Sea Angling for Spearos

[atomichaggis]

How about this as a solution then?

Interex Trading - marine equipment, lobster pots, fishing equipment, miniature fishing reels, fish traps, fresh water crayfish, prawn trap, shrimp trap, fish trap, interex international, crab trap catch, fishing nets, collapsible nets, fishing bait,

Selfweighted eels, cast well, catch fish. Weighted shads do the same.

That has to be the best solution but they need to do an eddystone rippling tail rather than shad paddletail... I think that is important as its the top brands that score highly.
Is it possible to stuff a redgill or similar with lead wire?

 

[Magpie]

The tail on those has a fairly good action, though i must admit they've only caught me pollack so far, no bass yet.

I have made some hybrid redgills by chopping the nose off and using some white electrical tape to strap a 1 or 2oz barrel weight to the front so the weight becomes the body of the lure. Works well.

My tip is these from Veals.

Great value, only £4 for a perfect bassing plug. BIg wide action so good for murkier water, casts very well for a plug too. Also interested in what others use, anyone?

 

[atomichaggis]

Eddystone PlugEels
Eddystone eels have evolved a bit since i last saw them

 

[atomichaggis]

The tail on those has a fairly good action, though i must admit they've only caught me pollack so far, no bass yet.

I have made some hybrid redgills by chopping the nose off and using some white electrical tape to strap a 1 or 2oz barrel weight to the front so the weight becomes the body of the lure. Works well.

My tip is these from Veals.

Great value, only £4 for a perfect bassing plug. BIg wide action so good for murkier water, casts very well for a plug too. Also interested in what others use, anyone?

Thats the trouble with shads n similar rubbers here... pollack love them. Cod go for them too but I'd much rather a trout or bass or salmon or something.

Some of my flies have redgill type tails but they don't bloody work properly :vangry... must be some cheapo version. I'd make my own if I knew they would work properly.

Is that Veals Bass bandit your top taker?

 

[Magpie]

Those plug eels look brilliant! Good find mate, hadn't seen them before. Credit card will be out later...

Yes, probably caught most on those, but then I do use them most. They're good for really snaggy areas as they're not that expensive.

 

[atomichaggis]

Eddystone have come a long way, they have developed tons of stuff since I left the UK.
The veals wobbler (plug) looks a bit like one at a cheap shop round here thats a bit like halfords... I'll need to check it out and see. some cracking fish have been taken on them and i still have my big redhead one for trolling. If its the same one then I'll be stocking up
I'm mostly using saltwater X-raps nowadays as that is the most widely available super lure, catches everything from gars to cod... not tried them for bass yet tho.
I think I'll try an eddystone or two.
Tried anything along the lines of Yo-Zuri and Diawa?

 

[Magpie]

Yeh, had yo-zuri cyrstal minnows and tried some of these new daiwa plugs with the open mouths and gills that supposedly produce bubbles out the side, but I don't catch enough to say whether they are any better or worse than anything else! They certainly look good.

Here's a pic of those homemade "leadgills" , used Delta tails, just because thats what I had at the time, not out of any preference. As you can see, made them a while ago now! You can see the lead barrel weight in the top one where the paint has chipped off.

 

[Mr. X]

Cool post Bill. You must have salt water coursing throught your veins by now!

I'd seen the Eddystone plugs on their website before but never in a shop or catalogue. I had a one lure shatter on a pebble beach, like a plastic J-12 & replaced the shattered tail section with the rear end of a cheap, illuminous blue/white eel, including the single hook (so it has front treble & rear single hook). Have yet to try it though -- the joint was a little stiff but now I have some split rings I can probably fix that.

Wow, you guys have come up with some very interesting products. EBay often has some weighted rubber lures called Bass Assassion & Bass Bandits that look very good -- but rather pricey once you factor in postage. I like Magpie's barrel weight + tail idea -- the Art of Fishing shows some American rubber lures with a big bullet of lead as the head that were state of the art at the time (mid-late 1980s?) which they rated highly. I forget the name -- I haven't seen any about like it though. I reckon Magpies idea would yield something v. similar.

