Congratulations on your newly inherited toys!
The Storm Wildeye Shads as well as others like them, i.e. Tsunami Swim Shads, Calcutta Flashfoil Shads and even the plain old Sassy Shads are killer baits. They are effective on just about everything that swims. But, they are especially deadly for stripers!
I remember back around 2002 when the Storms first hit the market. I was running a bait and tackle on LBI. It was very early spring when a couple of customers stopped in to ask if we had them in. "What?" "Huh?" "What are they?" were my responses. The reason is, that past winter I had attended about four different wholesale tackle shows to write my orders for the new season. Well, out of all those shows and all that tackle, I missed these little beauties. And when it comes to new tackle, I don't miss much!
Well, after a few customer inquiries and checking out these new lures on-line, I called one of my distributors to place an order. The problem was, there were none to be had. Nobody had them in stock. Apparently after they made their debut at some of the popular off season retail fishing expos, folks were buying them up so fast, Rapala (which owns Storm Baits) could not keep up with demand. In fact, they had to set up another factory in China just to try to keep up with the orders they already had!
I got on a waiting list.
After a couple of weeks I finally received a small portion of my order. About a dozen packs of the 5" shads in blue shad color. Around that time there was a fairly decent striper bite that had been going on the past couple of nights right down the street. So, I sold my first pack of these to myself and went out with them that night. After about three casts, BANG! I hooked a fat striper! I nailed around a half dozen chunky fish in the 8 to 10 lb. range that night on them. Needless to say, I was hooked on Storm Shads and I still am!
As with many lures you can fish them quite a few different ways and catch fish. However, IMO, the most effective way to fish these baits is to just use a nice, slow, steady retrieve. After you cast it out let it sink to where it is just off the bottom and reel just fast enough to keep it there. If you're in a situation there is a current, cast it up and across the current and let it swim with it as you keep your line tight. At the point when the bait swings past you and you have to start reeling it back in against the current, let it sit there fighting the current for a second as you reel just fast enough to keep it off the bottom. It is here, that you will receive a lot of strikes (just as the bait is changing direction). After you do it a while you will feel the bait "float". Its kind of weird to describe, but when it happens you'll understand. And while you're understanding it, hang on, because there's a good chance your shad is going to get whacked!
As far as colors, I have a top three. But I really don't think it's all that important to the fish as it is to me. Some may argue this point, and that's fine. My top three colors are bunker, pearl white and chartreuse. Notice I didn't mention blue shad. Why? Who knows? They caught very well for me those first few weeks before I even had another color to throw. But, I like the way the others look better, I guess. I throw what I have confidence in. After you throw your new Storm Shads where they're are fish around, I'm sure you'll have confidence in the them as well.
Good luck!
-Bob
