Silent Red Eye Shad

[bass1980]

I've already read all about the theory of silent vs rattling crankbaits. TW has a sale on SK silent red eye shad and was tempted to get some. I was looking to get a lot of lipless crank anyways but now that I saw this sale I might even get a bunch. Just wondering if people have had sucess with silent crankbaits or even better any sucess with the SK silent lipless cranks.

I just don't want to buy 10+ of them and they don't work as well as rattling. The lakes up here in MN is not very clear BTW.

[iabass8]

I picked up a few silent traps for a private pond that is heavily pressured and they seemed to do the trick earlier in the summer. I use silent squarebills on the river a lot in dirty water with good success. Sometimes a rattle with help though. It never hurts to carry both.

[Dave P]

Given the choice, I think that I will buy all silent from now on just to have something different.

[scaleface]

I didnt know there was a Silent Red Eyed Shad. I want some.

My last fishing trip, I was throwing a shallow diving Bandit with rattles and wasnt having much luck. I switched to an old Rogers Big Jim with no rattles and the fish jumped all over it. It made a huge difference.

[TrippyJai]

The only lakes I fish are all heavily pressured and I have better success with the rattling versions on all crankbaits. It seems to work better. Most of the strikes come from a reaction strike like deflecting off a rock, but I have noticed that not many people use crankbaits, they seem to like the spinnerbait more.

I have a lot of silent crankbaits, but if I wanted something different for a rattle trap, try the one knocker.

[Bluebasser86]

I've got some silent RES, they work for sure. They have the same vibration that fish can feel to help them find the bait but without the noisey rattles so they work in dirty water also.

[Primus]

You want to have both. I generally will use the rattling version more often but there have been times when the silent versions worked much better. I also will start an area that I want to fish with the rattling version and follow-up with a silent version to pick up a couple of extra bites.

In my opinion the best silent lipless crank that I've used is the Sebile Flatt Shad, make sure you get the ones filled with mineral oil (these are the silent ones) as the painted versions have a slight knocking sound. App 2 weeks ago fished a clear water natural lake on a windy day and for some reason they were not hitting the rattling baits like the regular Red Eye Shad but were choking on the Flatt Shad. The great thing about this bait is it will vibrate well at low speeds which is important when fishing cold water.

Another good bait is the silent version of the Damiki Tremor, it came through for me very well this past spring.

[TNBassin']

You gotta have both. One will work when the other won't. The only issue I have with SK RES, is that the bbs inside the lure sometimes get glued down when they manufacture them. I have some that rattle nice and loud, and others that sound like it only has 2 or 3 bbs inside. QC is not one of SK's strong suits when it comes to hard baits. Their plastics are amazing though.

[bass1980]

Crap sale ended, they really mean one day when they say today's sale. Was going to get 10 silent but now I may just pick up 2-4 just to have variety. I was trying to collect as much Hard baits this winter and load for the spring.

[Marty]

I haven't used a silent lipless in 35 years, probably because I never see any. However, silent crankbaits can be fabulously successful (examples: Shad Raps, Strike King KVD) so it follows logically that silent lipless can also be successful.

From personal experience, I haven't been able to conclude anything about rattles vs. silent.

[scaleface]

I still have some old Pico Perches and Bayou Boogies without rattles.

[Silas]

I still have some old Pico Perches and Bayou Boogies without rattles.

Those 2 baits brought great memories down in South Louisiana. With a name like "Bayou Boogie," we had to, of course, think that it was made by and for the Louisiana fisherman.

The only hang-up about those baits is that we have mud bottoms with lots of wood on the bottom. If you let it touch bottom, you were singing "Bye Bye, Boogie!"

[TNBassin']

Try the sk silent res in the chili craw color. Also, chartreuse bait fish color in the rattling version is unbeatable for stained water.