Bill Lewis Hammer Trap Review

Bill Lewis has always been synonymous with lipless crankbaits. After all, the Original Rat-L-Trap from Bill Lewis was the first lipless crankbait ever made, and is still an absolute staple to this day.

But after decades of Rat-L-Trap success, Bill Lewis released the new Hammer Trap. And the Hammer Trap is a modern day spin on the iconic and incredibly Bill Lewis design that is a top seller year after year.

So does the Hammer Trap stack up well against the competition?

Swimming Action

The Hammer Trap has quite an aggressive and thumping vibration as you retrieve it. This high vibration action is what gave this bait the “Hammer” Trap name.

It is certainly one of the higher vibration lipless crankbaits on the market, if not the highest. The wide, flat head and the slightly bulbus stomach give this bait the aquadynamics to swim aggressively and hard.

The Hammer Trap thumps a lot harder than the original Rat-L-Trap which makes it an awesome variation and addition to your lipless crankbait arsenal, especially if you normally fish dirtier, lower visibility water.

Not outside of the more aggressive side to side thump, the overall swimming action will be just the same as other lipless baits.

A nose down, tight wobble. After all, there isn’t really any way to make a lipless bait swim any differently.

How It Falls

With tons of other lipless baits on the market, one characteristic that guys have really started looking at is how a lipless crankbait falls, or sinks on a slack line.

Most guys want their lipless to have a bit of a shimmy or wobble as it falls towards the bottom.

And the Bill Lewis Hammer Trap was designed to include this shimmy/shake that is really a deciding factor for lots of lipless fisherman.

The shimmy action on the fall definitely helps persuade bass to bite whether they are highly pressured or just not quite convinced.

So rest assured, the Hammer Trap does have the sought after shimmy on the fall.

Tri-Tone Sound Chambers

When it comes to the iconic Rat-L sound of the lipless crankbait, the Hammer Trap has something a little unique. It has 3 separate champers, that each produce a different sound.

One is a deep, thumping sound. One is your standard bead. And the last one creates is a more high pitched sound.

So the Hammer Trap sounds a bit different than the Original Rat-L-Trap, and a bit different than other lipless cranks on the market.

Now to be honest, I don’t think this makes a huge difference. Because pretty much every crankbait will be made slightly different and rattle a little differently in the water.

So I feel like a “Unique” sound isn’t actually super unique. But, it does definitely sound different than the original, so if lots of guys are using the Original Rat-L-Trap on your lake, the sound change could be worth it.

Hooks

The hooks that come on a lure is always very important. Now as long as you are buying name brand lures, they will pretty much always have high quality hooks.

But it is still something to take a look at just to make sure. And the hooks on the Hammer Trap are very very good.

The Hammer Trap comes stock with the Mustad triple grip hooks, which are very hight quality, top notch hooks.

They are a bit shorter shank treble hooks, which I personally do prefer. But like I said, pretty much all name brand lipless baits will have high quality hooks, and the Bill Lewis Hammer Trap is no exception.

Sizes

The size options actually came as a bit of a surprise to me. I expected the sizes to be the exact same as the original, but they are slightly different.

Hammer Trap Sizes:

• 3/16 oz – 2″ (Mini Hammer Trap)
• 3/8 oz – 2.5″
• 5/8 oz – 3″

Original Trap Sizes (Really the standard sizes for most lipless baits):

• 1/4 oz
• 1/2 oz
• 3/4 oz

So the available Hammer Trap sizes are slightly lighter or slightly heavier than the standard lipless sizes on the market.

This is a little bit weird to me and honestly makes picking the right one more difficult because I am used to either using a 1/4oz or 1/2oz pretty much my whole life.

So it is kind of awkward deciding which size to buy and which to use when I’m out on the water. So to be honest, I kind of wish they just stick with the original, standard lipless crankbait sizes and weights.

In terms of performance, it is pretty much the same, it just takes some getting used to out there on the water.

Color Options

So I have always been a believer that you should keep color selection as simple as possible when bass fishing.

I think you really only need 2-3 general colors for your lipless crankbaits and all the others just overcomplicate things.

And every lipless crankbait on the market comes in those few colors. But, if you are a tackle junky and you love experimenting with tons of colors.

Or if you enjoy fishing awesome looking baits, the Hammer Trap has some incredibly color options for your.

There aren’t quite as color choices as the Original Rat-L-Trap but the colors they have look truly incredible.

Overall Aesthetics

This is a completely subjective category. I am totally basing this on my own personal opinion of the Hammer Trap and the way it looks.

I absolutely love the way the Hammer Trap looks and the small details. From the dorsal fin to the Rat-L-Trap eye, to the tapered body, I pretty much love everything about the Hammer Trap’s aesthetics.

Now does this actually help you catch more bass? Maybe so, maybe not. But as the saying goes, “You look good, you play good”. So if the bait I am using looks awesome, I have more fun fishing.

How It Compares to Others

It is a little difficult to put into words how it compares, because pretty much all lipless crankbaits do roughly the same thing, and the differences are usually rather minor.

But when comparing it to other lipless baits, I have found that the Hammer Trap feels and performs very similarly to the Strike King Red Eye Shad.

And if you compare the side by side, they have very similar body shapes, designs, and components. The only real difference is that the Hammer Trap has a bit more aggressive and thumping vibration than the Red Eye Shad.

But I’m guessing that you have already used the Red Eye Shad because it is probably the most popular lipless crankbait of the past decade. So the Hammer Trap compares very highly with other baits on the market.

Reeling this In

After years of dominating the lipless crankbait market, Bill Lewis has introduced a worthy successor in the Hammer Trap.

While a familiar swimming action and high-quality hooks keep it in line with other top baits, its unique, high-vibration thump and a desirable shimmy on the fall help it stand out from the pack.

The multi-chambered rattle system offers a new sound to entice pressured fish, and its striking aesthetics are an added bonus.

Though the updated sizing may take some getting used to, the Hammer Trap is a welcome and effective addition to any angler’s tackle box.