Bass Fishing Pre-Spawn Crankbaits: Rapala OG Rocco 

I bought a handful of these at the east tn fishing expo a few weeks back. I love fishing squarebills and the action on these roccos is awesome. I love balsa baits as well and now I get the best of both worlds. I want at least one in every color now!

I got the Green Shad I casted a few times and I came to realize that I really love it so I went to the academy to pick up two more chartreuse black and Classic crawdad also Matt Allen from tacticalbassin give a great review of it and I truly believe in them

Love this squarebill. It’s definitely a fish catcher.

This was an incredible video. Breaking down the bait, when to use it and really reviewing its actions was very useful.

Great Video. Thanks for the breakdown.

Wheeler thanks for all the info..

I just bought some tonight to throw in a tournament Saturday morning.. perfect timing for the video thank you

I live on Table Rock Lake and if it is early spring all the way into the very first part of summer when they move on to the points and out deeper for the summer if I don't have a Biffle swing hardhead on then I'm missing out because I catch more fish on that then any other bait almost put together and I catch a lot of fish on a lot of different things. I started out with the Biffle Bug on it and it worked great but one day I ran out and decided to put a Strike King rage craw on it instead and boy oh boy, does that thing catch them and especially in Spring. dip their claws in some spike it orange garlic and I'm telling you.... I can't speak to how it would work on other Lakes because I haven't tried it on any other ones to date anyways, but on this Lake here, it's the way to go. But you can't just fish it down some Bluff wall or 45 degree angle Bank. But you can fish it on those transitions between Chunk rock and gravel and also gravel and that has been the best places and points and secondary points where they move up in the spring first along with the transitions of course because they move up there first as well and then as the water warms a little bit more, then I really start hitting that bank that is gravel or gravel mixed with a little bit bigger Rock and also in any of those spots where they're spawning unless they're spawning on a bluff wall like they sometimes do when the water depth changes a lot during the Spring. But I can't imagine that it wouldn't work in a lot of other lakes and not just this one and it would surprise me greatly if it didn't work almost everywhere. I think 55° is probably a good time to start throwing it and if they aren't biting it yet then wait until it gets a little bit closer to between 58 and 60 degrees. And that's my number-one way to catch fish during that time of year and it will work right up to the first little bit in the summer when they move out onto the points and out deeper and you let it sink down to the bottom and the trick, no matter where your fishing it, whether it's shallow or deep, you have to be reeling it slow enough to be ticking off of every Rock and obviously you do this just a little bit slower in the pre-spawn but still not as slow as you think and then as the spawn progresses you real it as fast as you can without it coming off of the bottom at all so it has to tick off of every single Rock so never let it swim and a medium speed is always good and the fish 99 percent of the time will just load up on it and then you just pull into them so you don't really have to give a crazy Hookset or anything like that. But that's the trick to it, is that you have to reel it continuously along the bottom but constantly be in contact with every Rock on the bottom. And it works best in the places that I mentioned and if you try it where there's a lot more Table Rock or big big chunk Rock, then you might get hung up more often, but not too bad, but it doesn't hang up often at all in any of the situations that I mentioned and it's very rare that I get hung up on anyting because it just kind of comes over everything, if it stops just a little pull will normally free it right up. I don't know why I'm sharing this but I just feel like it's too good not to tell anyone and I've been doing this for years now. And usually when nothing else works, that Biffle hard head with rage craw will work. You just have to be in the right places at the right times as everyone who's serious about fishing already knows and you'll catch them. If the bottom is mushy or you don't feel any rocks, you're in a bad place for this bait and move somewhere else where there's rocks on the bottom and not mud or clay because it kicking off of the Rocks is what causes all of the action and I never get bit if I'm not feeling that rock or gravel on the bottom. I catch them in a lot of different ways and I use a lot of different lures, but this one pulls through for me the most.

I really like the basla baits. I have most of the original Berkley's . Now I'll be trying Ott 's for I have each one. Thank you for sharing 👍

The OG Rocco is a great bait. I already have a good selection of colors, but will pick up a couple more based on your suggestions.

I decided this year to get all the Rapala crankbaits. Ive gotten about all of Otts line, and Im working on all the DT series.

I used that crankbait today. No bites. I used the black and blue Thunder Cricket and was hitting them on OLD HICKORY lake here in NASHVILLE

Great video, I just bought six different colors. Will definitely check the colors I have against the colors you suggested.

Picked up 3. Hope to get on the water with them next week.

Thanks

Great video. I have to hand it to Brody he did a great job on the edit especially overlaying live target with you cranking. So the best fisherman with the best videographer.

We have had them at academy for about 3 weeks now, they work great won a tournament already on black and chartreuse

Rocco looks well suited for Target casting situations…..6’6” medium rod 12, 15, 20 Lb. line to alter running depths. Rob

Good bait caught a few already on it in Arkansas when we had a decent warming trend

Love you wheeler

What Rod were you holding when you were talking about OTT's new squarebill

I have caught a bunch of 3-5 pounders on it here in south Florida

Excellent video. I see what you do better.

Never saw it on the screen except maybe when you brought it back in the boat.

Do you get a different depth with braid to leader since the braid is a smaller diameter or does the fluorocarbon sinking offset that?

What is your go to pre-spawn bait other than a crankbait

JW I really enjoy this information. How did you do in Florida?? Maybe you don't want to share

Just got a 7’3 medium heavy sig series what are my applications?

What reel speed (gear ratio) do you use with the square bill?

What series duckett rod is that and what action is it?

just picked one up today same color and a slim as well

Does anyone know what color OG Rocco would be best to fish around Florida panhandle area. Normally the areas that fish is stained water

Off topic, but that's a good stretch for crappie you're sitting on in the 1st part of video lol.

Rocco reminds me of Zoom WEC square bills. I still have a bunch of those but they are so valuable I hate to fish them...

They need to put that lip on the Elite Countdown bc it's cheap on the Elite.

Stella FK 4000 on an Expride rod Medium Heavy with 15lb PP SS v2. Any thoughts?

That's funny...when you showed the crankbait in the water it was in a pool...not the lake behind you... just sayin... lol. Ilove watching you fish...

Any brain child of Ole Otter is gunna be an incredible bait

Do I have not from that I got you try it

Pizzazz

Lol

I love the video but you forgot to show what kind of banks that you fish it on like you said you were going to or is that an another video?

I have 5 of your blue/white rods. I also have megabass, Gloomis, dobyns, etc. Your rods are my absolute goto’s, even tho i have $500-$600 rods. Best rod out there for pricepoint 100%