There are a lot of new style Swim Baits out on the market today and many of them are excellent baits for catching striped bass. Not only are they realistic looking, they lend themselves to all types of rigging options for many different types of fishing situations.

  The Strike King Shadalious Swim Bait is one of the newer ones that I use. It comes in sizes from four-inches to six and a half inches in length. The bait is hollowed bodied, soft and very flexible. It is also pretty tough plastic. One bait we had survived six bluefish attacks and still remained in one piece, a bit chewed up, but in one piece none the less. Other baits that are similar are Lucky Strike, Z-Man, (which is made of 3X Elastic material) this is the stuff that stretches five to six times its length and won't break. Z-Man has made the material easier to work with when rigging. YUM's swim bait, and a lot of others. All of these new swim baits are similar in design and shape and only vary in their colors that are offered. YUM is pre-scented with YUM's special Live-Frenzy potion. Other hollow style swim baits lend themselves to having scent added to the inside of the bait by injecting scent into it, or in the case of Smelly Jelly you can coat the outside of the bait with Smelly Jelly paste and it will last quite a while when casting.

 If there is one important thing that is unique to almost all of these baits is the proper selection of the hook that is used or the jig head that is used. Choose the wrong size hook or jig head and the bait will tend to roll over and twist. It takes some getting used to and some experimentation as well finding the right size hook and jig head but the effort is worth it. The Shadalious Shad not only has a vibrating tail action but a unique rock and roll action when swimming, duplicating a live bait fish that is injured.

Almost all of these baits have come out of the freshwater bass fishery and have been used successfully in professional largemouth bass tournaments all over the country. The first one called a Bass -Trix is what caused the craze for this bait. When it was introduced out west it started catching big largemouths like no one had ever seen before. The small home-based company was quickly overwhelmed with orders and has a lot of difficulty keeping up with the demand. Packages of five baits were selling as high as $50 a bag out west on INTERNET sites. The larger companies saw this demand for this unique bait and immediately jumped on board and began making their own versions of the shad for sale. The rest of the story is history as there is now over a dozen or so different types on the market, some more expensive than other but most of them work very well.

 When selecting a jig head for these baits choose the a jig head that has a wide-bite hook with it. Jig heads by Owner, Kalin, D.O.A. and other companies make a very nice jig head that works great with these baits. The jig head should fit snuggly up against the head of the bait with little or no room between the head and the jig head. When you get space in-between the two, the water can cause the bait to tumble and twist, the same thing happens when using Fin-S Fish. Use or choose the wrong type or style of jig head and the lure is useless for the most part. If there is one major mistake made by most anglers when using these types of soft plastics it is not using the proper jig head to begin with and has nothing to do with the baits over-all effectiveness.. The right jig head will change the dynamics of the lure immensely.

 For plain hook rigging, the new style hooks that have a weight on the shank seem to work the best. The weight on the hook shank acts as a keel or stabilizer when the bait is rigged and allows it to track straight when being retrieved. Some of these new hook styles even come with different colored weights. Some are white, some red, some purple, and so on. Make sure the hook is big enough to reach through the bait and out the top without causing the lure to kink or bend. The Shad should hang as straight as possible once rigged, if it doesn't then you have done something wrong and the lure will not swim correctly.

 These Shads can be fished in shallow water and buzzed on the surface so the vibrating tail causes a "v" wake as well as bubbles across the surface. When the water is calm as it is early in the morning, this can draw amazing surface strikes. The shad can also be fished just below the surface as well as over rocks that are just below the surface. Because the hook point comes out of the top of the bait and is well concealed, the bait is almost snag proof allowing you to toss it in a lot of places that you wouldn't ordinarily toss an artificial lure. One effective method is cast to a rock that' just below the surface and bounce the bait off of it. As it bounces off the rock and clears into open water any bass that are there will hit it immediately. It works like magic.

 By adding a weighted jig head you can now fish the lure through all depths of the water column with a high degree of effectiveness. How deep the lure goes will depend on how heavy the jig head you select is. I like jig heads that are round-shaped for these lures as they tend to fit the head nice and snug once rigged. As stated before the Owner and Kalin jig heads are good for this as they both offer wide bite hook shanks on their jigs.

 Tackle should be somewhat beefy to handle this bait as well as the jig head. This will give you the best change of a good hook-set once you get a strike. Rods of seven feet and medium heavy action are good choices. I like using conventional gear for fishing these shads but you can use spinning gear too if that is what you prefer. Lines from 12 to 17 pound test are about right. I don't use Braid when fishing around rocky structure as Braid tends to brake too easily when it comes into contact with sharp rocks. Mono is much better. Use a Premium brand mono like Ande Back Country.  Tie on a leader of 18 to 20-inches or so, so that you have something strong to grab when reaching for the fish at boat side. It also helps when fishing around rocks so your main line doesn't get all nicked up when casting. I use leaders of 30-pound fluorocarbon and I've never had a problem with loosing fish using it.

 Reels are a totally personal choice. Some guys like me like conventional reels and others prefer to use spinning tackle. If there one big difference between the two it would be this: even though I like conventional reels, I'll go the the spinner when its windy. Sometimes, no matter how much you like using something, its best to go with what works in adverse conditions. When its windy I don't want to waste a lot of time picking out backlashes all day long. There's no point to it and its valuable time wasted. Sometimes, especially these days when fish are getting harder to find, you only have a small window of opportunity when the bite happens. The last thing you want or need to be messing with your reel. You want to be able to make as many casts as you can in as short a period of time as you can. The more time your lure is in the water the higher the probability is that you'll get a strike. There's no secret science to it, its just the way it is.

 So this coming season why not try these new and unique shad bodies when chasing your favorite fish. You just might find out that they are one of more effective lures that you can be using whether you fish from shore or a boat.

Capt Jim White