The Sweet 66 Shad
After having reviewed the '150' Shad jerkbait, my request for a smaller lure was met. Apparently this smaller version of the '150' Shad was already in production at that time so we deemed it worthwhile to review this new jerkbait as well. The Sweet '66' Shad is a 14cm long diving jerkbait that weighs approximately 60-65g. '6' stands for 66g, just as it was used to indicate the weight of the '150' Shad (it weighs 150g). This diver is a suspending lure and by using a different set of trebles and a different leader, you can turn it into a sinking lure. The color shown in this picture is called "firetiger" and it has a thick coat of glitters underneath the real color pattern. Like just about any lure from Fishing Pool, this lure is coated with a thick coat of epoxy lacquer. When fishing this jerkbait, you can attain a depth of approximately 3-4 feet deep.
If you fish this diver with short pulls of 1-1.5 foot long, it will dive and at the end of the pull it will veer off to one side. So you can consider this one to be a diving glide bait. When you make the next pull, it will veer off to the opposite side. You can get this action out of the lure when you use a 9" leader made from 0.8mm diameter stainless steel wire, a solid splitring, no swivel and a set of size 1/0 gamakatsu treble hooks.
When you weight the Sweet '66' Shad to sink slowly by using a 9" leader made from 1-1.2mm diameter stainless steel wire, a solid coastlok snap, no swivel and a set of size 2/0 gamakatsu trebles, you can fish it like a sinking glider. You can twitch it back to the boat or retrieve it at the same speed throughout the retrieve. In that case it will swim in a wide S-shaped glide path.
This jerkbait is made in a convenient size so you can use it in a wide variety of circumstances. The relatively low weight of this jerkbait means it can be fished on lighter tackle.
The Sweet '66' Shad has a tough finish and this color pattern has a lot of flash due to the glitter coating so I can imagine it will be a killer in both clear and stained water.
I appreciate the fact that you can alter this lure's buoyancy by switching leaders and trebles. This makes it a very versatile lure. Because you can also turn it into a sinking lure, you could probably use it for slow-trolling when you would use a trolling motor (electromotor).
I wish to add for our Belgian and Dutch visitors that this is a great lure for our Polder drains and canals!
Good luck fishing!
Dirk