FishLab BBZ Bio-Shad Gizzard | ICAST 2022 Sneak Peek

I really wanted to get this article out last week prior to ICAST, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. Darn you Covid! Anyhow, I finally was able to finish up the article on the ICAST 2022 sneak peek of the soon to be released FishLab BBZ Bio-Shad Gizzard.

This is a multi-joint swimbait designed by award winning lure designer Bill Siemantel of BBZ (Big Bass Zone). If you aren’t familiar with Bill, he knows big baits. Having designed baits for several manufacturers and won awards for those designs all around the globe, he makes a great addition to the product design team at FishLab Tackle. Find out more info on Bill and the BBZ HERE.

As mentioned, I didn’t get to make it out to ICAST this year do to everyone’s favorite global virus. Well, I’m back on my feet again and able to complete this product review. With that all said, FishLab was generous enough to send out some sample baits previous to ICAST for the media to take a look at and do some initial reviews. Well I got down in the grass and did a little product shooting once again. These new FishLab BBZ Bio-Shad Gizzard baits look absolutely awesome. I am very excited to tie these on and give them a go.

Specs of Bait Reviewed

First Glance

As with all of my reviews, I always like to give you a couple shots of the packaging. Unfortunately, these baits were early pre-production samples and didn’t include finished packaging. No biggie, I’m sure it’ll be nice as usual.

Grabbing a first look at these baits, I can honestly say that they are very nice. Very well built and look absolutely awesome.

I will go from component to component of the FishLab BBZ Bio-Shad Gizzard from top to bottom and walk through each.

FishLab BBZ Bio-Shad Gizzard Walk Through

As with all of my bait reviews, I’ll go top to bottom, front to back and walk you right through this entire bait, component by component. In the samples I received I received a sample of the Gizzard Shad color and Bone. I’ll go through the Gizzard Shad as it is just a stunning bait and the color turned out great.

Head Start

We’ll start right at the nose of this bait and work out way down to the tail.

As you can see in the image below, this bait is a lipless multi-joint swimbait. The BBZ Bio-Shad Gizzard is touted as a sub-surface, slow-sink swimbait that has a nice stout wire line attachment point right under the mouth. To that attachment point you can see a heavy duty split ring to actually attach your line.

Here is a great closeup look of the line attachment point and split ring.

Here is a shot of the head section at a little more profile angle. This shot gives you a good look at the extreme detail in the eyes, gills and scale pattern on the bait. You also get a good look at the paint job and coloring on these baits as well.

I really like the eyes on these baits. They don’t give it too fake of a look, and bring some realism to the baits.

Rotating up a bit and still looking down toward the head, you can see the BBZ logo right up on top, up and out of the way for predator’s to be distracted by.

Middle of the Pack

We will take a quick look at the two middle sections of the BBZ Bio-Shad Gizzard bait. There isn’t a ton to talk about right here, but you can see the baits vertical line runs down the side exactly as a real baitfish would. You can see the dorsal fin up on the first middle section and a nice smooth transition down towards the tail.

You can somewhat get a feel for the connection on these baits. They do feel really substantial in my hand and well put together.

As we are looking at the full look at the bait in the image above, you can get a really good sense of the contour and ridging effect that FishLab uses on these baits. They use this in the previously reviewed Bio-Shad Cranking baits as well.

BBZ Bio-Shad Gizzard Tail Section

Moving our way to the tail end of the bait, you get to the…well, tail. You can see a great look at the tail in the image below. They are well designed and have a somewhat soft feel to them as they use a hybrid material in the tail. The paint on the tails is equally great to the rest of the bait.

Bringing back that first image I posted, you can see that the tail is actually clear with paint over the top giving it a very realistic look.

Getting Hooked on BBZ Bio-Shad Gizzard

FishLab has been using quality hooks on all of the baits that they have been putting out. Over the past year, I believe they have partnered up with BKK Hooks and have been using their tournament quality hooks on their big baits. These particular baits use a black Nickle BKK hooks. For more information on BKK Hooks – America, click HERE.

The first hook we’ll look at is the rear hook. It is quite the stout hook that is attached to a heavy duty split ring.

I wanted to give you a better look at the hook attachments. In the image below you’ll get a feel for the split ring and attachment to the baits themselves. This is the front hook placement.

FishLab BBZ Bio-Shad Gizzard General Info

As mentioned above, the Bio-Shad Crankbait is a multi-piece (4 piece), jointed bait (3-joints). They are available in 5 of the top colors including Threadfin Shad, Golden Shiner, Bone, Tennessee Shad and Sexy Shad.

The baits only come in one size which is 6-inches in length and weigh in at a nice and light 2 1/4 ounces. These lightweight, powerful baits are perfect for mimicking the shad on your body of water. These are a bit bigger and heavier than their sister bait the BBZ Bio-Shad Cranking, but you can still get away with a lighter setup. Something like that 7′ medium heavy or heavy action rod should do you absolutely fine on these baits.

Here are a couple of final shots of these baits.

Taking a look at the joints from more of an upper view.

And one last semi-side by side for good measure. This is the Gizzard Shad and Bone.

Conclusion– Why You Will Want the BBZ Bio-Shad Gizzard in your Arsenal

These baits are nice! I hope I gave you a nice little overview of the BBZ Bio-Shad Gizzard created by Bill Siemantel of BBZ Baits. He has put out some of the top selling baits in the industry, and looks to be continue that trend.

One big reason I will have these in my lineup is the price. It is not often you can get a bait designed by an architect of big bait culture, but you can also get one that you can afford. Once these baits actually hit stores in Oct/Nov, barring delays, they are set to have an expected retail pricing of only $21.99!!! Crazy right?

Check out the full lineup of FishLab BBZ Bio-Shad Gizzard at your favorite retailers. I know there are several who happen to be offering pre-orders on these baits that may or may not include some ICAST type of specials. In fact, here is a link to the Tackle Warehouse Presale.

For more information head over to FishLab Tackle.

Thank you for stopping by to check out the new FishLab BBZ Bio-Shad Gizzard. To see all of my bait reviews, be sure to subscribe to Fishing Tackle Insider.

See you on the water!

FTI