Opti Shad by Lucky Craft and Optimum Bait Company

Lucky Craft and Optimum Bait Company recently announced that they worked together to create a finesse swimbait.

It is endowed with a boot tail, and it is called Opti Shad. Matt Paino of Optimun says it incorporates the vibration of  Optimum's  Double Diamond and the seductive "wandering fall of Lucky Craft's Wander, which is a hardbait.

According to Paino, the bulge in its body allows it to distinct wobble and roll that is coupled with a frenzied kicking action. This alluring action can be achieved during extremely slow-paced retrieves. Fred Roumbanis, who is a professional angler from Bixby, Oklahoma, noted that its wide boot tail allows its long and slender body to shake and quiver more than other swim-style baits are able to accomplish.

It can be rigged weedless on a jig. It works well when rigged with an exposed hook on darter-head and swim-style jigs.  And it looks as if Midwest finesse anglers, who like to use Gopher Tackle's Mushroom Head Jigs, can use it when their largemouth and smallmouth bass turn away from invertebrates and become piscivorous.

(By the way Midwest finesse anglers who haven't read Rich Zaleski's article entitled "A Generation of Finesssin' Bass" in the July issue of In-Fisherman magazine might examine  Zaleski's thoughtful insights about presenting a boot-tail grub and jig to largemouth bass in the northeastern waterways that he traditionally plies.)

It is available in two sizes: two inches and four inches.

It is manufactured in 10 colors: shad, sunfish, pearl white, wakasagi, green-pumpkin chartreuse, golden shiner, sexy shad, ghost shad, Jackson trout and ghost rider. The suggested retail price  for  bag of six two-inch Opti-Shad is $5. A bag of five-inchers is $5.