...What is Your top Bass Killers?
Any other tips n' tricks are welcome... except powerballing

Blue & white white rubber eels 11-15cm for me (trolled from the yak) -- hence my interest. Interesting you mention the Rapala Sliver, that's the lure that got me into this lure fishing (saw one for sale for 17 pounds - couldn't believe anybody would ever pay that!!). I was thinking of buying a blue one -- I see Veals have them for about 9 pounds. Still seems very expensive & I can't help thinking it seems more of a trolling lure and a bit dated re. casting weight -- but I reckon they look near perfect as an eel type lure. Most lures seem too bulky -- can't understand why there aren't more lures like the sliver, they are supposed to be good catchers (according the the Veals ad anyway). I think Flyflicker posted that he uses a blue & silver 11cm chug bug. Mike Ladle used to use a lot of drab black-silver/black-gold rapala type lures but seems to catch on anything he uses - but Maria lures seem to be current favourites of his(although I see he is trying Lucky lures now) & Henrey Gilbey too; Angel Kiss, BW & SW models from Veals. I sometimes use a Shakespeare Devils Own lure which is a modern take on the classic Rapala J-11; it is black & silver, a little heavier than the Rapala, slightly holographic and about half the price (have yet to catch on it tho'). There is an article on Portland bass where the author swears by a garish flourescent (yellow, orange, green) J13. Being at the right place at the right time is probably more important than the lure (at least that's what I keep telling myself). Reading Mike Ladle's diaries is very informative -- he doesn't seem to rate colour as being particularly important (although I suspect many of his fishing choices are subconcious/second nature to him now).

AtomicHaggis, for your fly fishing, you might consider getting a couple of very small Delta eels or Eddystone eels (jims.org.uk carry a good selection), about 2" long. I believe ML catches bass & mullet on them. I was thinking of trying them powerballing.

Anybody use the bigger Eddystone/Delta/redgills - 17-22cm? They are easier to stuff with lead (another ML trick) but I wonder if they'd attract many fish from shore.


Red-heads: Miles' fine collection of lures included many red head lures with white body & I notice that Maria offer this as a colour option for several lures. Obviously this is a classic lure colour. Does it work in UK waters? Does it work from shore? I have 3 red-head lures now: a SA lure, a bit like a small sliver in design (prob. in the images I posted earlier in the thread), a big J-13/14 one (from SeafishIreland on eBay) and most recently a small, heavy popper. The popper is shaped like those odd Grauvell poppers but smaller, I think the brand is M&M or D&D - I have another one, blue-silver, and I am impressed by it (cheap, strong, casts very well & nicely finished). I feel quite optimistic about them (perhaps because Art of fishing rated white as a good bass & pollock colour!). However, for some reason I keep coming back to blue & white/silver -- perhaps because it reminds me most of the bait fish I see diving. (Although did see a lot of black-silver J-11-J-13 size fish about this year, and a shoal of entirely clear bait fish in Devon, weird).

 

[Mr. X]

Yeh, had yo-zuri cyrstal minnows and tried some of these new daiwa plugs with the open mouths and gills that supposedly produce bubbles out the side, but I don't catch enough to say whether they are any better or worse than anything else! They certainly look good.

Here's a pic of those homemade "leadgills" , used Delta tails, just because thats what I had at the time, not out of any preference. As you can see, made them a while ago now! You can see the lead barrel weight in the top one where the paint has chipped off.

I've got a Yo-zuri crystal minnow, 13cm I think -- they seem highly regarded esp. for dusk (perhaps they glow or reflect well?). The hooks seem over large to me*. I also find it & the Maria lures a little boring to fish with -- the jointed lures & popper seems a bit more interesting.
*I did read somewhere recently that having hook that extend beyond the width of the lure body is a critical part of the design of lures; obvious I suppose when you think about it. I've got a Daiwa TD pencil, looks great but in practice seems remarkably similar to other poppers & surface lures I have (I have a blue one, Veals originally sent an unusual brown & clear one, not shown on the website, by mistake -- I suspect I should have kept it, as I have more than enough blue poppers). The bigger Saltiga model might be worth a look too(?). I've got quite a lot of vintage lures from the US (Rebels & Baggly?) -- the only problem with older designs is they often seem a bit lighter that than their modern counterparts & so might not cast as far/well. The finishes aren't as fancy but then again, many are tried & proven fish catchers.

