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Lure Review

 

 

Big Bite's Latest Addition to Their Squad : The Suicide Shad

 

Date: 5/3/17
Tackle Type: Lures
Manufacturer: Big Bite Baits
Reviewer: Cal






Total Score: 8.21 - EDITOR'S CHOICE AWARD

Introduction:
Soft bodied, paddle tail swimbaits have become a staple of the bass angler's tackle box. It began with the Basstrix hollow body craze over ten years ago and there was a revival when the umbrella rig exploded onto the scene roughly five years ago. Today, we take a look at Big Bite Bait's interpretation of this classic bait. Here is their Suicide Shad.

 

Big Bite Baits Suicide Shad Specifications

Type Paddle tail
Material Soft Plastic
Colors/Patterns 8
Sizes 3.5", 5"
Scent/Plastic Treatment None
# per package 3.5" = 5 : 5" = 4
Resealable Bag? Yes - plastic clamshell packaging
MSRP $5.99


Introducing Big Bite Baits's Suicide Shad.

Impressions: The Suicide Shad by Big Bite Baits is available in two sizes (3.5" & 5.5") and up to eight (8) different colors. We mostly fished the 5.5" version. The baits come in a hard plastic clamshell packaging that helps to preserve their delicate shape. This is a nice touch ensuring the tails don't get folded over fouling the bait before you get a chance to use them.

 


Available in two sizes, the Suicide Shad is a prototypical paddletail swimbait.

Real World Tests: We were hoping to make a killing with these baits on the CA Delta chasing after striper, but Zander and I have been having difficulty locating the linesides the last couple of years and while we did run into a few schools of undersized striper, we just couldn't get the big ones to bite. So the Suicide Shad had to enter the slower paced asylum and help us do battle with largemouth bass instead.


The Suicide Shad has a slit in the belly to facilitate rigging.

 

The bait itself has a very classic shape very much reminiscent of the original Basstrix minnow. Where the Suicide Shad differs from the Basstrix is that this bait isn't hollow. Instead, it has a slit in the belly which really opens it up to a host of different rigging strategies from dedicated weighted and unweighted swimbait hooks, to swimjig heads, to swimming jigs, to line through treble hooks, to umbrella rigs.

 


Gamakatsu's Superline Spring Lock hook is one way to rig the Suicide Shad.

 


This is the most straight forward way to rig the Suicide Shad.

Having said that, I tend to stick with the basics and ended up fishing the Suicide Shad on a couple of rigs: 1) Gamakatsu's Superline Spring Lock hook in 4/0 and 5/0 (5.5" Suicide Shad) ; 2) Owner's Twistlock JigRig in 2/0 for the 3.5" Suicide Shad and 4/0 for the 5.5" ; 3) as a trailer on jigs, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits ; 4) Owner's Ultrahead Bullet Rig for the 3.5" Suicide Shad ; 5) Gamakatsu's Superline Swimbait Head in 4/0 for the 5.5" Suicide Shad.


Another good option is a swimbait head like this one from Gamakatsu.


Swimbait heads are an easy way to rig baits like this but they are not weedless.

Next Section: Deadly effective...

 

   

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