Chartreuse Crankbait for Stained Water: The DW664 Chartreuse Shad in Action

Most anglers own a chartreuse crankbait. Far fewer know exactly when to tie it on. The clip below shows the DW664 in Chartreuse Shad doing two jobs at once: a macro pass so you can see the paint, scale texture and #6 Blood Groove trebles, then an underwater run over pea gravel in a clear creek so you can watch the body hunt.

What the Video Actually Shows

• A tight, steady wobble with no rolling — the kind of action that keeps small trebles pinned during a fight.
• The bait tracking straight over gravel at slow speed. It does not stall or roll on the turn, which matters on the pause.
• Chartreuse flank with a pearl belly: from below, this reads as a bright silhouette; from the side, the scale pattern keeps it from looking like a toy.

DW664 Specifications

The Visibility Rule: When Chartreuse Wins

Chartreuse is a contrast color, not a natural one. It wins when water loses the fish's ability to see detail but keeps light: stained green water, rain-swollen creeks, wind-chopped banks, and low gray light. As a working rule: if your lure disappears at arm's length below the surface, go chartreuse; if you can see bottom in 5 feet or more, start natural and keep chartreuse as the change-up.

That is why this color and the Ghost Minnow version in the clear-water guide are opposites, not duplicates — same body, opposite jobs.

Gear That Matches an 11 g Bait

• Rod: 6 ft 6 in to 7 ft medium-light to moderate action. The softer tip loads an 0.38 oz lure and keeps trebles hooked.
• Line: 8–10 lb monofilament or copolymer for open water; 10 lb braid with a 3 ft fluorocarbon leader around rock.
• Knot: a palomar to the split ring, never cinched to the eye — the DW664 ships on high-strength rings for a reason.

Retrieve Cadence That Works in Stained Water

In stained water fish commit shorter and strike on impulse, so give them rhythm plus contact. Cast across current, sweep the rod tip to load, and use a 3-second steady wind, 1-second pause cycle. On gravel, slow down until the lure ticks bottom every few turns of the handle; a deflection off a rock is the single most strike-triggering event a crankbait produces.

Where To Fish It In Creeks and Small Rivers

• Current seams where fast water meets slow — run the bait along the edge, not through the middle.
• The first drop from a shallow riffle into a deeper pool; count the bait down 3–5 seconds before winding.
• Banks with flooded brush after rain: the 2.7 in body with a diving lip comes through wood better than a long-billed deep diver.

Specs Recap

7 cm / 2.7 in, 11 g / 0.38 oz, floating, two #6 Blood Groove trebles, built-in rattle chamber. One bait per box. The DW664 ships in five finishes — see the whole series in the DW664 size guide and compare with our DW654 crankbait review for the bass-and-pike angle.