You know swimbaits have become a standard bait.
You know a few years ago a lot of guys said, “Ah you know that’s kind of a phase people
are throwing these big baits trying to catch these big fish”, but you know what’s happened
is that all these different companies have come out with a lot of different styles of
swimbaits and a lot more rigging options so you you know just like that, Strike King,
we’ve done the same thing we’ve got the hollow body Shadalicious and this year we
came out with a new swimming Caffeine Shad and you know it just really gives you all
the options that you need to depending on, you know the time of the year and the type
of action you’re looking for.
You know a hollow bodied swimbait like a Shadalicious is great bait you know if you’re going to
put it on a jig head even on a belly weighted hook because it has a lot of side to side
wobble to it.
One of the things I really like about this new swimming Caffeine Shad is it has kind
of an unique action compared to the Shadalicious.
It’s a bait that I can fish a lot faster.
You know, the Shadalicious works best if you real it at a slower pace and that’s great
for a lot of situations but what I found is I get a lot of follows.
You know you get a lot of you know the baits moving along nice and slow it’s got that
side to side wobble it pushes a lot of water.
The vibration is what, you know, those fish home inn on and when their eating it it’s
great but there’s a lot of times they just like to follow or they’re up there and just
bumping it and that’s where something that is built for a little more speed really comes
in handy and that’s really what the Caffeine Shad with the swimming tail really does.
Now, right here I’ve got it weighted on, you know, rigged on a Mustad belly weighted
swimbait hook.
It’s got a screw lock on the front; it’s got a little weight on it so I can keep it
down.
You know, I’m on a shallow flat here.
There’s scattered grass all around here there’s you know here’s a nice little
floating log in there.
But this is something you know I can fish it real slow and it has that pretty good wobble
to it but I can also burn it you know through it and with a rig like this I can fish it
through the thickest cover.
I can fish it through you know, grass match* you can almost use it as a frog on top if
you want so it fishes real well and it comes in two sizes you know.
Just rigged just like this, I like to throw the 5 inch size you know it fits the 5 out
hook real well and again I can fish it through you know this thick grass and it’s a good
size profile so you know you’re targeting those bigger fish.
The smaller size works really good on the back of a swim jig and works phenomenal for
Alabama rigs.
It also is something I like to fish on a spinning rod with a lighter jig head when they’re
chasing smaller shad so it gives you a couple different options.
You know, another thing I really like to do with this is I’ll fish it and structure
too and so you can take a big bait like this 5 inch bait and I’ll rig it on a 1/2 ounce
or 3/4 ounce jig head and the same place as you know that you’re throwing on a 6XD or
you know, a football jig on you can do the same thing you know.
Rigging it like that on a jig head allows you again that faster presentation.
So typically what I’d like to do in the summer months when I’m throwing this is
I want something that I can you know, really make these fish react with so instead of throwing
a 3/8 ounce jig head out there and letting it sink to the bottom slow and just swimming
it down through the school of fish, I want to try and make them react to it so you know
1/2 at a minimum or 3/4 or even 1 ounce head, cast it out there so it’s sinking like a
rock again so I can get that speed.
When the water’s warm, speed is what triggers a lot of bass to strike so being able to take
a swimbait like this and reel it real fast and then kill it, that’s having it flutter
down at them at a fast pace is a great way to trigger them so those heavier jig heads
rigged on something like this swimming Caffeine Shad can just be deadly.
It’s a tool that you have to have in your tackle box, you know.
I mean a few years ago people thought you know, when you’re fishing shallow stuff
like this you throw a spinnerbait.
Now, we have so many more options you know, we’ve got swimbaits, we’ve got square
bills, we’ve got top waters, we’ve got frogs and things so it’s just another tool
that you have to have in your tackle box.
When the water’s clear like it is in this situation, having something super natural
like that swimming Caffeine Shad just is money.