The Rapala Floating Minnow – The greatest lure ever created - seriously.

These days I don’t get to fish as much as I’d like to or used to. Having two children, a wife and a job, limits my actual fishing time to 15 day trips per year. When I first started my fishing career (back in 1978) I managed to get out on the water much more often. I often fished day and night, each and every weekend for the entire spring and summer. Times have changed, literally and figuratively when it comes to fishing. What hasn’t changed, in essence, is what I like to call my main overall “hard hub-lure”. That is, the lure that centers my fishing lure rotation – this at least connects me to those glory days many moons ago.

The Original Rapala Floating Minnow is a lure that was passed down to me as a child by my father, and his father to him before that. At the time it was a basic balsa wood minnow in black and silver, but it caught fish. By God, it caught fish. Studying this bait, I instinctively chose to go with the orange chartreuse offering, sold in a jointed version. This bait was dynamite, and from the first cast netted me, and my childhood fishing partner, bass after bass after bass after bass. I kid you not. This specific lure configuration was unbelievable. In fact, it was so good I stopped using it after just two seasons. I felt it was an unfair advantage, and decided instead to hone my skills by offering a more natural presentation. I took up using non-jointed Rapala perch colour schemes (sometimes even blues and yellows). Today, twenty eight years later, I am still using a Rapala minnow, but now it is the Husky Jerk in assorted glass colours that I throw. My new trick? Using a stinger jig instead of a rear treble – thank you In-Fisherman T.V. circa 1990.

Topwater Bottom Line: Lauri Rapala carved a minnow shaped fishing lure out of cork in 1936. The dude caught fish when he first threw it. Forty five years later I caught fish when I first threw it. Lot’s of them. More than I could ever put a number on. If you consider yourself a fisherman (or fisherwoman) I urge you to have at least a half dozen of these baits in your box. And at $6.29 - $10.49 per bait, they devour the competition, no matter the brand name or fancy endorsement. This lure is central to my fishing style, and it is a lure I will pass down to my son and daughter. My family will always be a “Rapala” family, and so should yours. As always, please practice catch and release with this lure.

Topwater Rating:

5 out of 5 bobbers

The greatest lure ever created (aside from a stick of dynamite with hooks attached - whose use I highly discourage)