Entry 262-4

Fishing the New Strike King Lures with Mike Wurm

Part 4: The Sexy-Shad Colored Red Eye Shad

Question: Mike, you’ve always been a fan of the Sexy Shad color. What do you think about the new 3/4-ounce Red Eye Shad in the Sexy Shad color?

Wurm: Several new things are happening with the Red Eye Shad. The hottest new thing is they’ve added the Sexy Shad color to this lure. But the color I’m really excited about is the chrome Sexy Shad, which is a super color. With a chrome body and a Sexy Shad overlay, this lure pops out with a lot of flash. Too, we’ve always had the 1/2-ounce Red Eye Shad, but now we have the 3/4-ounce, which allows you to fish deeper depths more efficiently.

Remember that big-bass lakes like Lake Falcon or Lake Amistad require a big lure because you’re fishing for big bass. Too, remember, shad grow. They don’t stay the same size all year. So, if you’ve got a great lure that’s shad-colored in one size, it can be very effective as long as the shad in the lake are the same size. When the shad grow bigger, you need a lure that better imitates not only the color of the shad, but the size of the shad as well.

The new 3/4-ounce Red Eye Shad gives us the next size we need when the shad are bigger than 1/2-ounce. The 3/4-ounce shad is wider from top to bottom than the 1/2-ounce bait, meaning it gives you a bigger profile and displaces more water. Even though the bait’s larger, it still has the same characteristics as the 1/2-ounce Red Eye Shad. It still swims to the bottom instead of falling like an anvil when you stop the lure and will catch bass when you want to cover a lot of water or rip it out of grass.

Too, like the 1/2-ounce Red Eye Shad, you can let the 3/4-ounce bait sink to the bottom, jerk it off the bottom and get that great side-to-side action. Or, you can veer off to the left or the right side, while the bait swims to the bottom. The 1/2-ounce Red Eye Shad has a higher-pitched faster frequency in the sound it makes than the 3/4-ounce Red Eye Shad does. So, you get more of a throbbing feeling with the 3/4-ounce Red Eye Shad.

Question: What makes the Sexy Shad color over a chrome body such a great color for you in the Red Eye Shad?

Wurm: On bright days, with plenty of sunshine, or when you want more flash in muddy water, the chrome-colored Sexy Shad enables you to fish the Red Eye Shad with the flash you need.

Question: What type of retrieve do you like best with the Red Eye Shad?

Wurm: I prefer to use a steady retrieve, but there’s really no such thing as an entirely-steady retrieve. Any time you’re steadily cranking a lure, sooner or later, something will happen to interrupt that retrieve. Oftentimes you’ll scratch your nose, look away, notice a loud noise or turn to your partner to say something. For that split instant, you stop or kill the bait. You’ll often get a bite when your retrieve is interrupted.

When you get a bite like this, the bass is telling you that it prefers a stop-and-go retrieve rather than a steady retrieve. So, on the next cast, use the stop-and-go retrieve. Sometimes a straight retrieve will catch all the bass you want. Other times you have to use a stop-and-go or a pumping-type retrieve. Sometimes letting the bait sink to the bottom and ripping it up off the bottom works best. You can use a variety of retrieves with the Red Eye Shad, which is why it’s such a productive lure.

Next: The Stronger, Bigger Football Head Jig

Contents:

• Part 1: The Shadalicious - A Deadly Swim Bait
• Part 2: The Ocho
• Part 3: The Space Monkey
• Part 4: The Sexy-Shad Colored Red Eye Shad
• Part 5: The Stronger, Bigger Football Head Jig