Re. Magpie eels, I got some cheap rubber/jell worm/sidewinder thingies from Veals in my last order. They cost 1.70 for 10. Wasn't sure how I'd use them but figured I would find something (again, the Art of Fishing is very keen on them) - probably use them like eels. I reckon they might be perfect for making Magpie weighted eels (& bit cheaper/less destructive than cutting up good rubber eels).

 

[atomichaggis]

Yeh, had yo-zuri cyrstal minnows and tried some of these new daiwa plugs with the open mouths and gills that supposedly produce bubbles out the side, but I don't catch enough to say whether they are any better or worse than anything else! They certainly look good.

Here's a pic of those homemade "leadgills" , used Delta tails, just because thats what I had at the time, not out of any preference. As you can see, made them a while ago now! You can see the lead barrel weight in the top one where the paint has chipped off.

I noticed how much better the X-rap is than cheaper and less beautiful lures so it got me wondering about the other pretty ones... the crystal minnow is just stunning, as are some diawa... probably not the first thing on a fishes mind before it bites tho.
I'm tempted to try something less ordinary too like muti jointed ones (snakey types) and some dexters and kicktails.

I have loads of dried up old bodged together lures in my boxes... as I get more bored the lures get more sophisticated. last one i made started off as a jighead, then I wrapped foil around the shank of the hook to make a body and whipped on a lower treble and a trailing stinger hidden by gold flash fibres. Then I stuck a couple of big googley eyes on and several coats of clear epoxy... cracking little fella that lure but he is getting on now. I'll need to get some eels and see what I can do with them.

 

[atomichaggis]

I'd seen the Eddystone plugs on their website before but never in a shop or catalogue. I had a one lure shatter on a pebble beach, like a plastic J-12 & replaced the shattered tail section with the rear end of a cheap, illuminous blue/white eel, including the single hook (so it has front treble & rear single hook). Have yet to try it though -- the joint was a little stiff but now I have some split rings I can probably fix that.

Wow, you guys have come up with some very interesting products. EBay often has some weighted rubber lures called Bass Assassion & Bass Bandits that look very good -- but rather pricey once you factor in postage. I like Magpie's barrel weight + tail idea -- the Art of Fishing shows some American rubber lures with a big bullet of lead as the head that were state of the art at the time (mid-late 1980s?) which they rated highly. I forget the name -- I haven't seen any about like it though. I reckon Magpies idea would yield something v. similar.

Blue & white white rubber eels 11-15cm for me (trolled from the yak) -- hence my interest. Interesting you mention the Rapala Sliver, that's the lure that got me into this lure fishing (saw one for sale for 17 pounds - couldn't believe anybody would ever pay that!!). I was thinking of buying a blue one -- I see Veals have them for about 9 pounds. Still seems very expensive & I can't help thinking it seems more of a trolling lure and a bit dated re. casting weight -- but I reckon they look near perfect as an eel type lure. Most lures seem too bulky -- can't understand why there aren't more lures like the sliver, they are supposed to be good catchers (according the the Veals ad anyway). I think Flyflicker posted that he uses a blue & silver 11cm chug bug. Mike Ladle used to use a lot of drab black-silver/black-gold rapala type lures but seems to catch on anything he uses - but Maria lures seem to be current favourites of his(although I see he is trying Lucky lures now) & Henrey Gilbey too; Angel Kiss, BW & SW models from Veals. I sometimes use a Shakespeare Devils Own lure which is a modern take on the classic Rapala J-11; it is black & silver, a little heavier than the Rapala, slightly holographic and about half the price (have yet to catch on it tho'). There is an article on Portland bass where the author swears by a garish flourescent (yellow, orange, green) J13. Being at the right place at the right time is probably more important than the lure (at least that's what I keep telling myself). Reading Mike Ladle's diaries is very informative -- he doesn't seem to rate colour as being particularly important (although I suspect many of his fishing choices are subconcious/second nature to him now).

AtomicHaggis, for your fly fishing, you might consider getting a couple of very small Delta eels or Eddystone eels (jims.org.uk carry a good selection), about 2" long. I believe ML catches bass & mullet on them. I was thinking of trying them powerballing.

