More than 80 years ago on the pristine waters of Lake P\u00e4ij\u00e4nne in\nFinland, a fisherman named Lauri watched from his boat as large predatory fish\nattacked schools of minnows. Time after time, he noticed, the hunter would hone\nin on prey that swam with an off-kilter wobble. It was a discovery that would forever\nchange freshwater fishing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Armed with this firsthand knowledge, Lauri got to work. Using cork\nand a shoemaker\u2019s knife, he carved a fish-shaped lure. Tinfoil from chocolate\nbars became the reflective surface, and melted photographic negatives formed a\nprotective outer coating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lauri\u2019s last name, you see, was Rapala. And he had just created\nthe Original Floating minnow that helped spawn an entire industry of fish-imitating\nlures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finnish lore says Lauri caught 600 pounds of fish the first day he\nused his new creation. As one can imagine, word quickly reached rival anglers,\nand the lure\u2019s reputation spread like wildfire. Today, Rapala lures remain some\nof the world\u2019s leading baits, with more than 20 million lures manufactured and\nsold in 140 countries each year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here in Idaho, the Rapala Original Floating minnow is a must-have\nitem for any angler\u2019s tackle box. It is a versatile lure that can be fished in\nalmost any conditions. In moving water, tossing Rapalas toward the bank from a\ndrift boat is deadly for catching big brown, rainbow and bull trout. From the\nriverbank, retrieving them through current seams and eddies is the ticket. They\nare also highly effective in lakes, particularly when fished with a\nherky-jerky, stop-and-go retrieve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of my favorite things about fishing Rapalas is the explosive\nbites they trigger. As Lauri Rapala first recognized, predators single out\ninjured baitfish and zero in for the kill. You don\u2019t get many exploratory\nnibbles on a Rapala\u2014the predator is coming after your injured minnow with bad\nintentions! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my experience, many Idaho anglers consider Rapalas trout lures,\nbut I\u2019ve also used them to catch bass, crappie, perch and even catfish. Many of\nthose species seem to prefer a Rapala trolled slowly behind a boat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like any successful company, Rapala continued to innovate and\nadapt. Over the decades, the Original Floating minnow has been joined by a\nlarge fleet of crankbaits. The larger Husky Jerk is world-famous for catching\nwalleye. The Shad Rap is a killer bass and crappie bait. The jointed minnow is\none of my favorite lures for catching smallmouth bass on the Snake River.\nThere\u2019s even a deep diving crankbait capable of luring big predators from 20\nfeet down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lauri\u2019s creation, and the thousands of lures that have hit the\nmarket since, are the result of anglers using their keen observation and\ncreativity in an effort to catch more and bigger fish. Which, at the end of the\nday, is what fishing is all about. So the next time you reach for a Rapala,\nthink of Lauri and the pioneering spirit that remains his enduring legacy. And\nif a wild idea hits you on the water one day, grab a carving knife and give it\na shot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tight lines!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" More than 80 years ago on the pristine waters of Lake P\u00e4ij\u00e4nne in Finland, a fisherman named Lauri watched from his boat as large predatory fish attacked schools of minnows. Time after time, he noticed, the hunter would hone in on prey that swam with an off-kilter wobble. It was a discovery that would forever…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":558,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions\/558"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}