Case Sinkin' Salty Shad (Guest Review)
by Duane Richards

There are a ton of soft jerk baits out there today. Most I’ve thrown from time to time, but not one has impressed me like the Case Sinkin' Salty Shad. Charlie Case took the idea of the current 5” fluke style soft jerk baits and did a little tweaking.

Salt. One of the few things in fishing that I haven’t seen debated to death over the years. Everyone likes it - including the fish. Most lure makers use it and no one complains about lures containing it.

Speaking of containing it, salt that is, the SSS (Sinkin' Salty Shad) is loaded with it, and I’m not talking about covered with it, or just a little bit made into the plastic. I’m talking poured right in the making. The salt gives this lure something most soft jerks don’t have: added weight and an extremely salty taste even after much use. The weight is a huge plus compared to other soft jerk baits. It allows the lure to be cast very easy with no added lead or weight. Fishing any soft plastic weightless is a dynamite presentation, and this one is tailor made to do just that.

Many soft jerks skip and float on the surface, porpoise if you will, which is fine at times, but in my experience with fishing these over the years, the depths is where these baits shine. Charlie Case knew that, it’s the very reason why he created this masterpiece soft jerk bait. He once told me; “That’s what I wanted….something to just throw out there and do nothing at all but catch fish…with little to no effort”. Charlie you have done just that.

The sinking rate of the SSS is perfect. How can a fish resist? After all, it’s a dying minnow, and this just keys onto the predator's nature as something that’s a “must have” easy meal. Not that different from us - as we ride past that Outback Steak House on the corner that smells so good it makes your mouth water.

There are about as many ways to rig this bait, as there are ways to fish it. Lets start with the rigging. My favorite rig by far is weightless. Take a 3/0-5/0 (I use the 5/0 only, but the 3/0 extra wide gap really shines if fish are hitting the bait from its side rather than back or front) offset round-bend premium hook, hand sharpened with a grabbing shovel point edge.

Now I know a lot of you out there are saying, “Today’s hooks are sharp enough, why sharpen them?” Well, it’s like this: the quality thinner wire hooks in the smaller sizes like 1/0-3/0 are pretty much sharp enough, I agree. But, when you get into the larger hook sizes, the factory sharpened ones can be improved upon greatly, yes, even the best out there. Due to their thickness the larger wire hooks are just not sharp enough from the factory for me. I want a hook point when fishing thick bodied soft baits, that is so sharp you’re afraid to look at it, much less touch it.

I insert the hook point into the nose of the bait, slide the bait back onto the hook shaft with the point exiting into the open slit of the body cavity, make a ½ turn of the bait on the hook shaft, and re-enter the hook point back into the body cavity slit. Then I bring the hook point up through the back of the bait just enough to barely feel the point through the back hide of the bait like shown. This creates a near totally weedless lure with a very good hook-up ratio.