Fish with paddle-tail lure long enough, and sooner or later someone will say “hey, you put your paddle-tail on upside-down.” So, which way is that paddle supposed to face, up, or down!?
An exhaustive look at manufacturer recommendations and the lures themselves shows zero consensus. Lure manufacturers don’t generally specify and you can find pictures on their websites showing the lures rigged both ways. Some manufacturers mold slots in the plastic, where the hook shank goes through. But again, there’s no consensus – you can find some with a slot on the top, others with a slot in the bottom, and several lure manufacturers even make them with a slot in both top and bottom.
On many different occasions an angler aboard my boat has “accused” me of fishing my paddle tails upside down. But we’ve all caught about the same most of the time, and yes, there have been times I’ve out-fished the accusers. I’m sure there have been times they’ve out-fished me, too. Three or four years ago one of them was a good friend. Half-jokingly, I told him I was going to reverse the way I rigged the paddle-tail every time from then on, and bet him it wouldn’t make one iota of difference.
Can you guess what happened next?
While I can’t say I’ve swapped it up each and every time, around half the casts I’ve taken since then have been paddle-up, and half have been paddle-down. (I do make an exception for lures with hook pockets, because I do feel like you get a little more wiggle out of them with the hook shank unencumbered. There are also a few plastics out there with very deep bellies which are essentially impossible to rig belly-up). The results are perfectly clear: It. Does. Not. Matter. Period.
Try it for yourself, and I’ll bet you soon come to the same conclusion.