Tournament Angler Guide

is clear but if the water is stained bright colours like ‘Clown’ really stand out and gets the bites when needed.

Square Billed Cranks

Mick Johnson –Tournament Angler says that square billed crankbaits have been around for a long time and they are still a favourite go-to bait for anglers looking to fish heavy structure with a hard bodied lure or those wanting to cover a lot of water in a short amount of time. These square billed cranks can be used in nearly all fishing arenas, including lakes, rivers, impoundments, and estuaries with great success.

“When choosing the ideal square billed crank bait, I look forfour things; structure deflecting ability, castability, buoyancy, and of course the lure action.”

BX Brat

The Rapala BX Brat ticks all the boxes!

fish this lure confidently without the fear of getting tangled up and hooking all the “wrong” things!

need a colour that silhouettes.

The RipStop is a great jerkbait because you can really rip the bait during the retrieve to get it to act like a startled or wounded baitfish.

X RAP 6

When I first started fishing for bass a friend of mine told me that I would win a tournament one day on an X-Rap 06 because he had so much confidence in them. That was about 10 years ago.

When I first started fishing with lures, X-Rap jerkbaits were what you thew if you wanted to catch a fish, whether it was a barramundi, bass or saratoga

Now that I fish predominantly for Australian bass, nothing has changed. The profile of the lure can mean the difference between catching and not and the X-Rap has that fish catching profile.

For the southern impoundments in NSW and Vic the smaller X-Rap 06 is a perfect representation of a small baitfish, whether it’s a gudgeon, smelt, gar or juvenile redfin the X-Rap 06 is my go-to when I’m fishing down south. Add an incredible darting, twitchy, wounded baitfish action and you have the whole package.

Generally, if I’m fishing an X-Rap, I’m fishing it shallow and the best time to fish shallow is when the water is cold. Jerk baiting in winter is the best time to do it and I’m always fishing it tight to the edge or tight to in a tournament is it draws out the bigger fish too.

The Rapala Ripstop

Like the X-Rap 06 is the RipStop and the Ripstop Deep. I tend to use these baits in our northern dams here in QLD where the bait is somewhat bigger to those of the in the southern impoundments. Here I’m trying to imitate a larger bait fish like a garfish, bony or giant gudgeon.

The RipStop is a great jerkbait because you can really rip the bait during the retrieve to get it to act like a startled or wounded baitfish. Again, I will use the RipStop over the cooler months and target, rock walls, weed beds or submerged trees. A long cast followed by brief wind to get the bait down to the desired depth followed by sharp and erratic twitches is the key to draw a strike.

The great thing about the RipStop is that it comes in a deep version as well. So, when that sun has risen, I will tie on the deeper version and target the steeper rock walls. Using Garmin LiveScope I can also target the tops of deeper trees to draw the bass out from their ambush positions. They come in a variety of colours, I prefer the natural colours when the water

Firstly, the weight of the Rapala BX Brat adds to its appeal. Weighing in at 10g it is the perfect lure to throw on either a baitcaster or spin outfit. Long and accurate casts are very important and allow anglers to target tight structure and keep their lure in the strike-zone longer. This weight also adds to the stability in the water, keeping it from becoming unbalanced even on the quickest retrieves, making it fast and hassle free when searching for productive areas.

The key to successful crankbaiting is making sure the lure is hitting cover or deflecting off some form of structure to initiate a strike. The Rapala BX Brat’s square bib gives it the ability to hit and deflect around structure up to 6ft down, allowing anglers to

Being made with a premium Balsa wood inner core and hard plastic shell the BX Brat’s construction enhances the action and buoyancy of this crankbait. This unique buoyancy gives it the ability to stay upright as it “crawls” over cover without snagging up making it perfectly suited for working in and around rocks, lay down timber, standing tree tops and even weed-beds.

Its flat sides and wide action not only gives off erratic flashes and tail kicks, it displaces a lot of water for a lure of its size giving off that wounded bait fish feel.

Colour can play a big part in getting the bites in certain situations and the BX Brat comes in a wide range of attractor and natural colours and even darker colours for when the water is discoloured, or when you

Being able to cover water quickly, accurately and hassle free is paramount when in a time limited tournament situation and throwing the Rapala BX Brat is a great way to do it! Recently at Somerset Dam the BX Brat came into its own when the fish were up in the shallows, and you needed a lure that was going to get up there and not get snagged. The BX Brat was that lure and resulted in some large bass hitting the deck (Editor’s note: Mick won that event).

Deep Cranking

If someone asks Mitchell Petty, Tournament Angler, what his go-to tournament bass lure was it would be hard to go past the Rapala DT (Dives-To) range.

The Rapala DT crankbaits come in a range of different models that dive to a particular depth dictated by their model number. A DT20 will dive to 20ft where as a DT08 will dive to 8ft on the cast which is incredibly helpful if you need to target suspending fish or structure at a particular depth. Built utilising premium Balsa wood the DT range not only behaves differently from other crankbaits on the market, but it also has very different underwater acoustics as well.

Crankbaits are still one of the most successful lures in the bass tournament scene, particularly in the United States and consistently win tournaments. It’s not hard to see why Australian bass also love crunching these lures when you see them in the water.

The action of the Rapala DT range can be attributed to 2 main features, the Rapala DT lip design and the complex balsa wood body construction.

The ultra-thin polycarbonate lip of the DT lure allows the lure to dive exceptionally fast keeps them in the strike zone longer meaning more time the lure stays in front of the fish.

The DT Series may look simple enough on the outside but under that quality Rapala finish is a balsa wood construction featuring a combination of carefully placed internal weights, reinforced bib and slight internal rattle that is perfectly tuned for maximum sound performance that bass have no trouble honing in on. Even the design of the slender tail creates the ultimate swimming action.

The other key feature of balsa wood is the unusually high degree of buoyancy. This allows for an effective, tight, wobbling action. This unique action makes the DT a great choice especially in cold water to trigger those lethargic fish to strike.

Here in Australia the DT range consists of 2 models the DT20 and the DT08 and both can be very effective in different situations.

When crankbaiting, fishing structure and making contact with the structure is essential. Deflections and erratic