Shadow Rap sinks when paused, Shadow Rap Shad rises when paused... is there a consensus of opinion as to which is more effective?

 

 

oe

For me there is ~ 

I use the Shadow Rap in deeper cooler water temps and 

the Shadow Rap Shad in shallower, slightly warmer water temps.

The 'Shadows' are the smallest profile 'Jerkbait' I throw.

Haven't had superior success with these yet but really believe the potential is there. 

A-Jay

 

I am nowhere near as knowledgeable about Jerkbaits as A-jay, but I can say the Shadow rap has been my best producing jerkbait and the shadow rap shad hasn't worked as well. I have fished it in 2-6 fow with water temps ranging from the upper 50s to the mid 70s.

   For some reason (and I don't know why) the best jerkbaits for me are ones that rise. Yes, I did fish some true suspenders this year (very little) and I always have fished the Rapala Countdown, which is a sinker. But from ice-out to ice-up, day after day, I get a better average result on the floaters.

   Remember, however ..... I'm a shorecaster. That makes a difference.        jj

Patrick Walters just tore it up at Lake Fork in the last Bassmasters event of the year with a Shadow Rap as one of his main lures. So there's that. He caught over 100 lbs of fish in 4 days.

The shadow rap has been my favorite jerkbait since it came out. The shad didn't do much for me.

3 hours ago, A-Jay said:

For me there is ~ 

I use the Shadow Rap in deeper cooler water temps and 

the Shadow Rap Shad in shallower, slightly warmer water temps.

The 'Shadows' are the smallest profile 'Jerkbait' I throw.

Haven't had superior success with these yet but really believe the potential is there. 

A-Jay

 

You have changed out the hooks on those to the KVD 1x strong 2 x short right? They look a little beefier than the stock hooks. Knock on wood the stock hooks have been good for me. Rapala and 6th sense seem to put pretty solid hooks on their baits out of the box.

49 minutes ago, cgolf said:

You have changed out the hooks on those to the KVD 1x strong 2 x short right? They look a little beefier than the stock hooks. Knock on wood the stock hooks have been good for me. Rapala and 6th sense seem to put pretty solid hooks on their baits out of the box.

Yes I did change them out - 

But these baits got the Gamakatsu EWG Treble Short Shank Magic Eye #4 's .

They are just slightly less 'beefy' than the Mustad KVD offering but still very effective for me. 

A-Jay

2 hours ago, cgolf said:

You have changed out the hooks on those to the KVD 1x strong 2 x short right? They look a little beefier than the stock hooks. Knock on wood the stock hooks have been good for me. Rapala and 6th sense seem to put pretty solid hooks on their baits out of the box.

I've heard the complaint about the shadow raps having weak hooks...I've caught largemouth up to 5lbs and have yet to straighten one out.

I've not done well with them, but Wal-Mart has a bin of Rapala Shad Raps/shads/DTs for $5 last time I was in there so I bought a few.

On 11/10/2020 at 10:04 AM, DitchPanda said:

The shadow rap has been my favorite jerkbait since it came out. The shad didn't do much for me.

Same here but then I found Vision 110's and I no longer reach for shadow raps as much (unless I am by a lot of rock/wood)

Ive found that sinking or suspending JBs do better when the water is cold or cooling down.  JBs that rise do better when the water is over 50 or warming up.  I think the  shadow rap is the standout, because its a slow sinking bait which is somewhat unique for a stock JB without resorting to countdowns.  The shad is a good bait for shallow water and the bigger profile gives off a good amount of flash.  The 2 biggest drawbacks of the shadow raps IMO is the casting ability especially with the shad and the stock hooks.