Entry 328-4
Strike King’s Mark Rose’s $50,000 Bet That Paid Off
Editor’s Note: Mark Rose of Marion, Arkansas, fishes the FLW Tour, the FLW Stren Series (Central Division) and the PAA (Professional Anglers Association) tournament trail – a total of 20 tournaments each year. Rose has made the championship tournament for each of these trails. Entry fees and expenses for these 20 tournaments totaled about $50,000, and Rose was betting he not only could get his $50,000 back but also make enough money to take care of his family. Would you dig into your pocket and bet $50,000 that you could beat some of the best bass fishermen in the world in 20-different tournaments? Rose did. This week, we’ll learn what lures he bet-on this season and used to win.
Part 4: The Versatile Diamond Shad
Question: What’s the next lure that you’d put in your tackle box to take with you to tournaments, if you could only have four lures in your tackle box?
Rose: I’d have to say the Diamond Shad lipless crankbait – one of the most-versatile lures in Strike King’s lineup. It has a completely-different action than any other crankbait. It can be waked just under the surface or bounced off the bottom at 30-feet deep. One of the secrets to winning tournaments and catching bass is finding the most actively-feeding bass. Therefore, the more water you cover, the greater your odds are for locating that school of bass that will eat your lure.
So with a Diamond Shad, I can make long casts, run it through any depth of water and catch bass. I can let it free-fall to the bottom, jerk it up off the bottom and let it free-fall. I can fish it around and under docks and piers, I can run it along the outside edges of blowdowns, brush and stumps, and if a bass is actively feeding, it’ll eat the Diamond shad. The only place I can’t fish the Diamond Shad is through vegetation that’s on the top of the water. 
However, I can fish the Diamond Shad down the edges of that vegetation.
My favorite color of Diamond Shad is red. I’ve found that the red Diamond Shad produces more bass for me at certain times of the year than any other bait. I will fish the Diamond Shad in the sexy-shad color from time to time and some of the chromes and other colors that Strike King makes. But my all-time favorite is red. The Diamond Shad is also an impulse bait that I rely on heavily. If I see bass schooling on top and need to get a lure to them quickly, I always reach for my rod baited with the Diamond Shad.
I can cast the Diamond Shad a long way and get that reaction strike from a school of bass feeding on the surface. When the bass quit feeding on the surface, I can cast it to the same spot, let it fall to the bottom and get that reaction strike. 
I catch bass on the Diamond Shad all year long fishing around rocks, stumps, logs, grass, ledges and anywhere I think bass may be holding. There’s no time of year when the Diamond Shad is not an appropriate bait to use to try to catch bass.
When I choose lures that I’ve got to bet on, I want to pick the lures that I have the most confidence in under any weather and water conditions, regardless of where the lake is located, and whether I’m fishing for largemouths, smallmouths or spotted bass. The Diamond Shad is that kind of lure. The Diamond Shad will go-anywhere and fish for any kind of bass under any conditions.
