I used these the other day and what a great bait. I had many strikes, but could not get a hook up. It may have been small fish biting at the tail or my hook set was not good. I was using a 5/0 ewg. Is this hook too small? What is the best size for this bait? I love the action, but is there any tips to improve the hook up ratio? Thanks.

Maybe you are to hasty with your hook sets? I hear people all the time see the water break around there topwater and literally thrust the bait right out of the bass's mouth. Give it a second or two maybe? If they are not fully biting the bait at all, then try to slow down / jerk the bait.

i picked up some shads and tried them for the first time sunday.  didn't catch any, but dang, does that bait move some water

Pretty sure on the Rage Shad the recommended hook size is 4/O - 6/O weighted or unweighted superline hooks. I use a 5/O weightless owner hook when running it as a top water, never had a problem with it... Only thing I can think of is your pulling the bait away from it when it breaks the surface or you have some aggressive panfish in the area.  I went out the other night and actually had my frogs and rage shad hit several times by gills and crappie.

Maybe you are to hasty with your hook sets? I hear people all the time see the water break around there topwater and literally thrust the bait right out of the bass's mouth. Give it a second or two maybe? If they are not fully biting the bait at all, then try to slow down / jerk the bait.

Don't set the hook until your rod loads to where you can feel

the fish, exactly like fishing a Slug-Go (fluke).

8-)

5/0 Gammy Superline hook works great for me.

I throw it on 50 lb Power Pro braid. You are forced to wait to set the hook with braid or you will just be pulling bait out of fish's mouth.

Some days that's just the way it is. Last Saturday I had several hits  and couldn't miss. Then on Sunday, same or maybe even more hits and only got a few to hook up. All above advice is on the money but even then you will have days like you had. Keep at it and your luck will change. This is truly a phenomenal bait that does get bit alot.

Welcome to the club - these are my new favorite baits. My first time out yielded a 3lb and my buddy's first time yielded 2.5. They're great. I use a 5/0 ewg hook, but I'm about to switch to a keel weighted owner twistlock 5/0 just for giggles. The trick with these things is not only slow down your hook set, but you've got to texpose these things! There's a ton of plastic for your hook to get through. I'll push mine in until the hook is all the way out the other side. The shape of the bait helps because the hook lays flush against it. I've yet to snag anything like this yet. Hope that helps.

Also we both caught our best on these while casting the bait out and letting it sit on bottom for about 10 seconds before slowly bringing it back in like a subsurface bait. If you don't get popped on top then try this. No more than 10 seconds or so on bottom because these things have zero action when they're not moving. I think we got bit because it sounds like a brick hitting the water and they come to investigate and find a dying shad dropping to the bottom.

my favorite bait this year as well. You have to remember with any top water bait that bass will just plain miss the bait. There was a post about this a few weeks ago. I believe the post thought bass miss around 1/3 of the time. I have experimented with hook sizes and I think 4/0 is best. Depending on the water you are fishing braid may be an excellent option. In terms of hooks sets...I like to wait until I feel the weight of the fish! It sounds simple yet can be very tough with the insane blow ups this bait causes. Good luck.

like said, I also put the hook all the way through.  The idea is to swim the bait at the surface, so snags should not really happen that way.  I use a 4/0 keel weighted hook, I love the keel hooks for any baits that I swim back, it helps to keep them rightside up and give some extra casting distance for when it's needed.

Here is a link from Big O on how to properly rig the Rage Tail Shad.  The instructions show rigging it with a 4/0 EWG hook.

http://ragetail.com/ragetailshad.html

Rigging is pretty simple and comes out skin hooked in the end.

I start the hook as I would with any plastic bait and then measure where the bend of the hook would go when the point is inserted through the bait. I then push the point straight through the bait at that point, making sure it is exactly in the middle and it comes out perfectly rigged for skin hooking the point. Learned this from Texposing my Sluggos. Key is pushing the point straight through the bait, not on an angle as you would with a worm etc.

Hope this helps.

All good advice - and x2 on the just plain not hooking em. I lost a bunch today but did get this one on my lunch break. Caught 2 on the shad the other was 1.5lbs. Got a bite on the anaconda but didn't connect. That things is NOT weedless.

I've quit using the rage shad primarily due to way too many short strikes and few fish actually taking the bait.  At best the tail gets ripped.  I'm going to try another application for them as a sub surface bait and see what happens.  

I have a package of them I will have to give them a try.  I have been doing so good with the space monkey I have not used the shad yet.

Dan

I've quit using the rage shad primarily due to way too many short strikes and few fish actually taking the bait. At best the tail gets ripped. I'm going to try another application for them as a sub surface bait and see what happens.

You'll miss a lot of fish for sure but that's with any topwater bait. I have been catching mine in the manner you're thinking about trying. Cast it. Let it drop to bottom and sit for about 10 seconds. Then start slow rolling it back in. I've caught every one of my bass including 2 3-3.5 pounders this way.

to be honest when fishing the shad on top , I dont think anything is gonna hit it that wouldnt take a buzzbait anyway and the hookups are better with a buzzbait for me.

Also,  until you get the hang of not setting the hook too soon - dont watch your bait!  that really helped me and now i got nerves of steel with topwater

Had a lot of strikes on the shads but same deal, 7 strikes landed 2 fish both smashed it less than 5 feet away from the boat.  Could be little bass like you said which i think is true..topwater is way more fun, I miss more fish w those shads though, and they tear up easy.

Try a RT shad on a carolina rig. I've only fished it once this way, but it put two fish in the boat.