Berkley Flicker Shad Tuning

[Bankc]

I found a Berkley Flicker Shad (3-1/2") a year or so ago.  I hadn't really used it, but the other day I decided to give it a try.  I couldn't get it to run straight.  I spent more time tuning it than fishing it, and when I finally got it to run straight enough (never did get it to run perfectly straight) it would throw itself out of tune anytime it hit bottom.  And even when it was close to being in tune, it would blow out if I retrieved it with any speed.  It was the most frustrating crankbait I've ever used.  I've never thrown something so finicky before where just a hair's breadth determined whether it stay down at all.  And I never did catch anything with it, though it did look like it might be a nice bait, if I could get it to run true.  

 

Since it's a found lure, I'm wondering if there's something wrong with it, and perhaps the old owner just threw it away rather than keep dealing with it.  Or maybe something warped on it sitting the sun between it being lost and found, and it doesn't run right anymore.  Or is this just the nature of these lures?  Has anyone else had issues with these?  I'm always on the lookout for deeper diving cranks with smaller profiles, and this one seems to fit that bill.  But I won't buy another if they're all like this.  I'm not against tuning crankbaits, but tuning and retuning and retuning isn't fishing.  

[mrpao]

I only throw the smaller flicker shads. Usually size 4 up to 7.

I own quite a few of them and fish them side to side with shad raps. 

I'll have to say most of the flicker shads run true out of the box, some need slight tuning. Every once in a while, one will be defective and wont run right or can't be tuned correctly. Those are rare but it does happen. 

For the most part, most flicker shad run pretty good. The one you found is probably defective or damaged in some way. Not worth the trouble of messing with I my opinion. They are fairly cheap lures, so you could just buy a few new ones to try, if you felt like it,

[Team9nine]

37 minutes ago, mrpao said:

I only throw the smaller flicker shads. Usually size 4 up to 7.

I own quite a few of them and fish them side to side with shad raps. 

I'll have to say most of the flicker shads run true out of the box, some need slight tuning. Every once in a while, one will be defective and wont run right or can't be tuned correctly. Those are rare but it does happen. 

For the most part, most flicker shad run pretty good. The one you found is probably defective or damaged in some way. Not worth the trouble of messing with I my opinion. They are fairly cheap lures, so you could just buy a few new ones to try, if you felt like it,

Exactly ^^

[Bankc]

Good to know.  I'll toss it then.  But I do love my Shad Raps, and especially the bigger ones look like they might be deeper diving Shad Rap esque baits.  So the thought did appeal to me.  I guess it would be worth trying to buy one and see how I like it.  I do like the Dredgers from Berkley that never gave me any trouble.  But being a different design, I didn't know if these had a different set of flaws that the Dredgers managed to correct.  

[T-Billy]

I've never done well with bass on Flicker Shads but the eyes love 'em. I've had a few I couldn't tune as well.

[Bluebasser86]

6 hours ago, T-Billy said:

I've never done well with bass on Flicker Shads but the eyes love 'em. 

Same with the regular flicker shad but the shallow flicker shad is a great finesse bass crank for me.