The Sugar Shad is the Rolls Royce of lipless, vibrating rattle baits. It has the specific features that put it ahead of the competition on the lake and on the river.

1. It is the best casting lure in its class on the market---with minimal wind-planing.

2. The Sugar Shad lands nose down and ready to run instantly which is especially important to anglers casting to fish holding in currents. The stability and balance of the Sugar Shad prevents constant broaching (rolling and surfacing) in currents and it outfishes competing lures in side-by-side comparisons. The Sugar Shad solves many problems casting for river stripers, whites and hybrids. On the lake, the Sugar Shad makes possible those long casts past schooling fish, then quickly rights itself as you rip it forward and then drop it under the school.

3. The Sugar Shad is designed to avoid hooks tangling with each other or with the line.

4. The Sugar Shad is a true countdown lure with a sinking rate of one foot for every two seconds. Use it to reach suspended fish in lakes or in areas of low current. Just cast it past suspected fish positions to bring it through them after it sinks, or make a cast based on sonar or graph reading of fish positions. If fish were positioned at twelve feet over a fifteen-foot bottom, you would count to 24 or 25 before beginning your retrieve.

To keep the lure close to the fish, you can lift the lure one ore two feet with a sweeping motion (sometimes called "ripping") as you crank the reel them let it drop back through the fish. Lift the rod, reel several times, drop the lure back, lift the rod, reel and drop back. It is a cycle of lifting and dropping motions that causes the lure to rise and fall through suspended fish until it is under the boat. At that point you can jig the lure vertically by simply lifting, then dropping it back. If you want to fish the lure flat on the bottom, just use the one second for every two feet sinking rate or simply wait until the line goes slack indicating the lure is on the bottom. Now begin the same forward lift and drop back cycle you used on suspended fish. When on the bottom, the two larger sizes of Sugar Shad will stand right on their noses with the tail held high by a special air chamber. Each time the lure is lifted and dropped back or twitched along in a mild current, the lure will kick up puffs of sediment and drop back to its nose-down/tail-up "feeding" position. This technique is a major strike trigger for gamefish. Some fish actually will pick the lure right off the bottom, but you can expect to get most strikes as the lure is falling. Be ready to make a hook set! On debris-filled bottoms, you may want to clip off one or both of the downward-turned trebles on the hooks. The belly hook would be the place to start because the Sugar Shad floats tail-high giving additional hook protection to the rear hook. You will still hook plenty of fish even after you have pruned the downward treble off each hook.

5. Want powerful, intense vibration and rattle sound? You can't top the Sugar Shad! It works hard to produce sound and vibration as soon as it touches the water. Just a lift of the rod or a crank of the reel handle instantly activates this lure.

6. Whenever light activates the reflective, dimpled, hammer-finished lure sides, the Sugar Shad puts out intermittent flashes just like a live shad, alewife, mullet or any silvery-sided baitfish. This effect is multiplied greatly in all Luhr Jensen chrome-bodied paint patterns, so be sure to put them to work whenever silvery-sided baitfish abound.

FISH SPECIES

Luhr Jensen's Sugar Shad is as close to an all-species lure as you can get. It's versatility excels on the freshwater species trail, whether it's bass, walleye, striper, white bass or hybrids and it can be ordered with VMC Perma-Steel hooks especially made for salt water. GO after snook, tarpon, redfish or speckled trout by changing the sizes and you will find out why the Sugar Shad has been everywhere…having also taken South American peacock bass and even the acrobatic Northwest steelhead.

FISHING TECHNIQUES

Thousands of fish have been caught with this lure by simply casting past their holding positions and cranking back. This technique is deadly and it allows a fast search pattern to be established in any body of water where the lure can be brought close to fish positions. As a rule of thumb, increase lure speed in clear water, especially where there is heavy fishing pressure and reduce lure speed in dingy water, at night, or under any low light conditions. As you become familiar with the lure, you can work on the techniques outlined in this report to become a more versatile angler. Use them wherever the Sugar Shad can give you an advantage in speed or depth control. For any of these techniques, lighter line appropriate to the species you are after gives faster sinking and deeper cranking depth. You also may use heavy line, 14 to 20 lb. to kill off lure depth for casting or trolling.

TROLLING

You can work 9-to 10-foot area trolling a ½-oz. Sugar Shad 120 feet behind the boat with 12-lb. line. If you go to heavier line, subtract a foot for every pound test you move up. IF you troll with line lighter than 12-lb. test add a foot to depth for every pound test you drop in line size. Try trolling speed of 2 ¾ to 3 m.p.h.

OVER THE FLATS

These lures are famous for straight outright "burning" over shallow flats. Make a long cast and start cranking fast. If the flat has a mucky, slimy or weedy bottom, the idea is to keep the lure moving fast after touchdown to avoid weeds. The absence of a diving lip is an advantage here. Pre-spawn is a good time for cranking spawning flats.

IN THE LAKE

Countdown for suspended fish & vertical jigging. You can count the lure down to suspend fish and then rip it back up through them in a constant lift-drop cycle or let it go all the way to the bottom and simply "rip" or jig it back again using a lift, crank and drop cycle.

OVER THE WEEDS

Whenever emergent weed growth is still below the surface, but too high for crankbaits with diving lips, run the Sugar Shad just fast enough to tick the weedtops and fish will come up to get it. Unlike floating crankbaits you can let it sink briefly into holes or openings in the weeds before popping it out again. Because it has no lip, it also can be run right along the edges of weedlines by casting parallel to them and let the lure sink in any pocket or holes you see near weed edge. Wear polarized glasses to improve you subsurface vision.

ON THE BOTTOM

Forward retrieve and vertical jig lift. You can free spool the lure down under the boat to jig for fish located by sonar or graph.

IN THE CURRENT

The Sugar Shad flat outfishes the competition in strong river currents. It is more stable and is not prone to broaching. Cast out over small rapids or high current areas and let the lure tumble over them to waiting fish. Powerful swimmers like bass, stripers, walleye and hybrids hold right under the flow from rocky ledges or rocks where strong currents exist. Cast the lure along dam walls where current flow puts shad flat up against the wall and gamefish wait to pick them off. Cast the lure down-current along clay or gravel banks where whites or stripers tuck in behind any current deflecting break.

Cast parallel to the bank if possible or at an angle-deadly on fish feeding towards the surface! Cast up to 10 feet behind current deflectors like wood deadheads, lodged tree sections, barge towers or pier areas. Some gamefish hold just at the current break, well in back of this kind of cover.

This article is printed with permission by Luhr Jensen. Visit their website, http://www.luhrjensen.com, inside you will find their onLine store, pro-chat advise forum, fishing photos and much more.