When you look at a Rebel Raider, the first thing you’re apt to notice is that this micro-sized lure has no “diving lip” to pull it down in the water column or make it wiggle. Pick it up, and you might detect that it’s a tad heavier than most lures of the same size. It was designed to sink slowly when not in motion so you can work it at any level in the water column.
The Rebel Raider is considered a subsurface walker. You work it with the rod, not the reel, by rhythmically snapping the rod tip to make the lure walk from side to side. If you’ve ever “walked the dog” with a Heddon Zara Spook, it’s the same sort of action, except this lure does its walking beneath the surface, not on top, and the motions are shorter because of the Raider’s small size.
A key to walking a Rebel Raider effectively is leaving a bit of slack in the line. That allows a slight loop, which pulls the lure back and forth. Otherwise, getting a good walk really just takes a bit of experimentation and observation to see how the lure moves as you move the rod tip.
Once you learn a basic walk, it’s easy to vary presentations by changing the length and sharpness of snaps and mixing up the cadence. Some days the fish like slow, steady walking. Other days, quick little bursts, broken by pauses, will draw the most strikes. Also experiment with the amount of time you let the lure sink after each cast in order to test different levels of the water column.
You can also vary the depth of your presentations to a degree through rod positioning. By keeping your rod tip high, for example, you can fish a Rebel Raider shallower, even with a slow presentation, than you could if your rod tip was low.
A Rebel Raider suggests a lot of different kinds of forage and it’s a small enough offering that you can catch many different species on it. Bass, bluegills, pike, trout and white bass are only a small sample of the gamefish species you’re apt to catch with a Rebel Raider. Continue reading — See more at: http://www.rebellures.com/journal/working-a-rebel-raider/#sthash.GGXOGYCj.dpuf