Best shad imitators

[Jonas Staggs]

Whats your Best soft plastic shad imitator? Would you go with a fluke split tail type bait? Curly tail? Or paddle tail? I believe this is the time of year to be imitating small bait fish?

 

 

[NittyGrittyBoy]

Traditional Zoom fluke. Worked for years. Belly Weight the hook to adjust for depth. Simple but effective 

[Hammer 4]

Yup, Zoom Fluke.

[garroyo130]

Got one of these in the grab bags that mister twister used to sell and I have to say the action on this is incredible.

 

Ill typically reach for this before a fluke.

 

[MGF]

Maybe a hard jerk bait or even a sluggo?

[roadwarrior]

Rage Tail Menace
 

 

[Jonas Staggs]

2 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

Rage Tail Menace
 

 

I thought those things were supposed to be craws with those 2 flaps 

[roadwarrior]

They might be a craw or a baitfish. I fish them horizontally on the Chatterbait and J-Rig;

vertically on a swim jig.

[FryDog62]

5 inch Caffeine Shad on a weightless or 3/32 oz 4/0 Owner Twistlock Light. Out-fishes any fluke style lure I’ve ever used 3:1. But has to be that hook. 

[Bluebasser86]

11 hours ago, Jonas Staggs said:

I thought those things were supposed to be craws with those 2 flaps 

Tear one leg off and put it on a jighead rigged horizontally and it has a great small baitfish profile. The Glacier color is great for doing that in clear water.

 

I like small boot tail swimbaits like a 3.8 fat impact style bait, YUM Pulse Jr, or a 4" Strike King Swimming Shiner.

[Festivus]

Mister Twister Sassy Shad

[Jonas Staggs]

3 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Tear one leg off and put it on a jighead rigged horizontally and it has a great small baitfish profile. The Glacier color is great for doing that in clear water.

 

I like small boot tail swimbaits like a 3.8 fat impact style bait, YUM Pulse Jr, or a 4" Strike King Swimming Shiner.

I have some yum pulse jr. How are you rigging them or what's the best way to rig a paddle tail? 

[Bluebasser86]

2 hours ago, Jonas Staggs said:

I have some yum pulse jr. How are you rigging them or what's the best way to rig a paddle tail? 

I just fish them on a 1/8oz jighead. The ones I use are 1/8oz mushroom heads out of a Midwest Finesse mold with a 1/0 hook.

[Tatsu Dave]

Yum pulse is a hard one to beat, has a unique side to side tilt when swimming that gets attention. 

[Jonas Staggs]

1 hour ago, Tatsu Dave said:

Yum pulse is a hard one to beat, has a unique side to side tilt when swimming that gets attention. 

They look amazing on my spinnerbait I can't catch anything with lol.

 

I'm a big fan of yum. They are basically the cheaper version of zoom.

[Mobasser]

On 10/25/2020 at 2:49 AM, Festivus said:

Mister Twister Sassy Shad

This one is older, maybe forgotten by many fisherman, but still very good. 

[Hook2Jaw]

I had a buddy absolutely hammer them yesterday in a small lake with every daggum variant of shad you could want in it.  He was throwing a Keitech 3.8 with a 3/0 EWG and slowly, slowly retrieving it.

 

For me, the most successful shad imitator has been a ZOOM Super Fluke.  I'll probably give the weightless paddletail a try, though.