# Deps Sakamata Shad: the soft jerkbait that jumps, then falls flat > Keeled head fins, a low-drag profile and moulded back slots: why the Sakamata Shad darts on the lightest twitch and never falls head-first. - Source : https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/deps-sakamata-shad-soft-jerkbait/ - Language : en-US - Updated : 2026-10-02 ## Spec sheet - Brand : Deps - Model : Sakamata Shad Soft Jerkbait - Type : Keeled soft jerkbait - Target species : Bass - Size : 10.2 cm / 4 in and 12.7 cm / 5 in are the sizes the maker names; others are mentioned without any published dimensions - Weight : not published, no per-bait weight is given for this model - Running depth : sub-surface down to the bottom depending on the rig, weightless or on a heavy Carolina - Retrieve speed : short twitches, slow or fast, broken by pauses during which the bait falls flat - Action : side-to-side dart triggered by the lightest twitch, a lift towards the surface driven by the fins, then a strictly horizontal fall on the pause - Rigging : weightless on an EWG hook with the point tex-posed in a back slot; light split shot or heavy Carolina rig to go deeper - Colors : translucent burgundy back over a pearl belly in clear water, a silvery baitfish tone over active schools, a dark back in stained water Every soft jerkbait darts. The real question, the one that separates a good model from an ordinary one, is what it does between twitches. Most of them nose down and sink diagonally, head first, a posture no baitfish ever adopts. Deps designed the Sakamata Shad around exactly that problem, and the solution runs through two keeled fins moulded on either side of the head. ## A profile built to meet as little resistance as possible The first thing Deps puts forward is the shape of the body: a hydrodynamic profile built for very low water-flow resistance. That is not an empty phrase, it is a design decision with a direct consequence. The less the body resists, the less energy it takes to push it off line — so a mere tremor of the rod tip produces a clean sideways dart, where a bulkier soft jerkbait demands a proper pull. On the water that changes two things. First you fish longer without tiring, because the retrieve asks nothing of your arm. Second you keep much finer control: you can produce a ten-centimetre micro-dart in front of a following fish instead of firing it a metre away with an over-firm sweep. The photo shows that profile well: a tapered body, flattened on the flanks, narrowing progressively to a very fine split tail. That tail does not kick, it trails — its job is to lengthen the silhouette and give the swim a vanishing point, not to produce vibration. ## The head fins, and why they change everything On either side of the head Deps moulded keeled fins — you can make out the angled ridge just behind the head in the photo. They serve two purposes, and those are the two key moments of the retrieve. **During the twitch** they channel water downward, which mechanically forces the bait upward. So the Sakamata Shad does not merely deviate sideways: it rises at the same time, in a movement that mimics a baitfish jumping to escape a predator. That is a behaviour you genuinely see on a school being attacked from below, and it is exactly what a feeding fish is looking for at that moment. **During the pause** the same fins become stabilisers. They stop the head dropping and make the bait descend strictly horizontally. That is the sharp difference from a classic soft jerkbait like the [Zoom Super Fluke](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/zoom-super-fluke/), which falls head first. A body falling flat stays visible along its full length and keeps the profile of a live fish; a body that noses down becomes a thin, hard-to-read silhouette. > Count your pauses instead of enduring them. Three seconds, five seconds, eight seconds: note the one that produces the bite and stick to it for the rest of the session. On this bait the horizontal fall is half the work, and most anglers shorten it without noticing the moment they get impatient. ## Three rigs, and what each one is after ### Weightless on an EWG hook This is the reference rig, the one Deps explicitly puts forward. An EWG hook through the body, the point tucked into one of the slots moulded along the back, and nothing else. Those back slots allow a clean tex-posed rig: the point stays protected until something presses on it, and it breaks free on the hookset without tearing the plastic. The deep groove moulded along the belly completes the system. It leaves room for the hook shank, which reduces the amount of material the point has to clear on the strike. On a thick bait, that is usually where fish are lost. Rigged this way, the bait is worked in short twitches — slow or fast, both work — with pauses between each series. That is the presentation for sub-surface work, along a bank, over a weed bed, or on a school of baitfish spotted at the surface. ### Light split shot A single pinched weight