Do-It Slick Shiner, A New Swimbait That Catches Everything

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Author: Marc Wisniewski

(Notice: If you are looking for the Kutter Worm article it is here. One image got the wrong link on it in the email.)

Ok, I will admit it… I’m a swimbait junkie.  Let’s get that out of the way.  I love swimbaits!
So, when I found out that that Do-It Soft baits was going to launch their new extra-large frame cast aluminum molds with a new 8 cavity swimbait, I was pretty jacked.  When I heard it was in that 3.5” catch anything swimbait wheelhouse, I was giddy!

The Slick Shiner can be paired up with a variety of jig heads for those finesse swimbait situations.
The Slick Shiner can be paired up with a variety of jig heads for those finesse swimbait situations.

The new 8 individual cavity Do-It Slick Shiner swimbait is the answer to so many fishing situations no matter what you fish for.

Let’s drop back to the basics of swim baits.  It was 40 years ago now that the world got its first look at the sassy shad and a piece of plastic that imitated a fish.  Prior to that plastics had been mostly worms and “critters” like bugs, crawfish, and frogs.  The sassy shad was the bait that got swimbaits on the map and it has gone crazy ever since.  They are available in a myriad of shapes and sizes, all with a specific purpose.   If you think, “a swimbait is a swimbait”, that is definitely not true.  Non-fishermen have often asked me, “why do you need all those rods”?  Knowing these guys are golfers I’ve said, “why do you need all those golf clubs, just pick one!”  Point made.  The same is true with swimbaits.  They all have a purpose.  

One of my favorite swimbaits of all time is the Do-It Ripper.  It is a great contact bait.  It features a chunky ribbed body that offers feel.  What I mean by feel is that resistance from the body that allows you too feel the bait.  Its shape offers resistance, or as I say “traction”.  But there are times you don’t want that “traction”.  There are finesse situations when you want that bait to slide through the water in almost a weightless manner.  That is where the new Slick Shiner steps in.

Let’s talk a little bit about the Do-It Slick Shiner.  As I mentioned, this is the first of Do-Its Essential Series (ES) extra-large frame cast aluminum molds.  The cast aluminum is the same process that they have used for decades to make their expansive line of jig molds.  The advantage of a cast mold over a CNC milled mold is pure economics!  Cast molds are a great value.  To get into an eight-cavity CNC swimbait mold of this size you would probably be looking at a price three times the cost of this extra-large frame cast aluminum mold.  CNC produced mold costs are all about the time on the CNC router.   Do-It who have been the experts in cast aluminum jig molds and have taken that skill and developed extremely affordable soft plastic molds for the hard-core lure making hobbyists.

As mentioned earlier, the new Slick Shiner is 3.5”.  This length is probably the most universal size for most gamefish like bass, walleye, trout, salmon, and even pike as I found out on my first trip with the Slick Shiner last summer.  And that’s just fresh water.  Any of you Midwesterners that gravitate down to warmer climates in the winter will value its fish catching attributes for inshore species like Reds, Snook, Jacks, Snapper, Flounder, Grouper, and dozens of other near-shore salt water species. 
 
Where the Do-It Ripper swimbait comes through cover like a bear coming through the woods, the Slick Shiner is the opposite.  Slick Shiner is specifically designed to be a stealth presentation in clear water conditions and for spooky pressured fish that are scrutinizing every lure that comes by.  It will also run deeper with less jig head weight than its cousin the Ripper because it has so much less resistance in the water than a ribbed wide body swimbait. 
 
The perfect application for this type of bait is bomb casting a clear water flat for smallies.  Or, fishing largemouth or smallmouth that are keyed in on open water baitfish.    How about hard bottom or weed edge walleyes in clear water.  Or river walleyes where you need to slice through current and stay near the bottom.  On Lake Michigan, just free swimming a Slick Shiner anywhere for Browns, Rainbows or Salmon.  If you fish Alabama rigs, you know how many swimbaits you go through.  This bait is the perfect size and action for A-rigs.  Shooting eight at a time will pay for itself in a few trips if you chuck the umbrella rig on a regular basis. 

The Do-It Slick Shiner mold is set up perfect for injecting dual colors
The Do-It Slick Shiner mold is set up perfect for injecting dual colors
 
The Slick Shiner mold has eight individual cavities as opposed to eight cavities connected by a single common sprue.  With this layout, its easy to clamp up the mold and shoot a few of several different colors, or just shoot one or two if you are just experimenting with colors.  The biggest advantage to an individual top shot mold like the Slick Shiner is the ease in shooting two colors with a dual injector.


Dual injector opens up a lot of possibilities.


A dual injector is just what it says, two separate injectors linked together so that two separate colors can be shot at the same time.  Do-Its dual injection system features two 4-ounce barrels that allow you to go right down the eight Slick shiner cavities and produce bi-colored baits.  Anything is possible but about 99% of the time anglers want a darker colored back and a lighter colored mid-section and belly.  Its so simple and consistent to produce dual-colored baits with individual cavities as featured in this mold.  The only thing you need to do is note the back side and belly side of the mold, and remember what color is in each barrel.  It’s that simple.
A swim bait like the Slick Shiner is often fished on a simple round head jig.  I like eyes on my jigs, so the best of both worlds is the Do-It Freestyle Jig which features the round shape, but sockets for large predominate eyes.  You can use flat stick-on eyes, or 3-D stick-on eyes to make the bait really pop like a live baitfish. 
 
One other Jig I really like for any swimbaits is the Do-It Swimbait head.  This head features not only a realistic baitfish shape and details, but it has the “skid-plate” belly design that allows you to make swimming contact with the bottom and glance off rocks and bottom debris.  The Slick Shiner works perfect with the ¼ and 3/8th ounce Swimbait heads.
  
One last head suggestion is the Herring Head underspin head.  Not every swimbait will work well on an underspin because of tail action or body shape.  The slim body and subtle tail action of the Slick Shiner make this a perfect tail for underspin applications.

You really can’t fish most swimbaits wrong but there is one thing that I have learned over the past forty years.  Less is more!  Don’t over fish it!  I’ve tried everything and found that a steady retrieve at a specific depth is day in and day out probably the most effective retrieve.  The Slick Shiner tail swims at even the slowest retrieve.  Don’t feel that because it’s a jig, you need to ‘Jig’ it.  A steady retrieve with an occasional pause to re-establish depth is hard to beat.  Let the fish find it, track it, over-take it,  and eat it.
  
No matter what you fish for, a swimbait imitating a small baitfish will produce under any conditions.  Do -Its new Extra-large frame Slick Shiner mold is an incredible economic value for the fishing hobbyist.  Eight cavities and a configuration that makes dual color injecting a breeze make this a must-have if you fish for Bass, Walleye, Pike and the Great Lakes Species.  And, it’s always more fun to catch a fish on a lure you made yourself.   


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