Everyone has their favorite shallow crankbait. I try not to and make myself experiment more than most. But even still, new crankbaits hardly make it into my collection of staples from the cold water months leading into the spawn. The Rapala Shad Dancer, however, made the cut already this year.

I would classify the Shad Dancer as a finesse crankbait, although it does have a wider tail kick than a lot of “finesse” crankbaits. It can be fished on spinning gear like a Shad Rap, but I actually found that it fishes nicely on lighter baitcasting gear as well. The bait has an action you can feel in a sensitive rod.