# Gary Yamamoto D Shad: the soft jerkbait that stays under the surface > The D Shad carries its weight inside the plastic so it no longer blows out on a fast retrieve. Action, rigging, real dimensions and colours. - Source : https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/gary-yamamoto-5-d-shad/ - Language : en-US - Updated : 2026-09-21 ## Spec sheet - Brand : Gary Yamamoto - Model : 5" D Shad - Type : Weighted soft jerkbait - Target species : Bass - Size : 12.7 cm / 5 in (per the size table, packs of 7) - Weight : not published per bait, weight moulded into the plastic with no added lead - Running depth : sub-surface to mid-water on a fast retrieve, the whole column on the fall - Retrieve speed : fast and jerky, broken up by firm pauses - Action : erratic side-to-side darts on the twitch, then a level fall with a pronounced roll and a shimmy of the tail - Rigging : weedless Texas rig on a 3/0 to 5/0 wide gap hook, no weight or minimal weight, light jighead to get down faster - Colors : Smoke with blue flake over a pearl belly in clear water, Baby Bass in lightly stained water, Albino in dirty water You spot a reed edge with fry flicking at the surface, you throw a standard fluke, you speed up to trigger a strike — and the bait blows out of the water on the second twitch. The problem is not your technique, it is density: an unweighted soft jerkbait rises the moment you work it hard. The Yamamoto D Shad goes straight at that flaw, and it does so without adding a single gram of lead to your line. ## The weight lives in the plastic, not on the hook The D Shad takes the classic fluke silhouette: slender body, flat flanks, a thin pointed tail finishing in a fork. What changes is that Yamamoto moulded the weight into the body itself. The plastic is dense enough to keep the lure down even when worked aggressively, where the usual soft jerkbaits demand either a heavy hook, a nail weight in the nose, or a slower retrieve. The practical consequence is twofold. First, you can fish fast and shallow without the bait breaking the surface, which is precisely the presentation an active bass wants on lakes and rivers where fish respond best to an erratic, high-speed prey. Second, and less obviously, you keep a bait that holds its balance: lead added at the nose changes the attitude and flattens the amplitude of the side-to-side darts. The maker sums it up in a line — rig it like any other soft plastic jerkbait, just with a lot less lead. Be careful, though, about what the spec sheet does and does not say. The size table has two columns only: length, 5 in, that is 12.7 cm, and quantity, 7 per pack. **No per-bait weight is published, and there is no buoyancy class column.** The maker's copy describes a bait that sinks on the pause, but that is a description of behaviour, not a specification. If you need a figure to calibrate a precise rig, weigh one on a kitchen scale. ## What happens when you stop This is the other half of the lure's value, and it gets overlooked. On the pause, the D Shad goes down in a way the maker compares to a Senko: a fall with a pronounced roll, not an inert drop. The tail, thicker and heavier than on a standard fluke, plays a specific role here: it makes the bait sink **level** rather than nose-down, and it adds a small shimmy on the way. That horizontal fall matters because it leaves the full silhouette visible from below for the whole pause. A fluke that noses down shows a point; a D Shad that sinks level shows a baitfish. On a bass that follows without committing, that is often the best card you hold. The comparison with the [Yamamoto Senko 5](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/yamamoto-senko-5/) is fair on the fall and stops there: the Senko is not a fast-retrieve bait, the D Shad is. ## How to work it The basic sequence has three beats: two or three sharp downward twitches, half a turn of the handle to pick up slack, then a pause of two to four seconds depending on depth. The twitches must be short and downward; pull upward and you lift the bait, cancelling the density advantage. On active fish, shorten the pause to a second and chain the twitches: the D Shad holds speed without spinning out, which is exactly what it was built for. On wary fish, stretch the pause to five or six seconds and watch the line rather than the rod tip — the vast majority of bites on this type of bait come on the drop, on slack line, and are never felt through the blank. > Watch the line, not the rod tip. On a soft jerkbait that sinks on the pause, a bite shows up as line sliding sideways or stopping its descent early. If you wait to feel something in the rod, you