Reins Fishing's three-inch Rockvibe Shad

In the eyes of a Midwest Finesse angler, Reins Fishing’s three-inch Rockvibe Shad looks to be a soft-plastic stick-style bait that swims.

We exchanged several emails with the folks at Reins Fishing and Optimum Bait Company in Temecula, California. And Matt Paino, who is the chief executive officer of Optimum Bait Company, sent us some Rockvibe Shads for us to work with, examine, and thoroughly describe.

Here is what we discovered about it.

It is 2 7/8 inches long.

Its head and anterior section of its torso possess the shape of an ellipse, which is a flattened circle.

Its head is three-eighths of an inch wide and about a quarter of an inch high. The center of its head has an indentation that is three-sixteenths of an inch wide and one-eighth of an inch high. This indentation is where Midwest finesse anglers will insert the hook and collar or hook-keeper of a mushroom-style jig.

The anterior has three significant segments. The first one is three-eighths of an inch long and five-sixteenths of an inch wide at its widest spot with a circumference of 1 1/16 inches. The second segment is three-quarters of an inch long and three-eighths of an inch wide at its widest spot with a circumference of 1 1/8 inches. The third one is three-quarters of an inch long, and three-eighths of an inch wide at its widest spot with a circumference that is slightly less than 1 1/16 inches. As the third segment approaches the junction with the posterior section, its width and circumference diminishes. At the junction of the anterior and posterior sections, the size of the third segment diminishes to a width of three-sixteenths of an inch and a circumference of three-quarters of an inch.

Except for the indentation of the head, the epidermis of the head and anterior section is smooth.

The anterior’s dorsal and ventral sections are identical. They are slightly convex and flatter than its two sides. In other words, the dorsal and ventral sections are the flattened portions of the anterior’s ellipitical shape.

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The posterior section is three-quarters of an inch long.

It also possesses the shape of an ellipse. But its sides, not its dorsal and ventral, are the flattened portions of the ellipse. Its dorsal and ventral are convex.

It is encircled with eight significant ribs.The first rib is three-sixteenths of an inch wide and about a quarter of an inch high with a circumference of about thirteen-sixteenths of an inch. The eighth rib is about one-eighth of an inch wide and slightly less than a quarter of an inch high with a circumference of slightly less than three-quarters of an inch.

At the eighth rib, the posterior section joins the tail. The tail possesses a flange and a feature that replicates a paddle or a boot. Adjacent to the eighth rib, the flange’s dorsal has a width of one-sixteenth of an inch. The flange has a width of three-sixteenths of an inch near its junction with the paddle or boot portion of the tail.

The paddle or boot has a height of five-eighths of an inch, a width of three-eighths of an inch, and a thickness of one-sixteenth of an inch.

The three-inch Rockvibe Shad is available in the following hues: Aji King Silver, Baitfish SP, Black, Blue Gill, Clear Pearl, Ghost Pro Blue, Green Pumpkin, Green Pumpkin Allstars, Green Pumpkin Blue, Moebi, Pearl White, and Watermelon Seed.

It is impregnated with a shrimp scent. It is not buoyant.

A package of 15 three-inch Rockvibe Shads costs $4.75.

In the hands of most anglers, the three-inch Rockvibe Shad will be a swimbait. Midwest Finesse anglers will affix this stick-style bait with a paddle tail to a small mushroom-style jig, and at times, they will swim it, which is one of the six standard Midwest finesse presentations. But they will also present it to their black bass quarries by employing the other five standard Midwest Finesse retrieves or slight variations of those retrieves. Midwest finesse anglers will discover that its anterior’s relatively flat ventral area will accentuate its ability to glide when they employ the swim-glide-and-shake presentation.

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