Entry 244-4
Spring Fishing with Mark Davis
Editor’s Note: Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Arkansas, one of Strike King’s veteran pro-staff team members, has fished many major tournaments, and has 29, top-10 tournament finishes and has won the 2007 FLW Tour and the 1995 Bassmasters Classic.
Part 4: The Sexy Shad Color – Gimmick or Reality?
Question: Mark, Strike King has come out with a lot of new lures this past year. About what new lure are you most excited?
Davis: I really prefer to fish crankbaits. Strike King is using better hooks and colors, and the company constantly improving the way lures run.
Question: Mark, speaking of better colors, is the Sexy Shad color a gimmick, or is there really something to it?
Davis: No, it’s far from a gimmick. Sexy Shad has become a phenomenon. It’s really a good color. It’s one of those colors that when a fisherman looks at it, he automatically knows the fish will bite it. We’ve got some guys now who really know how to catch bass using that Sexy Shad color, especially on a crankbait and the Red Eye Shad. 
I’ve never seen a lure color in history take off in sales on a hard bait like the Sexy Shad color did.
Question: You’ve fished it. What do you think of it?
Davis: There’s no real magic to the Sexy Shad color, other than it really looks like the color of a live shad. The other thing you can’t discount is that Sexy Shad catches bass. You can’t argue with the fact that if people weren’t catching bass using the Sexy Shad, that color wouldn’t have taken over the country like it has today. What happens with a gimmick is you may have a 2- or a 3-month run on it and then it plays out. 
But when you really make a significant improvement in a lure, people will buy one, and then they’ll buy more and continue to buy even more.
For instance, when the Strike King spinner bait was new, a lot of people bought it, fished it and caught bass on it. If the Strike King spinner bait had been a gimmick, you’d never have heard of it after a year. But because the Strike King spinner bait keeps on catching bass year after year, people continue to buy it. Today, it’s still one of the hottest-selling baits in the marketplace. What I’m trying to say is the Strike King spinner bait didn’t go away after it was introduced. The same thing will be said about the Sexy Shad color. It continues to catch bass, so bass fishermen will keep on using it. The Sexy Shad color will be a mainstay in hard baits for a long time.
Contents:
- Part 1: Changing Tactics with the Weather
- Part 2: When to Abandon a Working Pattern
- Part 3: The Shadalicious and the Sexy Spoon
- Part 4: The Sexy Shad Color – Gimmick or Reality?
- Part 5: Fish the Big Lizard for Big Bass
