensive.If the Walleyes don't eat the plastic Shad Raps(JSR&SRRS) throw them a crawler harness or jig and minnow/leech they are a hell of lot cheaper and will catch a lot more Walleye's.

Also goes to show that Rapala can still make awesome lures whether they are balsa oder plastic

[browntrout1984]

I will add one thing,if rapala goes to all plastic,Anyone sitting on a crap load of balsa wood rapalas are sitting on a gold mine, Now with that said will the selling of balsa wood rapalas stop? Or will the prices rise like the oil prices, I am sure they will. They whole world is the
same,,,,, Gota make a quick buck, It won"t be long there will just be plastic Rapalas on ebay,