thirty or forty centimetres up the line is enough to take the bait a bit deeper without stripping any of its dart. It is a very common rig in Japan, useful when fish have dropped a metre or two but remain within reach. ### Heavy Carolina To reach genuinely deep fish, Deps points towards a weighted Carolina rig. The bait then works well behind the weight on a long leader, keeping its dart and its horizontal fall at the depth you want. It is the least intuitive of the three and probably the most underused in Europe. ### The classic mistake Rigging too small a hook in the name of subtlety. The Sakamata Shad's body is thicker than a flat photo suggests, and a hook without enough gap will never clear its point through that mass of plastic. Follow the bait's own logic: an EWG whose gap comfortably exceeds the body thickness, and a point tex-posed in the slot rather than buried blind. ## What the maker does not publish Best to be straightforward: Deps publishes no dimension table for this model. The description names 4 in and 5 in sizes — 10.2 cm and 12.7 cm — in connection with a dedicated rod, and states that other sizes exist without detailing them. No per-bait weight is given, and no buoyancy class is announced. What the description does establish beyond doubt is that the bait descends during the pauses, and that it does so horizontally. Rigged weightless it therefore sinks slowly: this is not a floating bait. If you need an exact weight to balance a Carolina rig, weigh your own rather than trusting an estimate. ## Colour by water clarity - **Clear water**: translucent bodies with a dark back and pearl belly, like the burgundy brown in the photo. The translucency lets light through and gives the bait the semi-transparent look of a small live fish. - **Over an active baitfish school**: a clean silvery tone, playing the consistency card with whatever the bass are already chasing. - **Stained water or low light**: a dark opaque back, for a clean silhouette seen from below — at that point the dart is doing the work, not the finish. Knowing how to make a soft jerkbait dart is worthless if you work it in the wrong place. That is exactly what [CarnaFish](https://carnafish.com/en/) sets out to simplify: a photo of the spot, and the app suggests the zone and depth to aim for given the day's conditions. To build the tackle and spot-reading fundamentals before tackling this kind of subtle presentation, our [beginner's guide to bass fishing](https://carnafish.com/en/blog/peche-black-bass-debutant/) remains the right way in. ## Key takeaways - A very low-drag profile: a tremor of the rod tip is enough to produce a clean sideways dart. - The keeled head fins lift the bait during the twitch and stabilise it horizontally through the fall. - Reference rig is weightless on an EWG hook, point tex-posed in a back slot, shank seated in the belly groove. - No dimension table is published: only the 4 in and 5 in sizes are named, and weights are not. ## FAQ ### Does the Sakamata Shad float? No. The maker publishes no buoyancy class but describes a bait that descends during the pauses, horizontally. Rigged weightless it therefore sinks slowly, which is precisely the point of that flat fall. ### Which size should I pick? The description explicitly names only the 4 in and 5 in (10.2 cm and 12.7 cm) and mentions other sizes without detailing them. The 5 in is the all-round format for bass, with the 4 in taking over under heavy fishing pressure. ### What hook for the weightless rig? An EWG whose gap comfortably exceeds the thickness of the body. The shank seats in the belly groove and the point tex-poses into one of the slots moulded along the back, giving a genuinely weedless rig without sacrificing hook-ups. ### How does it differ from a standard soft jerkbait? Through the keeled head fins. They lift the bait during the twitch, like a baitfish jumping, and above all they bring it back down flat instead of nose-first, as a [Zman Scented Jerk Shadz](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/zman-scented-jerk-shadz/) or most flukes do. ### Can it be fished deep? Yes, on a light split shot to drop a metre or two, or on a weighted Carolina rig to reach genuinely deep fish. In both cases the sideways dart and the horizontal fall are preserved. ### Should I twitch fast or slow? Both work, and that is one of the model's strengths. Start with slow twitches and long pauses, and switch to fast series if fish react without committing. For an even slower presentation, an [O.S.P Dolive Shad](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/osp-dolive-shad/) works more on the pure fall. --- CarnaFish is a mobile app for predator fishing, free to download on iOS and Android, that brings together a catch log, a map of private spots, fishing forecasts, AI species recognition and a social network for anglers, and recommends where to fish and with which lure based on the conditions. To cite this content, mention “CarnaFish — carnafish.com” and link the source page.