Guiding You In Your Quest For More And Bigger Fish
Zerek Rocker Vib Packaging
Lipless crankbaits are one of those staple lures that we all carry but don’t often think much about in the cold winter months. This can be a mistake though as there are days when the bass, in spite of the chilly weather, will absolutely crush these lures.
With that in mind, we picked up some of the new Zerek Rocker Vib’s to give a go around some of our local waters. [Read more…]
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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Today, let’s look at another of the contestants from our lipless crankbait cage fight, the ExCalibur XRK 25 One Knocker. This small crankbait comes in a variety of colors and features the one knocker sound chamber. Simply put, as opposed to using several small bee-bee’s to generate sound, this lure uses one ball that knocks back and forth for its unique sound. [Read more…]
Today’s review is on one of the contestant’s from our lipless crankbait cage fight, the Koppers Live Target Bluegill Vibration trap. As it turned out, this little bait was also our winner in that event. [Read more…]
Well gang, we have the results of our small lipless crankbait contest. To refresh, our three contestants are the Spro Aruku Shad Jr.(our reigning champ), the Koppers Live Target Bluegill Trap and the ExCalubur XRK 25. We took them all out on the same day, the same body of water, the same weather conditions and threw them on the exact same equipment. [Read more…]
One of the propensities that all us fisherman seem to share is the ongoing search for the next great bait. Even when we have one that has worked well for us for years, if something new comes out that we believe that it has the potential to out catch our “old favorite”, or add to our arsenal when the fish start refusing that bait, we run out, buy it, and get it out to our favorite body of water to see how it performs. [Read more…]
Click Here To Buy The Aruku Shad
Most of us old bass hounds have used and continue to use some type of lipless crank bait. Today’s long term product review is on just such a lure, the Spro Aruku Shad Jr(aff). I have now used this bait for the past two seasons and have been more than happy with it’s performance. [Read more…]