On the never ending quest to find the best fishing lure money can buy, invariably it comes down to what a specific fish wants from a specific lake.  In many lakes the key forage fish is the shad and therefore shad fishing lures are very

Perch fishing lures include the Rapala Shad Rap among others

effective.  However, what if the main forage base is another fish?  Well it would behoove you to make sure that you had a correct mimicry of that fish in your presentation.  This would be the case on many lake with the perch.  Perch can get quite large if they are allowed to grow, but they are also very prolific at breeding thus leading to a large forage base for the willing predator.

You can normally find a perch variation in color for the majority of crankbaits out there.  The Rapala Shad Rap, Rebel Wee-r, and the Rapala DT series all come in a perch color variation.   However, this tends to be a fairly archaic representation of what a true to life perch looks like.  If you are a stickler for details or want a special way to set yourself apart from other fisherman, a custom painted crankbait could be just what you want.  The airbrushing can be very impressive to display life like detail.

PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait...

I must admit, my favorite all time fishing lure is the #7 Rapala Shad Rap, deep diver in the Natural Shad color (i.e. black/silver).  When all else fails, I throw on a #7 shad rap and troll or cast this lure and it usually will produce fish.  It has proven to be my best fishing lure over the course of time. In the spring time when the water clarity is really good this is absolutely a deadly lure in the cold water.  I have easily caught over 100 walleyes on this exact lure in Minnesota in the springtime.  Bouncing a #7 shad rap off the bottom at a fairly high speed is enought to get the walleye to strike hard and often.

The best part is that not only will it produce fish, but big fish as well.  Several walleye in the 5lb class and others in the 7lb class.  No real secret here to my success over the years with this lure - troll on rocky shelfs and let the trademark Rapala action produce fish.  In the cold water, sometimes live bait does not produce as many strikes because of either the action or activity.  The hard moving action of the #7 shad rap triggers the strike reflex from fish and often times produce more fish.  If you prefer to get a bit crafty in your use of crankbaits, perhaps buy a custom painted Shad Rap to add to your tackle box.

To top it all off the #7 shad rap can be used to catch northern pike, small mouth, large mouth and even the occasional crappie.  As I stated before this is my all time favorite fishing lure for good reason - It produces more and bigger fish.