SCENTED FLICKER SHADS

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

If you are a walleye angler, a coho angler, if you fish for brown trout in the spring, if you cast crankbaits for bass; goodness, if you have any crankbaits in your tackle box, chances are you have one or more Berkley Flicker Shads. Why not? They are among the most affordable of “brand name” cranks, they come in a million colors, they perfectly mimic two of the most important baitfish in the Great Lakes – alewives and shad. What more could one want? 

 “Easy answer,” said the lure designers at Berkley, “Scent.”

Many anglers are skeptical of scent products. I know I am. Then when I switch from trolling the lakes to casting for bass or other fish using plastics, I’ll grab a bag of Berkley Gulp twister tails, worms, minnow or other Gulp-scented soft body.

I remember an off the record comment made by a professional bass tournament angler when Gulp first came out. “It ought to be prohibited in tournaments. It’s like allowing live bait.”

 So when the “Gulp-chef” at Berkley Fishing came up with a Gulp Gel, I took notice. And when I saw some of the prototype Flicker Shads at the Berkley booth at last summer’s ICAST, I took double notice.

 The “Flicker Shad designers” made their most popular 2-inch and 2 ¾-inch Flicker Shads with a special strip of scent pockets on each side and another on the lure’s bottom to hold and disperse the Gulp Gel as the lure goes through the water. Put a dab of the gel on your finger, then smear it down the side or along the bottom enough to fill the tiny cavities in the scent-strips and then just fish the lure as you would any regular Flicker Shad. The scent strips and the gel doesn’t impede the action or alter the diving depth at all.

I’ve not heard any professionals claiming “it oughta be outlawed,” and it’s not the nearly miraculous difference Gulp made in soft plastics. That’s probably because the difference in how most soft plastics are fished compared to crankbaits. Especially on the troll, a lot of the strikes are “impulse-bites,” where the fish spots the lure and strikes immediately before it can get away.

That’s most days. Especially with walleyes in early spring or in post-frontal conditions that are in a neutral or negative mood, a bit of the scent can turn a snub into a nibble. When a nibble occurs, the Fusion 19 hooks latch on and it’s “fish on.”  It can be the difference between no bites and some bites or even some bites to a fast bite.

At this writing, I’ve used the Scented Flickers more for salmon than for walleye and cohos are probably more impulsive than walleyes. The best test I ran was to put a Fire Tiger regular Flicker on one side of the boat and a Fire Tiger Scented Flicker on the other. Fire Tiger is an okay color, some days, for cohos. Other days, almost any hot red/orange colored crankbait will beat it.  End of the test – regular Flicker Shad zero – Scented Flicker Shad three. This was on a day when hot red/orange cranks were cookin’!

 I’m not saying the Scented Flicker Shads will be a game changer, but I’m confident on some days they’ll at least put you in the game.  They don’t come in a million colors, but (barring hot red/orange) they come in 10 fish-catching patterns and are available in single packs, three and five packs. Each lure or packet comes with a tube of Gulp Gel. Check them all or order them at www.berkley-fishing.com. Look for them at your favorite tackle emporium.