Anybody use the bigger Eddystone/Delta/redgills - 17-22cm? They are easier to stuff with lead (another ML trick) but I wonder if they'd attract many fish from shore.


Red-heads: Miles' fine collection of lures included many red head lures with white body & I notice that Maria offer this as a colour option for several lures. Obviously this is a classic lure colour. Does it work in UK waters? Does it work from shore? I have 3 red-head lures now: a SA lure, a bit like a small sliver in design (prob. in the images I posted earlier in the thread), a big J-13/14 one (from SeafishIreland on eBay) and most recently a small, heavy popper. The popper is shaped like those odd Grauvell poppers but smaller, I think the brand is M&M or D&D - I have another one, blue-silver, and I am impressed by it (cheap, strong, casts very well & nicely finished). I feel quite optimistic about them (perhaps because Art of fishing rated white as a good bass & pollock colour!). However, for some reason I keep coming back to blue & white/silver -- perhaps because it reminds me most of the bait fish I see diving. (Although did see a lot of black-silver J-11-J-13 size fish about this year, and a shoal of entirely clear bait fish in Devon, weird).

I dunno if its the same thing as on e-bay but these traceace bass bandits and assassins are ready made versions of Magpies 'leadgills'.
Rapala sliver is legend. It is a fantastic trolling lure but it is still good from the shore on cleaner ground. J-11s are also legend, both are easy choices for me but they could update them a bit... x-rap liveries and a little extra weight.
The Maria lures had caught my eye once or twice, i might just splash if i hear more positive murmerings about them.

I'm gonna have to disagree with Mr Ladle... colour is important! I learned this fly fishing and I'm learning now that it follows with larger lures too.
In coloured water or poor light then bright colours (particularly orange) and white catches more.
In clear water with good light then natural colour and good imitations are best.
I think the blue backed, white bellied lures are the perfect 'in between' as they look fairly natural in most light conditions and are fairly well visible in coloured water.
colour also figures in targeting species with cod and pollack taking the most garish lures most often and wrasse going nuts for small pink shrimp imitations etc. I don't know how these things apply to bass but I'm certain there are condition specific and probably size specific lures for bass... just need to figure them out.

I thought about flyfishing a small eel before. Might give it a go if the hurricane force winds ever ease off. I use a number of eel imitation flies as it is, latest ones are mylar bodied with a little flash tail, no real action to them but they look good in clear water.

Red heads work sometimes, not sure how well with bass tho. i think its originally a pike lure design but then some pike wobblers are great in the sea... perch imitations are good for cod, possibly cos they are orange. No idea why they go for orange as there is nothing in there swimming around that colour.

Hooks wider than lures is essential... just like speed jigs and pirks.
If you want to use older lures that are too light you'll just have to get a light actioned rod... and a little reel to balance it

Jelly worms are pollack catchers. best way to fish them is in a bit of a current on a boom with a fairly long trace. drop it til it hits the bottom then short pause then take a few turns up and a short pause and repeat.
The pause is just to allow the worm to catch up with the boom.
if that doesn't work then wind quickly almost to the surface... they love to give chase.

 

[Magpie]

I've got some of those trace ace bass bandit jobs, cast very well indeed, only had pollack on them so far though.

 

[atomichaggis]

They've given me an idea from one of their other lures... gonna ad a curltail grub to the back of a spoon so it acts like a jointed lure
dunno why I never thought of it before.

How big are the pollack down there?

 

[Pav]

simple. J13 jointed, light blue. Job done.
All my best fish caught on this same lure. The wire in cheap copies bend (as done by a 5lb fish)!
I do replace my treble hooks every now and then.

 

[atomichaggis]

Cheers Pav, definately need to add a few jointed to the shopping list. I always replace split rings with reliable ones and trebles with VMC salwaters when not adequately equipped to begin with... belts n' braces

 

[Mr. X]

simple. J13 jointed, light blue. Job done.
All my best fish caught on this same lure. The wire in cheap copies bend (as done by a 5lb fish)!
I do replace my treble hooks every now and then.

You know, the blue J-13 was your original advice to me when I started out and I should have just taken it. Consequently I must have almost every lure except that (inc. black-silver J13 & blue-green & blue mackeral immitations). Maybe I'll put an order in for one with the sliver. You can get a good deal on the black ones on eBay sometimes (esp. USA) but the blue ones rarely come up. It was that that gave me the idea of trying my 30 year old blue & white Eddystone eel though.

