Jimmy Houston started catching crappie on Road Runners about the time the Pyramids were built. Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but the bait was designed in 1958 making it a long-time catcher of multiple species. Houston says, “Fish is slowly and you can’t go wrong.”
Ron Stallings, Export Manager and Pro Staff Manager with TTI-Blakemore, says, “The theory is simple. Fish are looking up to feed. The flash of the blade looks like the underbelly flash of a baitfish so the crappie, or any other species, react to it.
Stallings says the bait has caught fish for decades because of the flash, sound, vibration, color and the way it moves. It’s an all-around great bait.
“My best tip is to fish is just fast enough for the blade to move.
“Our top three colors have always been white head with white body, chartreuse head with black-chartreuse body and chartreuse head with chartreuse body. Our top weights are 1/6- and 1/8-ounce.”
Do bigger Road Runners catch crappie too? Stallings says, “We’ve hooked up on some really big crappie on Randy Howell’s and Casey Ashley’s 1/4-ounce heads with a 3-inch body. The big baits can be good in certain situations, but remember elephants eat peanuts and crappie eat a lot of small baitfish. So the best overall pick for crappie is a smaller head with maybe a 2-inch body.”
MSRP varies for different types/sizes. $15 for 11-count of Pro Series (bleeding bait red #2 hook and brass willow leaf blade). www.ttiblakemore.com
