Entry 289-1
Why I Worked On These Strike King Lures for Bass with Mark Menendez
Editor’s Note: Strike King believes that the best way to develop new and better lures is to have a team of professional fishermen, who earn their livings catching fish, identify how to design and improve lures that will catch more fish for more fishermen. Most of the lures developed by Strike King have been field-tested by some of the top fishermen in the nation. This week, Mark Menendez of Paducah, Kentucky, will tell us about the five Strike King lures in which he’s had the most input in developing, testing, fishing and promoting.
Part 1: My First Contribution – The Flat Shad
Question: Mark, how did you get involved in lure development, testing and promotion?
Menendez: About 5-years ago, at a writer’s conference sponsored by Strike King and held at Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee, the professional fishermen got together with Strike King’s lure designers to discuss new products we wanted to see on the market. We made comments on existing lures to try to improve them and fill gaps in Strike King’s product line. At that meeting, we mentioned a need for a different-colored lure to better match the baitfish or the fishing conditions on a certain lake.
We suggested some new head designs for jigs and an entirely-new lure. At this meeting, I suggested a hand-made flat-sided wooden crankbait. I’d tested a number of different types of flat-sided lures and suggested modifications and changes that would give us one of the best flat-sided wooden crankbaits on the market.
Question: Why did you think Strike King needed a hand-made flat-sided wooden crankbait?
Menendez: This particular lure is a niche-type bait that can be extremely deadly in really-cold water, if it has a really-tight wiggle, instead of a wide wobble. I’d tested other company’s flat-sided crankbaits and learned how to fish them, but I saw ways Strike King could improve the wooden flat-sided crankbait, if we worked on them. So, I began testing the prototypes Strike King created. After final modifications, the result was the Strike King Flat Shad, the premier flat-sided wooden crankbait on the market. In cold weather and areas with very-little structure, this lure can be deadly effective. I fish it through the late fall and the early spring.
Remember that most of the crankbaits on the market are plastic. Wood has different properties than plastic. Too, most crankbaits have round appearances. 
However, because of its flat-sided body, the Flat Shad gives off a different vibration than the round-bodied crankbaits, and it has a tight wiggle. So, this bait often will solicit strikes in places and at times when you can’t get bites on traditional crankbaits.
I’ve also learned that many times when I’m catching bass on a crankbait, and the bass stop biting, I can change to the Flat Shad and continue to catch fish. So, remember, lures are designed to work best at specific times of the year under certain types of conditions, and this is the need the Flat Shad fulfills. It’s primarily a cold-weather bait. But it also can be used as a change-up bait when other crankbaits aren’t working.
