If you’re looking for a mixed bag of just about everything that bites, head no farther than the shallow rigs just off the Louisiana coast.
Creme Lure Co.’s owner described over the telephone recently how he was holding his hands a little more than 8 inches apart. Then Wayne Kent told how he was holding his hands about 24 inches apart. “If you’d see my hands, I’d tell you there are a lot more fish this size,” Kent said about the narrower width, “than this size.
“We consider this a FUN size,” he said about the 8-inch length.
That’s why Kent ushered in the Spoiler Shad Swimming Bait that started appearing on shelves this spring across the United States. Naturally, fishermen in Louisiana and the rest of the South are reaping the benefits of a pint-sized artificial lure.
The 1.5-inch Spoiler Shad is a soft-plastic bait molded on a leadhead that apparently makes it one of the easiest artificial lures to use. The Spoiler Shads really, really look like small baitfish that you see swimming in those schools all the time.
“If you ever go out with kids, you’ll really have some fun with it. It’s so easy to use … everything’s molded in,” Kent said in early April from his office in Tyler, Texas, home of the artificial lure manufacturing company started by the late Nick Creme Sr. in 1949.
“It’s been received very well. It’s actually a little sister to several baits on the market very similar to that,” he said. “There’s a number of companies that have this style of lure. We’re the first to drop it down to the FUN size.
“We think it’s going to come in extremely good with small bass, walleye and crappie.”
The Spoiler Shad’s soft-plastic body, which has a paddletail, is on a specially designed leadhead with a sharp, small hook. Its light weight and diminutive size make it ideal for use on light spinning tackle or a push-button outfit.
It also features a holographic design that attracts fish, according to Creme director of marketing Leslie Thompson. The paddletail creates a natural swimming action that appeals to game fish, she said.
Kent agreed.
“(Anglers) like the feature that they don’t have to see how good they can thread one on,” he said, “and they don’t have to worry about what action to put into it. You don’t have to be a really skilled angler to impart any action to it. It’ll do it for you.”
Instructions on the package, which contains three Spoiler Shads, say “the key is to vary your retrieve — speed up, slow down. Remember you want your lure to act scared. After all, a predator fish is looking for a quick meal.”
The artificial lure comes in various colors, of which the most popular are chartreuse/silver, firetiger, pearl and blue back. The firetiger look is awesome.
Kent, a veteran angler, said the Spoiler Shad is durable, too, to go along with its good looks. They don’t tear very much, which is nice to know when anglers going out in boats are paying more than $2.60 for a gallon of regular gas.
Even shoreline anglers ought to appreciate the durability.
“A lot of people feel predators hit fish from the front. If that’s the case, it explains why they don’t tear them up,” he said. “It’ll take a really small fish to take the tail off. It’s so compact. It’s kind of hard not to get it all in its mouth.”
The Spoiler Shad was about a year in the making, he said. The Creme design is unmistakable.
“It’s just our smaller model,” Kent said.
People say good things come in small packages. The Spoiler Shad fits that description, just like Creme’s Lit’l Fishie Shad, which recently accounted for a 47 1/2-pound buffalo caught by Mike Eubank of Tennessee.
“It’s different, but it’s still a small bait like that (Spoiler Shad). As a matter of fact, it (Lit’l Fishie Shad) was invented in Baton Rouge. I think half the lures in the world are invented in Louisiana,” Kent said as a side note.
Anglers will find out what the Spoiler Shad can do over the rest of 2006. Hold your hands about 8 inches apart, and you’ll know fish that size will target the soft plastic.
And don’t be surprised if the “hawgs” don’t try to inhale it, too.
For more information on the Spoiler Shad and other Creme Lures Co. products, write to P.O. Box 6162, Tyler, TX 75711, or log on to www.cremelure.com.
