GEAR
PRODUCT REVIEW
LIVETARGET 5 1/2-INCH GIZZARD SHAD SWIMBAIT
I
f you’re in the market
for another swimbait
with a tail-wagging, tail-
thumping swagger that rat-
tles the water column, this
one isn’t going to fit the bill.
Like the rest of the family
in LIVEtARGEt’s all-new
Swimbait Series, the 5 1/2-
inch Gizzard Shad is a
smooth operator that’s
been intricately designed
so it looks and behaves
exactly like the real deal.
First Impression
48
the first thing that
grabbed my attention is
how anatomically correct
the swimbait is. With a bar-
rel-chested body, raised
gills, dorsal fin, textured
scale pattern and authentic
color scheme, it truly looks
like a forage fish fresh out
of the water.
Several other cool fea-
tures that stood out are the
unique tail design – a realis-
tic tail cast inside clear plas-
tic that’s flared to create the
By Matt Williams
swimming action – a soft, yet
durable, pVC plastic body
molded around a beefy 9/0
Mustad hook, and an inter-
nal weighting system.
the top-hook bait comes
pre-rigged with no fine-tun-
ing required. Just tie it on
and fish.
On the Water
Keeping with the belief
that more isn’t always bet-
ter, the folks at LIVEtARGEt
engineered the bait so it
swims along with a smooth,
fluid motion, rather than
with a radical action that
sends vibrations all the way
up to the rod tip on the
retrieve. Accordingly, I didn’t
feel much as it swam it’s
way through the water,
mainly because the oscillat-
ing tail is strategically craft-
ed to provide a tighter, life-
like swimming action com-
pared to the harder-thump-
ing paddle-tail swimbaits
many of us are accustomed
to using.
Visually, the bait looks
killer in the water as the tail
wag speeds up or slows
down depending on how
fast it is retrieved.
this isn’t a swimbait you
should toss into dense
cover, but I found that it
could be fished around
scattered vegetation and
light brush fairly well,
thanks to a dorsal fin that
acts as a weedguard to help
reduce snagging. making it a good candidate
for counting down around
ledges, humps and points
away from the bank, or
winding over grass closer
to shore.
It’s simple to fish, too.
Just chunk it, wind it with a
steady retrieve and hold
on tight.
A big bass is an oppor-
tunistic feeder, and this
swimbait is sure to rate high
on the hit list on lakes where
good populations of gizzard
shad and large bass are
present, particularly in clear-
water situations where you
don’t need a lot of vibration
to help the fish home in on
the lure.
Weighing 2 ounces, it
casts extremely well and
has a sink rate of about 12
to 18 inches per second, If you want more advice
on using the Swimbait
Series baits, FLW tour
pro Scott Martin, on
behalf of LIVEtARGEt,
recently prepared a 3
1/2-minute video that
covers everything from
rod, reel and line selec-
tion to tips and tactics
for fishing with this
family of lures. View the
video presentation at
livetargetlures.com.
Final Thoughts
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VIDEO AID
FLWFISHING.COM I FEBRUARY-MARCH 2017