Bill Dance Fat Free Shad

I spent a fair amount of time trolling these cranks last year on pool 4 with decent success has anyone one else gave them a look

Joe,
I have a number of those cranks in different sizes. While I don’t do much in the way of trolling, I have found them to be effective cranks for multi species, as a casting bait. Northern, bass(LM), and walleye. I like the depth at which they dive, as well as their strong action.
What time of year did you have success with them?
Inge

I used them in July and August they have a dive curve of 16ft at 90 ft of line and they will tick botton all daywith out tuning I am anxous to try new rip shads they also have simular dive curve with a body size equal to a 5 shad rap

How do you guys rig it for toothy critters or do you just hope that they dont bite the line when you tie the line right to the lure, I have a fat free fingerling

I’ve never trolled them but those fat free shad are dandy wingdam casting crankbaits. Not cheap… but they run good and cast pretty well too.

how do you attach them
leader, direct tie, or swivel

I’ll tie direct or use a small crosslock snap on some crankbaits that I find run a litter “looser” on the snap versus tied direct. Either way works. I could never figure out why anyone would use a swivel in front of a crankbait. Swivels are supposed to eliminate line twist… if your crankbait is spinning in circles necessitating the swivel… you got problems a swivel isn’t going to fix!

Gimpy,
since I started using super braids, I tie direct. I agree with Joe that for the most part the Fat Free Shads run well without tuning. In the past I did use swivels I thought with some cranks they had an impact on the the lure’s action which in some cases was good, and some cases not. You really need to experiment with each individual crank(s) to see if a swivel or leader impacts its action
while in use, and if so in what regard(dampen or excite).

Inge

I agree with James on these cranks as great wingdam lures. Between these and the Bomber 5a models. They are a toss up for great wingdam crank baits that can walk through the terrain that wingdams throw at you.

As far as trolling goes, the Fat Free shads will dive a little deeper than the Bomber when comparing apples to apples in the same size lure. I have had good luck trolling these cranks in late summer conditions on the river when the walleyes are looking for that fast erratic action for warm water fish.