Cotton Cordell’s Wee C.C. Shad – They got this one right folks.

My son is old enough now that he wants to throw lures like his dad does. Mind you, this is a recent development (as recent as two weekends back at the cottage) but a major development nonetheless. To say that I am proud of him is an understatement. He’s been “collecting” lures in his very own little green tackle box for quite a while now, and has amassed a veritable menagerie of this, that and the other – mostly consisting of lures (whose purchase I’ve approved of only after confirming a more than reasonable sticker price), assorted stick bobbers and even a plastic toy frog or two - add a few hooks to these babies and you’d be set for some topwater action… but I digress.

As mentioned above, a couple of weekends back at my parents cottage, after an hour or two of watching dear old dad throwing and catching large panfish with safety-pin spinners and the like, he wanted to "one up" his old man by asking me to tie on one of his personal lures to the end of his Scooby-Doo Plastic Fantastic Spincaster. His selection? A six-inch stick bait. I steered him towards a more appropriate selection and suggested the Wee C.C. Shad by Cotton Cordell. He agreed, I tied it on, and he got to casting. I’ll tell you what, it didn’t take long at all for this little rattling, long lipped bait to scare up some monster Perch and Shellcrackers. And it wasn’t to long after that that the big green mouths came a' knockin'. My son was ecstatic that he was laying a beating on old baldy, and I was ecstatic that he was enjoying lure fishing for the first time - Truly a win win if there ever was one.

When lure designers get things right consumers get something that looks like this "little somethin'" – Hats off to the detailed design of this little bait, from its molded eyes to its finely etched scales. It’s subtle yet tight wobble, combined with what seems like millions of internal microscopic rattles that produce a cacophony of baitfish imitating sound, combine to offer the angler as close to a sure thing – in my humble opinion - as can be hoped for (assuming your fishing in water, and there are fish to catch).

Topwater Bottom Line: In my opinion, this little shad crankbait is easy to cast, easy to work, and most importantly easy to buy, at 3.99 for both the C11 (1.5" 1/9 oz, Cranks 2-4') and the CD12 (2.5" 1/3 oz, Cranks to 8', trolls to 20'). I would suggest throwing this lure on a light action spinning reel set up with a thin diameter super or monofilament fishing line (If you want to throw it on a Scooby-Doo fishing rod like my little guy, well, buyer beware). I tossed this bait in skinny water and got great results, even though it is designed to get down a bit in the water column. As always, please practice catch and release with this lure.

Topwater Rating:

5 out of 5 bobbers

My son approves of this bait, and that’s enough for me – But why is this little lure a success? Because it does what all lures aspire to do – it looks, acts and sounds like what the fish are eating. The C.C. Shad, Wee version, has found a home in my tackle box, and even a spot in the daily rotation this season.