Rigging J Shad's with Foil Insert's

Rigging J Shads with Foil Inserts.

I was looking for some soft plastics that would look like Sand Smelts in our Estuaries down here in Cornwall. These i found on Bass Lures UK that looked perfect, Super Shad Sand Smelts, I messaged Matt and he recommended them to be ideal as they have produced some nice fish. They come in packs of 5 in two sizes 120mm with a 5/0 5g twist lock hook and 100mm with a 3/0 3g twist lock hook

They have a foil insert inside them which i was informed and it's stated on the product page to be careful not to catch the foil as it can pull out when threading a hook.So I thought how can I avoid this and make it easy to do. Also making a tip for anyone to follow.

What you will need, Shads, Twist Lock Hooks of your choice, and a needle smaller in diameter that your hook.

Then slowly using your needle as a guide, slide your hook along the hook from the bottom along the hook out the top, you can then remove your needle and place the hook point into the slot for weedless fishing.

Start off by taking your shad and screwing in the twist lock into the head of your shad, also de-barbing the hook with also reduce damage to the foil, then on the back of the shad, there is a hook slot, in the slot nearest the tail, take your needle and gently push the needle down from the top, carefully past the foil and out the bottle as in the image above.

The image above shows the 120mm J Shad rigged with a 5/0 5g twist lock hook set up.

The image above shows the 100mm J Shad rigged with a 3/0 3g twist lock hook set up.

Another tip would be if like me, and you bought the assorted pack, is to get some extra smart twist locks and rig all of them, then you haven't got to change hooks on any until the are worn out.

If you would like to check out these Super Shads Sand Smelts, they are on the Bass Lures UK here website along with the twist locks and they also have a fantastic range of lures for bass.

Thanks for checking out my tips page, i will be adding more to this in the future. Steve@Kernow Bass.