How do you take the "secret bait" that has helped redfish champions, Cajun Phil Broussard and Capt. Kev Broussard, to have the best season a redfish tournament team can dream of, wining the Redfish Cup Championship and Team of the Year Title plus wins before and since - and then make that lure even better? How do you take the bait that has helped top bass pros Jeff Kriet and Todd Faircloth respectively and respectably place second and third in the 2010 Bassmaster Classic this spring - and then improve upon it?
Legendary lure designer Patrick SEBILE is not one to rest upon his laurels. He's taken the Flatt Shad lipless crankbait, one of his most effective lure designs, and he's produced a new version that is even better for the snaggy, grassy and cover-filled conditions where lipless cranks are often at their very best for redfish, for largemouth or for many other fresh and saltwater species.
Ask any top bass pro what they do with their lipless cranks, and chances are you'll hear the top pros say they often switch out the stock treble hooks for two even bigger hooks. Ask Patrick Sebile, however, and he'll tell you that he's made the lipless Flatt Shad snagless for 2011 by developing a special snag-resistant double hook for the belly while using a hookless feather teaser for the tail. It goes against the grain of everything you thought you knew or had ever heard about lipless crankbaits!
"Why the Flatt Shad Snagless works so well has to do with its side-to-side swimming action that causes its body to switch from right to left rapidly even on a slow retrieve. The side-switching body is constantly in a position where it can deflect something like a branch, a stalk of grass or even a rock. So that rapid series of deflective movements shields the whole bait and especially the double hook from snagging against any obstacles that the lure may hit or encounter," explains Patrick.
"The second design feature that makes the Flatt Shad Snagless possible is that only a double hook with a lot of freedom of movement will work here. If it is a standard double hook that is too stiff or too short and doesn't have enough freedom to lag behind the body, there will be a lot of snags and also, missed strikes. Ample freedom or "play" is needed to really be efficient at hooking fish and also the right dimensions of every hook proportion must be perfect which is why SEBILE custom-designed the exact hook for the job. By having the proper hook, what happens is when the Flatt Shad body switches to the right, both upward-facing points of the double hook will be lagging behind (to the left) because the hook just follows the body, always one beat behind it. On the next beat, when the body switches to the left, the double hook will swing to the right. So the hook will always lag one beat behind the body, thereby always protected from snags by the body. The body always takes the leading step, the double hook always takes the following step, and when the side of the body hits a branch, a stalk of grass or a rock, it deflects away before the hook swings to that side. That's what makes the big difference for snagless fishing." reveals Sebile.
"It is also very important to be very snagless that we only use a hook on the belly of the lure. Having any hook on the tail really increases the number of snags without really increasing the number of fish hooked, plus that flickering hookless feather really adds to the allure."
"Also, something that people may be surprised to hear is that when you have a regular lure with two treble hooks, that means the lure has six hook points and at the moment of a strike, when you set the hook, then all the pressure you put on the line to set those hooks has to be divided between those six points so you may have a lower quality or poorer hookset and that is why a jig head for example is very efficient, since all the power goes on that single hook. So having just two hook points on the Flatt Shad Snagless instead of six is really very efficient and hooks fish very well," concludes the legendary lure designer.
You need to experience this innovative breakthrough in lipless lure design to truly believe it. It is far better at getting into and out of thick cover compared to most any other hardbait. The way the cleverly configured double hook catches fish, it is like using a flipping jig. Often both hook points are embedded deep in the roof of the mouth. It hooks fish solidly and holds them securely like using a jig hook - except it is a lipless crankbait.
Indeed, the Flatt Shad Snagless can be used in thick cover just as one uses a flipping jig. Due to its perfect fall and snagless nature, it can be flipped into heavy cover and allowed to fall to bottom on a loose line. After it hits bottom, it can be twitched a few times which generates strong vibration, and then swim it out of the cover to flip and drop it into another spot. Used this way, it is the closest thing to a flipping jig, except it's a lipless, snagless crankbait! This is something very unique that most people won’t think about – you just have to try one and see why we say that SEBILE has revolutionized lipless crankbaits with this innovative snagless design for 2011.
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