let half the fish go. ### Weedless Texas rig, the default A wide gap EWG-style hook in 3/0 to 5/0 depending on body thickness, point buried in the back, tied straight to the line. With no weight at all, this is the rig that best exploits the built-in density: the bait sinks on its own, slowly, and slips through flooded branches and weed edges without fouling. ### With minimal added weight If the wind bows your line or you need another couple of metres of depth, switch to a screw-lock hook weighted 1 to 2 g, or slide a small unpegged tungsten bullet. Go heavier and you break the level fall: the nose drops and the roll disappears. That is the limit not to cross with this bait. ### On a light jighead Rigged on a 3-5 g (1/8 to 3/16 oz) head, the D Shad becomes a mid-water bait worked with twitches over a located fish. The thin tail generates no vibration of its own, unlike a paddle-tail shad: everything comes from your rod work. That is the fundamental difference with an [O.S.P Dolive Shad](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/osp-dolive-shad/), which works by itself from the moment it falls. ### The classic mistake Over-weighting "to feel it better". Anglers used to weighted shads clip on a 5 g screw-lock by reflex and turn a bait engineered to sink level into one that noses down. If you genuinely need that much weight, the situation calls for a different lure, not a loaded D Shad. ## Colours by water clarity - **Clear water**: Smoke with blue flake over a pearl belly, the finish on the photographed sample. The translucent flaked back throws light back in short flashes, like the flank of a fry. - **Lightly stained water**: Baby Bass, a barred green back that keeps a readable profile without excess contrast. - **Dirty water or overcast skies**: Albino, opaque white, which gives the cleanest silhouette once visibility drops below a metre. A soft jerkbait is only worth what the spot is worth: weed edge, flooded tree, shallow break. Working out that zone before you cast is exactly what [CarnaFish](https://carnafish.com/en/) is for — one photo of the spot, and the AI suggests the sector and the presentation that match the conditions of the day. For the rest of the reasoning, our [guide to getting started with bass fishing](https://carnafish.com/en/blog/peche-black-bass-debutant/) covers the water to look for season by season. ## Key takeaways - The weight is moulded into the body: you can work it fast under the surface without it blowing out, and without adding lead. - On the pause it sinks level with a roll and a tail shimmy, the full silhouette staying visible from below. - The size table gives only 12.7 cm / 5 in and 7 per pack: no per-bait weight and no official buoyancy class. - More than 2 g of added weight kills the horizontal fall and with it the point of the bait. ## FAQ ### What size and pack count does the D Shad come in? The maker's size table lists one version only: 5 in, that is 12.7 cm, in packs of 7. No per-bait weight is published, so weigh one yourself if your rig depends on it. ### Does the D Shad sink or float? The maker describes a bait dense enough to stay down on a fast retrieve and one that sinks on the pause with a roll. No buoyancy class appears in the size table, however, so we stick to that description of behaviour rather than treating it as a published figure. ### Which hook should I use? A wide gap EWG-style hook in 3/0 to 5/0 rigged weedless Texas style covers nearly every situation. If you need to get down faster, prefer a screw-lock hook weighted 1 to 2 g over a heavy bullet in front of the bait. ### Do I need to add weight like on a normal fluke? No, and that is the whole point: the weight is already in the plastic. The maker specifies rigging it like any other soft plastic jerkbait but with a lot less lead. Past 2 g of added weight, the level fall disappears. ### How do I detect bites on the pause? By watching the line. It slides sideways or stops descending before you expect it to — that is the signal. A bite on a bait sinking on slack line almost never reaches the rod tip. ### What is the difference with a paddle-tail shad? A paddle tail produces vibration of its own as soon as it moves, like the [O.S.P Dolive Shad](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/osp-dolive-shad/). The D Shad only has a thin pointed tail: it generates no signal without your input, but in exchange it darts far more erratically. For a comparable soft alternative, the [Zman Scented Jerk ShadZ](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/zman-scented-jerk-shadz/) covers similar ground. --- 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.