I’ve fished the Potomac River since June of 1995, and while I can’t quite remember every bass I’ve caught out there, I can definitely remember the first in vivid detail. It was in an area that got put off-limits post 9/11, so I can’t fish there anymore, but the lure was one that I still throw whenever I can – a chrome-blue original Rat-L-Trap.

I don’t throw a Trap as much as I used to, partially because other tools have come along like vibrating jigs and swim jigs. It’s also in part because our grass has gotten so thick in so many places that it’s hard to use one efficiently after the early spring.

But that doesn’t mean that I’ve thrown them out, and while I have dozens of colors, the chrome gets the call more often than not – with various shades or red and craw coming in a distant second, even though they’re used for a narrower slice of the calendar.

Like my friend Clark Reehm, I believe that the best Traps are the ones where the chrome has been worn away to show the bone underbelly. He says it’s because it looks like a beat-up shad that has it’s scales missing. Perhaps, but I agree even more with his hypothesis that one that’s had the crap beat out of it is just a true catcher. 

I’m sure there are paints or adhesives or colorings available that could achieve a more permanent chrome finish on my Traps, but I hope Bill Lewis never strays from what they’re using now – and what they’ve been using for decades. Not only am I sure that each one has the right balance to maintain the action and sound that’s a proven winner, but I love looking at the wounded soldiers in my box. They don’t get retired – they just get new hooks and split rings and sent back out into action.