Lure Review: Renegade Tennessee Shad

What has become my favorite crankbait (bear in mind that I am mostly a finesse fisherman) is a crankbait sold under Walmart's Renegade brand. It is a minnow type bait in the color Tennessee Shad, I believe. It has a good profile, which very well approximates a minnow and it has a ball bearing rattle to get the fishes attention. When I have tested similar baits without rattles, this bait has out performed them. I don't fish crankbaits terribly often, but when I have, I have gotten a lot more bites on this one, including a very aggressive green sunfish who though he could have a go even if it was half his size. Oh, and I forgot to mention that it is cheap. Usually runs a little under two dollars a pop. Not too shabby when most cranks will run around five or six dollars. The only problem is that I haven't seen them on the shelves at Walmart recently. I hope they haven't been discontinued...

Find The Bait

This time of year on major lakes around the country, shad fry are schooling up. There are also a number of baby bluegill about. Bluegill are ubiquitous in most of the Eastern part of the countries lakes, creeks, rivers, and ponds. Where you find schools of these prey fish you find predators. These could include Largemouth and Smallmouth bass, stripes (genus Morone), crappie, large bluegill, and catfish. If you can catch some of these fry when you find them (check you local regulations), these will most likely make the best bait. I learned this the hard way while fishing recently. The nicest fish I caught all day was on a dead shad minnow that I scooped from the water as opposed to my store bought live minnows. Running small lures such as creature baits and crankbaits under schools of small shad is also a good method to catch predator fish. To find fry, look in large creeks that feed reservoirs near drop-offs and points. Also look in the backs of bays near insect hatches such as mayflies and around boat docks.

Lure Review-Zoom Trick Worms

Since switching to bass as my primary target species (3 years ago), my primary confidence lure has been a Zoom trick worm. These worms are of good quality and come in a variety of colors. What's better is that they are relatively cheap. If you lose one, it is only going to cost you about $0.20 as opposed to $5 or more with crankbaits. My two favorite colors for day time use have been watermelon seed and plum. These work well in relatively clear to stained water. For evening or murky water I usually switch to black to help the fish see it. I generally texas rig these 6" worms on a lead jig head and bounce them through rocky places, around points, and up rock walls (I bank fish). The are also good for docks and wood cover, but I would recommend rigging them weightless in weedy situations. The lead head just seems to pick up too much greenery.

The size of the lures never seem to limit bass, either large or small. Small bass even as small as 10" will take a crack at the worms and so will bass up to...well as big as they get. The biggest ones I have caught to date would have gone over 17" or 18". The lure is versatile, bass love worms, it will catch a variety of sizes of fish, and it is cost effective. How could you go wrong?