August 25, 2014
By Ned Kehde
Since the 2014 International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades show in Orlando, Florida, thoughts about Megabass' three-inch Spark Shad have been haunting some Midwest finesse anglers.
Many of today's anglers call the Spark Shad a swimbait, but in the minds and eyes of most veteran Midwest finesse anglers, who came of age by wielding Mister Twister's Sassy Shad, the Spark Shad is a grub.
It is the little sibling of Megabass' four- and five-inch Spark Shads, which Tetsuya Nakamura of Osaka, Japan, played a role in designing.
Its slim shad-shaped body is graced with many lifelike features, such as its eyes, pectoral fin and anal fin.
It is not packaged with the eyes affixed in the eye sockets. Instead, they are included in the package, and anglers have to fasten them into the eye socks, which is an easy task, before they begin to fish with Spark Shad.
According to the folks at Megabass, the anatomical correctness of its body and fins helps to keep it from executing the extremely exaggerated rolling and twisting motions that afflict many other paddle-tail grubs and swimbaits when they are retrieved at a fast pace. Its thin but wide paddle tail moves and thumps, producing high-frequency vibrations, even when it is retrieved at an extremely slow pace.
Either a straight-swimming-style retrieve or Charlie Brewer's classic do-nothing retrieve will probably be the two retrieves that most finesse anglers will employ while they use it on a 3/32-ounce or similar-size mushroom-style jig with an exposed hook. But it should also inveigle unending numbers of largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, and temperate bass when anglers present it with several of the other standard Midwest finesse retrieves .
At this time, there are five colors for anglers in the United States to choose from: Glow Maker, Gold Shad, Hiuo, Real, and Ugui.
A package of six can be purchased from one online retailer for $9.99
