Bull Shad 9" Shad Glide

[jkarol24]

Swimbait Review: Bull Shad 9" Shad Glide

The Bull Shad family is growing, this time in the Shad Glide profile. Mike has added another inch of length to the original 8" Shad Glide, as well as a bit of width and height, to give an overall larger profile. The bait does however stay true to its roots, and the swim is quite reminiscenect of the original version. The 9" Shad Glide comes in at 5.8 oz of resin (unpainted), swivel hangers, and I also notice the tails were a softer rubber/plastic than previous versions. 

This particular bait has been set up with fairly tight joints, which promotes a wider overall glide and more slalom-stype straight retrieve. Keep in mind that these baits are easily adjustable by pulling the pin, and both Mike and I have put out step by step videos to walk you through the process. 

The straight medium retrieve has the back and forth slalom type swim, with the subtle head bob back and forth as the bait works back to the boat. If beggining the retrieve immediately, you can keep the bait on top and it will wake along the surface, or you can count it down and it will maintain depth well. A slight amount of body roll is present on the transitions, aiding in those smooth turns. 

The 9" Shad Glide also has zero issue burning, at least as fast as I can turn the handle on a Tranx 400. The bait really chops hard, and causes a ripple on the surface if fishing high in the column. Pause hard during the burn to allow the bait to shoot to the side and slightly down, especially if you throw some slack at it.

On the contrary, the bait can be crawled pretty slow. On the ultra slow, the action is pretty wide, as the head of the bait turns 45 degrees off center before turning back again. Medium slow gives a tighter action, with a higher cadence head bob and less turn of the head. Again, the bait is able to wake the bait on the surface at this slow speed. 

Moving on to the wide glides, I used two techniques. The first was slow and long reel handle turns, allowing the bait to turn and shoot, gliding about 2x body length to each side. The bait stays very upright and horizontal, with significant stability. This technique is best done slowly and methodically, as overworking the bait will cause it to turn prematurely. 

Second, I used long downward rod tip pulls, and was able to achieve more distance on the glide. For whatever reason, the rod pulls seems to allow the bait to carry a bit more speed into the glide, and I also noticed the bait gaining a slight amount of depth with each pull. 

Due to the way this bait was set up, the choppy and short glides were not extremely consistent, but with some practice I was able to get the bait moving. I found that a combo of reel chops gave some longer glides, while rod tip snaps caused the bait to turning a faster and tighter fashion. Speed was key, and varied retrieves certainly produced a more natural appearance. Once adjusted with wider joints, you would lose some of the wide glide, but it would become easier to really snap and chop and get those tight consistent turns. 

I threw the 9" Shad Glide on a Leviathan Heavy, paired with a Tranx 400 and 25 lb copoly. A fluro or mono choice would also be just fine, but braid may make the bait harder to consistently wide glide if that is your intention. 

Bull Shad should have a handful of these at the upcoming expos, so if interested you can certainly snag one in person. Mike posted a list of the shows he will be at on his Instagram, so check it out. 

See ya next Sunday for another review!