We’ve talked about lipless crankbaits in the past but haven’t done a complete review of today’s subject, the Strike King Red Eye Shad in the 1/4 ounce size. I know that there are plenty of folks out there who are used to using the 1/2 ounce but this is something that you might want to give a go. It is smaller than the original but not by as much as you would think. The 1/2 is 2.5 inches in length while the 1/4 is 2.25. Only a 1/4 inch difference but in profile, especially when the bass are keying on smaller bait, this is a substantial difference. However, not as important to its action as the fact that it weighs half what its larger sibling does!

You can put this bait out there easily for distance with casting gear and due to its relatively light weight, control its position in the water column by either adjusting your retrieve or your choice of line size. In my opinion, this is the single most important factor in our success with this bait as it is what influences the other attributes the most. The baits that we obtained have all run true out of the package as well as all of them having a very consistent action.

While some of the other baits in this class tend to dig down on you, the Red Eye Shad is easier to control horizontally. Another quality of this lure is that the action does not stop when you pause your retrieve. Even on the fall, this bait displays a nice tight wiggle so that when the angler is employing a stop and go, yo-yo type retrieve, you can rest assured that this little crank is still fluttering.

For this review, we chose the rattling version although there is a silent alternative. We did this to see how it performed against other baits in this class which almost all have rattles. The Strike King’s pitch would be considered a mid-range tone. I know that this varies from one manufacturer to the next and can, when the going gets tough, make the difference between getting bit or not. In our time with this lure, we didn’t have any outings where this proved to be a noticeable negative when going head to head with its competitors nor did it necessarily pan out as a shining positive. Really, it didn’t seem to have much of an impact at all.

In my opinion, the attributes that most influenced the bass to hit this bait are its action and ability to remain in the strike zone as well as the proven colors that are available. While the running angle of some other offerings are considerably more nose down, the Red Eye Shad has a slight nose down angle on the retrieve. This may also account for the fact that keeping it running horizontally in the water column isn’t as difficult as when using either heavier lipless cranks or some of its competitors. Either way, Strike King has struck a good balance between size, weight and ease of use for this lure.

One of the things that we noticed is that the paint on the Red Eye is not the most durable out there. Our test baits sustained damage after having caught several fish on them. Of course with this type of lure, the bass tend to mouth the entire package when they hit it. None the less, we would like to see a more robust clear coat in the future. Not that this has made much of a difference in terms of fish being willing to hit the lure. As tends to be the case with reaction type baits, the fish are not really scrutinizing them closely when they hit!

All in all, we’ve been very pleased with this smaller Red Eye Shad. This is a bait that both the novice and experienced angler can use effectively for a good part of the season. Its size lends itself very well to a lot of different situations and it is fairly versatile in terms of where in the water column it can be fished. The angler can employ several different retrieves based on what the fish are wanting and there are color patterns that will mimic most prevalent forage where ever you chose to fish. Add to that a reasonable retail price of about $5 each and you have a lure design that is a good all around value.

If you’ve been thinking about adding smaller lipless cranks to your arsenal or if you’re just getting started fishing this style of bait, this is one that deserves a thorough inspection.

Strike King Red Eye Shad
Overall Rating
Reasonable price for a solid bait

See ya’ on the water …

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