The Thunder Shad Crankbait is carved from balsawood and each bait is hand-painted by the owner, Paul Kaptis. They’re awesome for largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass, all across the country. 

The Thunder Rolls
Numerous anglers, pro and amateur alike, have credited tournament wins to the Thunder Shad. Rick Burris, an avid bass angler from North Carolina, credits the Thunder Shad for two tournaments won this year. In the first win on Old Hickory Lake Burris used a 306 Model Crankbait in Civil War and Citrus Shad colors – it was the primary reason he won. The second win was on Tillery Lake, where Burris said the Thunder Shad Grandma got the credit.
     Richard Hahn of South Carolina is another angler who credits the Thunder Shad for a recent win on Santee Cooper Lakes. In addition, Dianna Rogers, a pro who competes on the Women’s Bass Fishing Association (WBFA) Tour and qualified for the 2003 WBFA Classic, recently caught three largemouth totaling over 20 pounds on Lake Barkley on a Thunder Shad. Rogers credits both her seventh place Angler of the Year finish and qualifying for the WBFA Classic to the Thunder Shad Crankbait.
 

Rick Clunn
I’d done well with the Thunder Shad, but in view of the above results I wanted to learn more. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Rick Clunn, four-time Bassmaster Classic winner and in my mind the all-time master of crankbaits. I asked Clunn if he would share his knowledge of wood crankbaits, and in particular the Thunder Shad. Clunn said, “My love affair with wooden baits goes back years. It all started with my father, who used and preferred wooden baits – he felt there was a romantic aspect to wooden lures.” 
     For Clunn, one of the great things about wooden baits is that each one is unique, no matter whom the manufacturer. Some have better buoyancy, some are shaped differently, and some, of course, are simply better or more effective than others. Clunn stated, “They are just like snowflakes, every one is just a little bit different”.  When he finds wooden baits that are, in his opinion, really good ones, they become personal treasures.
 

Wood or Plastic Sir?
I asked Clunn when wooden baits should be used and he replied that wood is definitely not for every situation. He sees wooden baits as high-speed baits that are best used from late spring into summer.  Wooden baits are also his choice in waters that receive heavy fishing pressure. He added that they’re actually quiet baits, and much more subtle compared to most hard plastic crankbaits.
     I was curious if Clunn could tell me the difference between using wood vs. plastic cranks. He said, “Most anglers have a plastic mentality; simply put, they believe wooden baits are fragile. To a certain extent that’s true - you can’t abuse them; you can’t slap them on the water to get grass or debris off the hooks. You have to use kids gloves with wooden baits.”  Whenever he’s fishing docks and needs to put a bait under the dock, he does not use wood. He said that is an application where plastic should be used. “If I happen to hit the dock with the wooden bait it will usually break - most of the time plastic baits will take the abuse.”
 

From Fast to Slow
When it comes to other considerations concerning wood vs. plastic, Clunn suggested that if you are going to fish a crankbait slowly, use plastic - if you’re going to fish a crankbait fast, use wood. As for reel ratios, Rick uses 6.3:1 reels for wooden cranks. Based on that I asked his opinion of reels with higher ratios, such as 7:1. Rick said that would be okay, but he prefers a 6.3:1 ratio for everything, that way he only needs change his retrieve from situation to situation, and not do any math conversion.
     I was also curious about flat crankbaits. Clunn says flat baits displace water very differently, and that they’re very effective on heavily pressured fish. He added that flat baits are only used 10% to 20 % of the time, and one key to their effectiveness is that the fish simply don’t see them as often as some of the other styles.
     According to Clunn, “The most important items for the average bass angler to keep in mind about wooden baits is to always fish them fast, and learn the proper way to tune the bait so it will run true, or run un-true to accommodate a specific circumstance. After you master the basics, experiment with various retrieves such as the stop-and-go.” 
 

Hands-on Difference
“Awesome Bait Company makes all the wood baits I use,” Clunn added. “In my thirty years of bass fishing there have only been one or two companies that have succeeded in producing a really good wood bait; one of those is Awesome Bait.
     I credit the owner, Paul Kaptis – he’s hands-on, every bait. I only worry that as anglers learn about these extraordinary baits that Kaptis will not be able to maintain the same quality he has now. Anyone who likes wooden baits should purchase Awesome Baits now, because they are at their best.”
     This year Clunn finished fourth on Lake Murray and top ten on Beaver Lake using Thunder Shads; both finishes amazed him due to the high water levels this year. Typically, cranks are not high water baits.  Whenever the water is high in the cover, such as flooded brush, flipping and pitching jigs and plastics or spinnerbaits are typically the baits of choice.
     As I prepared for an Everstart Eastern Division Tournament recently on Lake Guntersville in Alabama, I decided to put to good use the wooden crankbait knowledge I had gained from Clunn. I caught lots of bass around docks and grass on a Thunder Shad.
     In fact, I finished 58^th out of 200 and cashed a check! I credit that to Thunder Shad and a Yamamoto 6.5-inch Kut-Tail Worm (7X-10-208). I only had four rods rigged on the deck of my Ranger - two Allstars with 6.5-inch Kut-Tails, and two Allstars with Thunder Shad Crankbaits. You owe it to yourself to try these “Awesome Baits”. 

"As published in the Nov/Dec 2003 edition of The Inside Line"