After many years of Sassy Shad type baits, swimbaits made the scene with a different body shape and tail design. The Sassy Shad has caught millions of fish over the years and it was one of my best for smallmouth.
The swimbait has a different action due to its round narrow body and thinner paddle tail:
With my obsession for discovering new shapes and actions fish attack, I figured Sassy Shads could be of use either modiified or used for parts - especially the tail.
On a first attempt I cut the lure's belly and reduced its profile to the shape more similar to that of a swimbait. It caught bass and sunfish first time out:
I'm assuming that the the slinky action of the modified lure being different than the wobble of the original a possible reason.
I also decided to use the S.Shad tail and attach it to a pill-shaped body produced in a mold. It also did very well having a similar action:
When it come to lures catching fish, lure action along with compatible size makes all the difference between cacthing fish and getting skunked. All of the examples of lures I show in my crappie.com posts consistently catch fish and can be reproduced by anyone.