Rapala’s new soft-plastic Crush City baits are made for fishing in Canada

When the first Rapala floating minnows arrived in North America in the 1960s, demand for the balsawood baits was so outrageous that the lucky few who owned them often rented them out on a daily basis. They were fish killers. With the arrival of the new Crush City baits—the first soft plastics ever designed by Rapala—it’s deja vu all over again.

But what’s cooler this time around is that instead of a single lure introduction, there are nine Crush City baits, including four dense phthalate-free models, and five buoyant, indestructible Super TPE baits. So there is a crayfish, grub, Ned or minnow to make your fishing dreams come true.

The phthalate-free Bronco Bug, Freeloader, Cleanup Craw and Mayor are environmentally friendly, heavier and better for deeper water, sinking on the cast with no additional weight.

The Super TPE Heavy Hitter, Ned BLT, Creeper, The Jerk and The Suspect, on the other hand, are buoyant and stretch like crazy. They are so indestructible that my fishing partner and I used a fish counter to keep track of the walleyes, yellow perch and bass we were catching on a prototype. And when we hit 100 fish, the bait looked like we’d just taken it out of the package. So unless you snag or break your line, you could use one package of baits for an entire season.

Crush City baits also have no memory, so you never have to worry about them warping or getting bent out of shape. And if you like to ice fish, you’ll love the fact they won’t freeze, regardless of the temperature.

I’m also a big fan of salt and scent, so I was delighted to learn that Rapala infuses the Crush City lineup using a Smart Injection Technology System. Still, we had to prove to ourselves that it works. So we hung a Freeloader over the side of the boat and didn’t set the hook when a husky lake trout roared in. We watched it swing around and repeatedly grab the baitfish-lookalike until it finally hooked itself.

Another time, we held The Jerk perfectly still near the bottom and felt walleyes and yellow perch pecking the daylights out of it, as though it was a lively shiner. It proved, as crazy as it sounds, that the Crush City soft plastics are not only as good as live bait, they’re better, because fish can’t rip and tear them apart. So, if you feel a fish hit your bait and miss it, just let it drift back and it’ll wallop it again.

Okay, we know what you’re thinking: it can’t get any better, right? But it does. Every package of Crush City baits is family priced at only $8.99.  That is the cost of a dozen or so minnows, yet one package of Crush City soft plastics will last an entire season.

Your Crush City adventure is about to begin! Dare to dream big.

Learn more at www.www.rapala.ca.