March 28, 2015
By Ned Kehde
During the past several months, we have been searching for and writing about soft-plastic finesse baits that are not employed by Midwest finesse anglers.
Gambler Lures' four-inch Shakey Shad is one of those. About six years ago, Gambler made it for a customer in Japan, and at that time, Gambler called it The Stud. Then about three years ago, they introduced it to finesse anglers in the United States and changed the name to the Shakey Shad.
It is similar to the shad-shaped worm that Shin Fukae of Palestine, Texas, and Osaka, Japan, introduced to Midwest finesse anglers on April 1, 2006, at Beaver Lake, Arkansas, where he was practicing for the Wal-Mart FLW Tour 2006 Wal-Mart Open. And Fukae subsequently used it to win $200,000 at the event on April 9, 2006.
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Gambler designed it for finesse anglers to affix to either a jig or a drop-shot rig. Most Midwest finesse anglers will opt to rig it on a mushroom-style jig, such as Gopher Tackle's 1/16-ounce Mushroom Head Jig or Z-Man Fishing Products' 1/15-ounce Finesse ShroomZ jig, and they can present it to their quarries with all six of the standard Midwest finesse retrieves. (For more information about the six Midwest finesse retrieves, please examine this link: http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/six-midwest-finesse-retrieves/ .)
The belly of the Shakey Shad's torso is arched and convexed. It is adorned with 18 ribs. Its back is flat and smooth. The torso is about 3 3/4-inches long.
Its tail is thin, flat, and about three-quarters of an inch long. The tail was designed to radiate a provocative quivering action, which the folks at Gambler say can entice tentative and unresponsive largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and spotted bass to engulf it.
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Midwest finesse anglers will occasionally rig the Shakey Shad with the flat side as its belly and its convexed and ribbed side as its back. This rigging should accentuate the gliding element when it is retrieved with a swim-glide-and-shake presentation.
It is manufactured in the following colors: Bold, Clear Silver Hologram, Copperfield, Flesh, Ghost Shad, Green Pumpkin, Green Pumpkin Gold Red Flake, Green Pumpkin Watermelon Candy, Natural Shad, Not so Sexy, Pinky, Purple Core, Purple Haze, Tennessee Retriever, Watermelon, and Watermelon Blue Core.
A package of 10 can be purchased for $3.99, and a package of 25 can be purchased for $6.99
