Sorry, I have neglected this thread for a while. I got a copy of
Sea Angling magazine last week - loads of excellent info. One novel technique shown, used in the murky Mersey, was using a cheap plastic freshwater swimfeeder stuffed with mackeral chum a few feet up line of the bait ... to leave a scent trail. Perhaps an alternative way to weight a light lure
.
Thanks for posting all those lure pictures. I have been meaning to reciprocate and finally got round to taking some pics. of most of my collection. The collection has built up v. quickly and is, I think, complete now and in need of trimming down. I have only tried a few of them so far, and in truth, the only lures I have caught fish on so far are my smallest Eddystone eel (not shown), Mepps-style spinners (some shown but not the actual ones) and mackeral feathers & spinners (also not shown).
The first picture shows my plug/Rapala style lures, mainly from eBay & Lidls. They generally medium-large & weigh most weight around 20-24g, the big yellow one is 30g or so. Top left are floating "poppers". The red/white lure with metal lip on the middle left is S. African. The red/white plug below has an adjustable lip for different depths (gimmick -- tends to move up in practice). The gels all came in a cheap Lidls tack box (super value). The battered blue mackeral lure in the middle is, I think, like Magpie's; it was one of my first lures, I always carry it and it gets a fair amount of use (I have a couple of them). The Storm Minnow below I recovered from the sea, while searching for the lure above! The Devon Minnow is my big brother's - incomplete so I can't use it but I just know it would pull fish in! The fancy, jointed, holographic lures were part of a good deal I got from seafishire on eBay - they certainly look the biz.
The second picture is of odds & ends. That said I have a feeling that these might be some of the more effective lures. Eddystone eels definitely catch fish -- cheap, effective and long lasting. I have stuffed the middle sized one (the smaller one shown) with big lead split-shot for longer casting - a tip from Dr. Mike Ladle (alt. a lead ball 3-5ft up line will "catch anything at Chesil" according to a local fisherman). Mepps-style spinners have always worked well in freshwater and will, no doubt, in the sea too; lots of vibration and flash. These ones are a little bigger and quite a bit heavier than the ones I have used in the past -- big & heavy seems to be the order of the day for sea fishing: big fish, long casts and turbulent water. Just bought 2 cheap sets of Tobys - can't wait to try them. The first set are medium weight (18-20g I think - about the same as the rapalas, maybe a little lighter). I am thinking these might snag less than a rapala but maybe not. The big ones I only found later (darn) -- at 40g (my rod is rated 10g-60g) they should cast some distance 
. There is also a small, heavy SureCatch Pilchard at 30g. The only gel I have tried to far is the pink worm with the lead head hook -- why not?! I have a feeling the big orange lead head Rapala gel and the blue green gel shads will catch fish. Not so sure about the Lidl's frog! The new flavoured & scented versions are probably the mutts nuts -- bit pricy but probably worth it if they work.
Did I mention I don't take digital pictures usually...but that's
glaringly obvious!
