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7 Best and Most Authentic Roach Fishing Lures

7 Best and Most Authentic Roach Fishing Lures

Predators love lures that actually look the way their prey does. Authentic roach fishing lures are top notch baits when it comes to fishing for pike and zander, walleye, perch or bass.

Fishing with life-like lures not only increases your chances of getting bites, it also feels amazing when you are fishing with a lure that looks so much like the real thing! That is why I wrote this article on the 7 best and most authentic roach fishing lures.

PRO TIP: Need to gear up for your next pike adventure? Then check out this quality equipment on Amazon.

It’s very cost-effective, durable, and will land you plenty of trophy pike!

1. Rapala X-Rap

Rapala has taken a daring, modern step by developing the X-Rap! It is a brilliant slow sinking hard and soft bait hybrid which is rather unusual for this lure company. But boy have they managed to create a great lure here!

The X-Rap is an extremely popular roach-looking lure among pike fishermen! This is thanks to its many awesome and powerful features. The most crucial one is the fact that they have actually managed to create a bait that is half ABS body and half PVC tail, an incredibly smart and simple idea, really.

Thanks to an advanced tail locking system, you can also switch tail sizes and colors, if you like. This feature, coupled with a truly fine and realistic roach design and scale pattern makes this bait a true pike killer.

Check out this amazing roach fishing lure on Amazon

2. Fishin Addict Roach Super Shine

This roach fishing lure, which is a swimbait, has a highly realistic roach look to it, thanks to its reflection-enhancing foil. This foil makes the Super shine, you guessed it, super shiny, just like a roach’s or bleak’s scales. Underwater, it really looks like a live baitfish, as Fishin Addict really got the 3D design exactly right.

This lure has 4 segments, which greatly enhance its swimming action and make it extremely flexible. I also personally like the life-like fins and holographic eyes of the Super Shine a lot. Try using it on a bottom bouncer, slowly trolled, for zander and walleye!

The standard model is 15.5cm (6”) long and weighs 35g. There is also a 20cm (8”) model available, for those really big pike or muskies.

Find out more about the Super Shine on Amazon

3. Savage Gear 4D Line Thru Pulse Tail

Now, this one is a special kind of lure, as it comes with its own wire trace. It’s a rather brilliant way of creating the perfect and complete lure and Savage Gear, as always, has really done a good job on this one!

They have managed to balance it so that it will land on its belly and even made the fins movable and splashing when reeled in!

The 4D Line Thru Pulse Tail really looks like a larger roach, thanks to its very life-like body shape, fin design, and colors. The built-in wire trace actually gives it a really nice touch when it comes to swimming action and the fact that it goes through the bait’s head is no disadvantage at all.

On the contrary, it gives the lure a really nice wobbling effect underwater.

This 3-jointed jerkbait comes in three different, rather large sizes, at 11.5cm/37g, 14.5cm/66g, and a massive 18cm/80g. That last one is reserved for those really big, old, and hungry pike ladies!

To take a closer look at this marvelous roach lure, head over to Amazon and check it out

4. Savage Gear 4D River Roach

I had to include another Savage Gear creation, as this roach fishing lure is a real winner for pike, zander, and musky fishermen! It sticks out because of a few really interesting and unique features.

For one thing, the River Roach has its colors photo printed onto its body.

This means that each and every one of these baits have been in a highly advanced color printer. Its design and authentic roach look mirror that quality and technology very well, it looks extremely life-like!

For another thing, the River Roach possesses something that is called a DNA scent.

This means that Savage Gear actually injects strike triggering scents into these baits, which are based on natural fish flavors and extracts. That’s a pretty awesome and sticky roach lure right there!

Feel free to take a closer look at the mighty Savage Gear 4D River Roach on Amazon

5. Westin Ricky the Roach

Westin has a reputation for creating very realistic, high-quality lures that can catch you a ton of predators. Ricky the roach is a perfect example of such a lure. It both swims and looks like a fat, delicious roach ready to be devoured by a hungry predator.

The previous version already killed it when it came to swimming action and authentic bait presentation underwater.

This newer version of Ricky the Roach, which now has a more durable hard lure body and is jointed, swims even more realistically, thanks to its well-developed S-shape swimming action that is so typical Westin.

As a bonus, its joints are actually clacking together underwater while being reeled in, which creates an acoustic effect as well.

The standard version is a sinking lure of 15cm and 40g, which has an approximate running depth of 0.2-1m. It’s the perfect fast action casting bait for pike and large bass!

You can meet Ricky the Roach and find out more about him on Amazon

6. Rapala Countdown 7

This is more of a classic old-school type of roach lure. The Rapala Countdown 7 is a somewhat smaller lure that is perfect for zander, walleye, and perch fishing. It is even a personal brown trout favorite of mine.

It simply has a really authentic roach design and swimming style to it, which makes it rather hard to ignore, also thanks to its slimmer shape, which is much easier to grab for both walleye, perch, and trout.

This slowly sinking crankbait, or wobbler, has a controlled depth technique, a unique swimming action, and is made of Balsa wood, which is classic Rapala. It comes in sizes between 5 and 10cm (2 to 4”).

Grab a couple of those trusted and efficient lures on Amazon

7. DWEE Bass and Pike Killer

At first glance, the DWEE Bass and Pike Killer looks a little odd, but that is also its greatest strength! This is a lure that has earned the feature “multi-jointed”. It has no less than 7 segments, which gives it truly awesome flexibility and swimming action that is really, really authentic.

This swimbait is perfect for surface-near faster action, which is needed to fully unravel its S-swimming features. But even at a lower reel-in speed, it has an incredible life-like movement that could be called wavy or dancing.

Thanks to its many joints and authentic 3D fish design, it kind of looks like an insured roach near the surface, which can be a deadly bait for pike!

Take a closer look at this awesome bait on Amazon

Final Thoughts

There you have it, my top 7 roach fishing lure list that has produced a lot of big predators over the years! Of course, such lures come and go and there are lots of other types of baits, shapes, and colors out there.

But the roach lures, with their enticing designs and attractive colors, will always be a special bait to many of us, I believe. After all, the roach is one of the most common and most eaten prey fish out there. That’s why roach-like lures are so effective.

So, go and try out one of these baits the next time you are fishing predators and see what happens. You will most definitely not regret it!

Essential Gear Tips

If you’re looking for solid and reliable pike fishing equipment, these tips might be useful for you.

The following tackle is of top quality and sells at a very reasonable price on Amazon:

Rod: 7′ MH St. Croix Premier Casting Rod

A versatile and beautifully made medium-heavy 7′ baitcasting rod that’s perfect for bigger predators. Casts anything up to 2.5 ounces extremely well. Has an awesome balance, action, and sensitivity.

Reel: Abu Garcia Revo Beast 41 Baitcasting Reel

An affordable, high-performance baitcasting reel with amazing strength. Casts super smoothly and will last you forever! Makes for a great pike combo together with the Ugly Stick!

Mainline: Power Pro Spectra

One of the best braids available today. Zero stretch, great feel, and immense strength make this line the perfect pick for pike in both open and snaggy waters. Put on a 30lb test and you’re good to go.

If you want to read up on predators, I wrote a couple of awesome articles on pike with many interesting facts and tips: