Entry 182-1

Why We Do What We Do

Part 1: Why the Flat Shad

Editor’s Note: Have you ever wondered why Strike King has some of the nation’s best professional fishermen on their pro staff? Does the company have pros only to make public appearances and represent their lures? Does Strike King use the nation’s top pros because they win the most tournaments? Does the company have top pros to use their pictures and images in advertising? We asked Mark Davis what’s the most-important role Strike King pros play for Strike King. “Our main jobs include helping develop new products, finding niches in the fishing lures on the market that no company’s selling, and looking for those subtle, overlooked aspects of fishing that we can incorporate in our baits to give our customers the best, the newest and the most-unique lures in the fishing tackle market today,” Davis says. This week, Davis will take a look at some of the new lures Strike King will introduce in 2007 and tell us what makes these lures special.

Mark DavisThe Flat Shad is a great new addition to the Strike King line of crankbaits. It gives us something unique and different from any other crankbait on the market today. To catch fish, you must have a lure that’s different from everybody else’s lure, but there has to be reasons for that difference. Too, that lure has to fit a unique fishing situation that no other lure will, if the lure’s to be effective.

Some fishermen are paying money for custom-made lures, so for 2007, Strike King has decided to offer a custom-made balsa-wood crankbait unlike any other Strike King lure. Most crankbaits in the Strike King line of lures are made of plastic. This bait is the first wooden one. A wooden lure produces an action totally different from the action of a plastic lure. This particular crankbait produces a real tight, fast wiggle.

I catch plenty of fish on Strike King’s plastic crankbaits. However, remember that if everyone fishes the same lure with the same action in the same places, eventually, nobody will catch any bass because all the bass will know what an artificial lure looks like. Mark DavisThe reason lure companies come out with new lures every year is to give fishermen baits to fish that bass have never seen before. I guarantee you the bass have never seen a bait like the tight-wobbling, extremely-buoyed, Flat Shad. As most fishermen know, the flatter the sides on a crankbait, the faster the action and the tighter the wobble will be.

Another advantage you get with this lure is that it’s silent. There’s no rattle in this lure. Sometimes bass get rattled to death because every crankbait has a rattle in it. Therefore, when you fish an area you know other fishermen have fished with crankbaits and you present those bass with a lure that doesn’t rattle, they’re seeing a bait that doesn’t sound or look like a crankbait. Bass, especially those in high-pressured areas, is more likely to take this crankbait than the crankbaits they see every weekend.

Largemouth BassMany times, I’ve been in tournaments with fishermen catching bass on lipless crankbaits. The bass were holding where the fishermen were fishing, but the fish had heard rattles so much that they weren’t about to take a bait that rattled. I could fish behind those fishermen, use a lure that didn’t rattle and catch the bass they couldn’t catch. I like the Flat Shad because it doesn’t have a rattle, but I like it more because of its super-tight action, making it a great crankbait to fish around cover.

I was one of the Pro Staff members who kept bugging Strike King to build this bait. I’m really glad we finally have it. Mark DavisAny time I’m in a boat fishing this season, I’ll have one of the eight different colors of the Flat Shad tied onto one of my rods, especially when I’m fishing for bass in water from 0- to 8-feet deep. I’ll fish this lure around the bank where most people fish crankbaits and in open water for suspended bass. This lure is also really deadly on schooling fish. I’ll keep it tied on at all times because you never know where schooling fish will appear, or where you’ll find suspended bass. I’ll fish it down the shoreline because I know everyone else who’s fishing a crankbait down the shoreline will be using a plastic crankbait with a rattle in it. So, I can fish behind other crankbait fishermen and catch bass on the Flat Shad because it’s different.

Next: Pure Poison




 

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