Priced under $11, the Rapala Scatter Rap Tail Dancer has the quality we’ve come to expect from Rapala. With the Tail Dancer, anglers get all the benefits of balsa wood action with the added bass attracting qualities of rattles. Something very uncommon with balsa baits. A surprising nuance with the balsa wood Tail Dancer is it has a rattle system. Using a bait casting reel with 12 and 15-pound lines I had no issues with tangling or casting distance. Typically with lightweight oblong shaped lures, the lure will spin during a cast allowing the line to tangle in the hooks.

At first I thought this could create issues when casting, however, this bait is well balanced, and casting was not an issue. While the Scatter Rap lip creates its own erratic ‘deflection type’ action, actual contact deflection is extreme.īeing a balsa wood bait and weighing just under a half ounce, the Scatter Rap Tail Dancer is light for a crank bait of its size. When the Scatter Rap Tail Dancer contacts cover, it deflects violently at a sharp ninety-degree angle from its retrieve line. What impressed me most was the deflection capability of this bait. To my amazement, the Scatter Rap Tail Dancer is extremely snag proof when dealing with hard objects like pole timber and dock pylons. I believed the tail hook would reach and grab cover however, this was not the case. The back end of this bait has a pronounced swing from side to side. With the extreme wobble of the banana shape, I honestly felt like the Scatter Rap Tail Dancer might have issues when dealing with dock pylons or timber.

Designed for trolling, I did not expect the lure to have any rolling problems during high-speed retrieves, and it did not disappoint me.Īfter proving the Scatter Rap lip does what Rapala claims, I wanted to see how close I could get to cover before I got hung up. A slow crank or fast burn the bait ran as expected with excellent vibration. The Tail Dancer produced excellent wobbling action at all retrieve speeds. The package labels this bait as having a swim depth of 11 to 19 feet I have no doubt the Tail Dancer will obtain these depths while trolling. I found while casting, the Scatter Rap Tail Dancer consistently reaches 7 to 9 feet on 12-pound line. This instant dive allows the bait to hit the strike zone faster and stay in the strike zone longer. As the line tightens at the beginning of a retrieve, the Scatter Rap starts diving. The Scatter Rap lip engages the water immediately. The Scatter Rap lip makes any crank bait dummy proof, simply cast and wind. Once I located bait fish and bass, casting parallel to shorelines at the proper depth and retrieve speed produced many strikes. The unique erratic action of the Rapala Scatter Rap Tail Dancer produces strikes with a basic cast and wind retrieve. To find a unique presentation for the over pressured waters I regularly tournament fish, I looked to the Rapala Scatter Rap Tail Dancer to give me an edge. The tail wobble generated by banana shape baits is also effective at drawing strikes from many other game fish species.

The Rapala Scatter Rap Tail Dancer, like many banana style baits, is designed to draw strikes from walleye while trolling the bait behind a boat. This opposing direction migration can be as wide as 24 inches. The opposing direction shift gives the appearance of fleeing something an angler normally has to use deflection to generate. During a retrieve, the Scatter Rap lipped baits will migrate left or right and then seemingly for no reason drive quickly the other direction. The unique Scatter Rap lip design causes baits to dart side to side mimicking the habits of fleeing bait fish.

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