AtomicHaggic, yes those are exactly the weight eels I meant of eBay. You might also be interested in flyfishing with homemade fake maggots (& real ones from seaweed) for mullet [see ML's Diary for details!]. I know a couple of locations where I reckon it would be just the ticket...you need to be there at the right time though (easier to tell when you are diving). I have a 10cm X-Rap lure -- it is a moderate diver (I tend to use slightly larger top water lures most) but it certainly looks the business and casts well for a small lure. I foul hooked a mini fish on it first time out -- perhaps trying to shoal with it?! The Daiwa lures, like the TD pencil, are of similar high quality finish.

Those snakey lures are being promoted a lot currently. I see the store at Chesil carries them for about 9 or 10 pounds. They look like they ought to work well - like a jointed lure, only more so! I got something similar off ebay some time ago, it is a really neat lure but it turned out to be quite a bit smaller than I normally use so it'll remain unused unless I get the opportunity to go Pike or Perch fishing.

Magpie, what colour were the Bass Assassions/Bandits you caught the pollock on - black?

Thinking of heading to the coast this weekend, the forecast is glorious. Maybe even diving weather. I don't have much expectation of catching this time of year -- but it is good to be outside & if you don't try you certainly won't catch. It's also an opportunity to try out the gear & iron out the kinks (literally & metaphorically).

 

[Mr. X]

YouTube lure fishing videos

There are some interesting American lure fishing videos on YouTube, there is one guy in particular that has made one for each type of lure he uses (probably from US TV). One lure he used was just like a long, thin, tapering strip of rubber/gel -- the way he move it in the water though, it looked great & caught fish.

Another type lure he cover is the buzz bait/spinner. One or two spinning blade on a V-frame of wire, with a single feather-covered hook at the other end of the V -- a wire trace ties into the apex of the wire frame. I have a couple, 30g I think, supposed to be good in weed. Anybody tried them? The Art of Fishing (c. late 1980) reckons they are so good they are now(/then) the first choice lure - presumably for pike fishing. I would think most pike fishing techniques are worth a try in the sea(?).

 

[atomichaggis]

AtomicHaggic, yes those are exactly the weight eels I meant of eBay. You might also be interested in flyfishing with homemade fake maggots (& real ones from seaweed) for mullet [see ML's Diary for details!]. I know a couple of locations where I reckon it would be just the ticket...you need to be there at the right time though (easier to tell when you are diving). I have a 10cm X-Rap lure -- it is a moderate diver (I tend to use slightly larger top water lures most) but it certainly looks the business and casts well for a small lure. I foul hooked a mini fish on it first time out -- perhaps trying to shoal with it?! The Daiwa lures, like the TD pencil, are of similar high quality finish.

Those snakey lures are being promoted a lot currently. I see the store at Chesil carries them for about 9 or 10 pounds. They look like they ought to work well - like a jointed lure, only more so! I got something similar off ebay some time ago, it is a really neat lure but it turned out to be quite a bit smaller than I normally use so it'll remain unused unless I get the opportunity to go Pike or Perch fishing.

flyfishing for mullet here is a bit pointless... bass are rare enough and I can't cast to warm countries
Yeah the X-rap fishes quite high, the 10cm is a killer round here... it's what I took that 5 kilo cod on I need to re-stock em tomorrow as I've only got one 14cm left and only the biggest fish will go near those. if the TD pencil is as pretty then it's going on the list.
You might be right about the little fish shoaling with the lure, I've noticed fry shoaling with some of my flies... I've wasted hours playing with them.
You should try a small lure and see what it catches, my smallest wobbler is a 'Hansen Vim' only a couple of inch long.

I've just added a curltailgrub to a møresilda spoon and it looks the biz, just like the traceace ones only I put 2 trebles on mine, itching to try it out now.

 

[atomichaggis]

Spinnerbaits work just fine in the salty too but if they aren't designed for it they will rust to bits.
I like fishing Flying C's but they usually rust by the end of a trip.

 

[atomichaggis]

Magpie,
Is this the same as the veals plug?...
Biltema Norge