Rapala Countdown 5 Review and Unboxing
Hello Dwight Norris of fishingatwork.com here on Charles River, which you can't see right now. Today we will be reviewing  and our testing the Rapala Countdown CD 5. This particular type of Rapala sinks. these Rapala minnows are quite popular for different types of fish as well as small and largemouth bass.
You can get the small panfish size as well. Â They're different types and different sizes to interest the bass. I think to see the Rapala countdown 5, which is short for 3 inches long.
I've actually used it before and caught fish here earlier in the summer, but didn't officially review it so I wanted to stop. Typically with the Rapala Countdown Minnow they are nice and snazzy. Rapala says that it's a sinking minnow lure that sinks over a certain period of time at a certain rate. The rate that I've seen it go down is about a foot every three to five seconds depending on your water density.Â
Water Salinity Affects Lure Buoyancy
That could depend on whether it's brackish water here right next to the ocean on the river. They will sink faster because salty water makes you buoyant. Therefore, they will not sink as fast as it would on a pond or a lake.
The depth is between three and six feet so if you use a steady retrieve that's not too fast you can get it down to six feet. Now some people really believe that the faster they retrieve the deeper a crankbait will actually go. It's actually a steady retrieve that is actually the better retrieve.
The more you make the water that goes off the lip slip off, it's not able to grab enough tension from the weight of the water. It'll slip off and it will actually go up. A steady retrieve where there's a constant pressure of water actually makes it dive deeper.
Apparently, the Rapala Countdown 5 is for five centimeters. I had this Rapala minnow in my bag and actually broke off one of the trebles. I found out with my cheap fishing gear that if you only have 1BB in your spinning reel you will have a crows nest if you cast in the wind.
Lightweight Rapala Countdown Minnow
If you do get hung up, there is a possibility of losing your lure. If you keep a nice strong tension and you pull, you might actually bend the hook enough that it releases one or two. It just snaps off from what I've seen. They'll bend and then they'll break. I'm gonna have to get another set of trebles for this now to make sure that they're stronger.
So I'm gonna get this hooked up to this a rod right here. This is a my telescopic rod. I am making a whole series of telescoping rod post and videos so you can tune into that learn all about telescoping rods because they're very important when you're fishing at work. Because you want to remain discreet. You want to have compact things that are easy to carry.
The smaller you can make your fishing gear set the better it will be for you to go out here and fishing and not waste time carrying a bunch of crap. One of the issues that people have with a minnow like this is that they can't get the move right. It's not shaking right. It's not going deep enough and that's because I used a tight not on the loop.
 I'm going to show you a style that will allow the minnow to move freely in the water and mimic a minnow or shad. It's supposed to swing wildly and be a little bit erratic not like it's swimming.
Tying Knot For Rapala CD5 Minnow Lure
Now hopefully I can get this done well on camera. So please let's give me a second since I actually haven't done this in a while. Should I set this up beforehand in hindsight?I'm gonna get this done here.
Okay I've got it through the guides so what am I doing here is I'm actually going to make a loop and open hole here then I'll take the free line and then go through. It works better if you don't like you're not like just now it's gone so let's do that again.
So we have to open hole here takes a little practice. I haven't had practice. So I mess it up. Bring it through. You still have your open hole. What you do is open hole here and put the line through the open hole. You want to keep that line open and then you wrap it around like you're doing a slipknot. You wrap around the top of the line a couple times three or four come back through that whole again.
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New Knot Tying Process Continues!
Back to the hole and then back through the hole that that you made which is just like a slipknot. Then you have your open section here now. My improved clinch knot is a little tight and then boom you have it you have some free play. Here I have a little too much free space.
You only need about that size. Probably a half an inch. The line should really start down here, but not as at this thing. I'm still learning just like everybody else. This is good enough for now and they'll actually still work pretty well as fishing goes.
I don't need every little credit. I just need it to work so this will allow the bait to have more free play when it's moving in the water and not be totally tied to it so it's stuck in one location. It'll actually have some ability to swing side to side, which will give it more of its ability to display as a per minnow. So that done. We're ready to finish this on the line. I only have four hooks because I pulled off two of them trying to catch a bass.Â
Their is still cyanobacteria growth in the water. Â I'm going to work around the edges. To see if there's any bass on the shoreline or near the shoreline. I see if I can promote a strike and probably won't be able to get that video, but I'll try.
Well, I am seeing some bluegills at the moment going after this bait. They're a little too small to catch. Are their any micro Rapala countdown 5 minnows? No I actually I don't know if it's a countdown micro set that works specifically for panfish.Â
Light Tackle Telescoping Fishing Rods
I would need small line. I would need my other fishing rod, which is a Eagle Claw Pack-It, which will be able to handle it. This one's a little too big and six and a half feet long. The Eagle Claw Pack-It is five and a half feet. That will be better to cast without nests forming from the wind. I'm actually gonna move my spots here and see if there is something else. I've tried out the Rapala Countdown 5 minnow, it worked pretty well.
 It looked great in the water. A great movement and I discovered some bait fish. They look exactly like the minnow right here on this dock. It is hard to see with the light flashes swirling right into the dock. I thought I could cast out a little bit here and maybe get some stragglers on the outside.
Actually now I don't seem as much but when my bait went by they started moving and I was like whoa man I was down there it's crazy so even thinking about using some Rapala lures.
Typically a Rapala countdown 5 sinks at a pretty standard amount of time. I will promote to use it in a place that somewhere between five and 10 feet and the fish are suspended. Now you might be surprised they are still the same company.
They are still making great quality products and apparently there's a nifty safety feature on the hooks that a lot of mine snap off before the actual bait does. We know they're a little expensive, but they mimic the bait fish almost perfectly and they work so see out here in the water.
