Don’t leave your jerkbait box at home in the summer, stock it with Shadow Rap® Shads and keep it handy. These brilliant Rapala® jerkbaits are built for year-round service, not just in cold water. And not just for bass. All the most prized predator will fish fall for it.
“It’s a really killer warm-weather jerkbait,” says Bassmaster Elite Pro Seth Feider. “I throw it a lot after the spawn, through the summer and up through early fall.”
Similar to the original Shadow Rap, the Shadow Rap Shad is taller in profile but not as long. “It looks more like a shad or bluegill than a typical jerkbait,” Feider says. And rather than slowly sinking on the pause — as does the original Shadow Rap — a Shadow Rap Shad slowly rises when stalled, slightly wobbling.
That’s one of the reasons it’s so effective throughout the summer, especially in Feider’s home waters of Minnesota and other natural lakes across the Upper Midwest, where bluegill are a main forage for all gamefish in the summer.
“A slow-rising bluegill is a target for a meal,” Feider says. “And a Shadow Rap Shad looks just like one after you pause it and it starts slowly rising. Floating up is a trigger for the more aggressive fish in warmer weather.”
Bassmaster Elite Pro Mike Iaconelli agrees.
“Most critical of all is that head-up, slow rise position on the pause,” he says. “When there’s a perch, or a pike, or a walleye, or a bass down there, and it sees that, it can’t help itself, it has to eat. And you’re going to catch that fish.”
Shadow Rap Shads trigger fish also with erratic action when jerked, a subtle shimmy when rising, and drastic flash when snapped back to life. “Those things really make it attractive to all types of predator fish, not just bass,” says Bassmaster Elite Pro Ott DeFoe. “Fish are opportunistic feeders and they’re going to look for a baitfish that’s struggling – something that’s got a little difference to it than all the other shad out there in that school.”
Shadow Rap Shads come in models that target two different depth ranges — three to four feet and five to six feet. The latter is called the Shadow Rap Shad Deep. Both models come armed with three No. 6 VMC black-nickel, round-bend hooks and are available in 24 color patterns. Each measures 4 3/8 inches and weighs 7/16 of an ounce.
“Anglers of all levels should add the Shadow Rap Shad to their arsenals,” DeFoe says. “With the action that this bait has for a jerkbait, it’s something that we’ve not seen before. And it’s something that’s going to catch fish when no other jerkbait will.”
Stock Up on Original Shadow Raps
Stock up now on original Shadow Rap®s to throw when temperatures drop. “These are my cold-water jerkbaits,” Feider says. “I’m going to fish them a lot slower than I do the Shadow Rap Shad and in late in the fall and early spring.”
While more of a traditional jerkbait than the Shadow Rap Shad – in that it doesn’t rise on the pause – the original Shadow Rap is unique in its class. Shadow Raps will dart side to side and – with a sharp jerk – spin around almost 180 degrees. And on the pause, Shadow Raps combine a horizontal struggle with a vertical fade, perfectly mimicking a dying minnow’s movements.
“It’s perfect — it’s exactly what I want,” Iaconelli says. “I want that bait to have to have these little tiny movements — little tiny flashes and rolls. Then, on the pause, I want it to just barely lurking out — just barely going down.”
Original Shadow Raps are designed to target bass and other gamefish in two to four feet of water. To catch fish in four to eight feet, there’s a deeper-running model, the Shadow Rap Deep. Both models come armed with three No. 6 VMC black-nickel, round-bend hooks and are available in 24 color patterns. Each measures 4 3/8 inches and weighs 7/16 of an ounce.