One of the most consistent walleye producing crankbaits of all time is the Berkley Flicker Shad, and not resting on their success Berkley Fishing continues to innovate and produce exciting new baits when it comes to walleye fishing. One of the hottest baits the last couple years has been the Berkley Money Badger, and new for 2025 Berkley has released the Shallow Money Badger!
The Shallow Money Badger is the shallower running cousin of the successful Money Badger, and features an aggressive wobble with a loud rattle. This combination creates a very aggressive bait, which can both attract fish from a distance and trigger bites from actively feeding fish. This bait is everything a power angler wants in a bait, and can produce both trolled or casted.
I put this bait to the test on Eagle Lake in Ontario August 2025. I was fishing a pattern relating to shallow vegetation, with fish holding in depths between 8-12 feet of water and weed stalks that were topping out between 6-8 feet of water. The walleyes, as well as northern pike, were actively feeding on small yellow perch relating to the weed stalks.
I was looking for a bait that would fish aggressively, with a loud action, and a slightly larger profile. Fishing any traditional crankbait greater than a size #7 was proving difficult due to the shallow nature of the weeds, which is why I favored a Shallow Money Badger. This allowed me to fish a larger, more aggressive bait, yet still fish within the depth I was targeting.
When the fish were up and actively feeding, I could quickly pull this bait along the tops of the stalks and cover water effectively to contact fish that were up and feeding. This pattern proved best in the early mornings and evenings, when the most fish were up and feeding.
Throughout the day, I could still trigger reaction bites from fish in the area. The aggressive action, ample flash, and loud rattle when directly infront of fish can trigger these instincts especially in large predatory fish such as walleye, pike, and bass.
Whether fishing on the tops of weeds, along boulders and rocks, or other shallow areas the Shallow Money Badger is going to put fish in the boat! Good fishing!
See the Bait in Action!
Check out the Shallow Money Badger in action! We put this bait to the test on Eagle Lake this past August and caught some really nice fish trolling aggressively along the tops of the weed stalks!
