Tel / Fax 01 590 674 652
The last of the season’s sandeels have moved down the channel on their annual migration to warmer climes. Sprats, Pilchard and Herring are filling their place in the food chain. Anglers in the know are stocking up with lures that fit the dumpier silhouette of these forage fish.Lures such as the soft to the touch plastic Shads, ranging from the smaller 4 inch up to the life size 6 inch are the favourites. Colours range from the realistic pearl with blue or black back, through to the solid fluo red and the sparkly greens, red and orange are all lures which have proven themselves to be prolific fish catchers. Fish them on a 10 to 12 foot flowing trace, reeling quite quickly on a small tide, a tad slower if it is a big spring tide with plenty of water movement, so that the highly mobile tails send their enticing vibrations out to the hunting fish.One of the problems often associated with these lures is that many anglers tend to get missed bites. They use a hook that is too small then position the hook so that the gape of the hook is obstructed by the body of the lure. There is a simple answer to these missed bites, use a bigger hook and set the hook in the lure so that the lure is not acting as a cushion obscuring the point of the hook. Use a wide gape hook passing the point in through the front of the lure so that the point exits precisely on the centre line of the back, leaving 5mm of the shank protruding in front of the lure. Ensure that at least half of the hook gape is standing proud of the lure.The best hooks for these lures are the Verivas Big Mouth hooks from Veals Mail Order, Bristol. The very similar Sundance hooks available from Roger Bayzand Sportfishing.Also excellent, but very scarce are the Partridge 32605 hook. All these hooks are wire hooks good for fishing up to 20 pound class outfits, which is ideal for this style of fishing. If you must fish a 30lb class outfit using these hooks, take your time playing the fish so that you do not spring the hook.Use a 4/0 hook on the 4 inch shads, a 5/0 on the 5 inch. The 6 inch shads need a 7/0 hook and the only one available in this size is the Sundance 7/0, although there are rumours of the Verivas Big Mouth range which are at present only available up to 5/0’s increasing the range of sizes to include hooks up to 8/0 sometime soon.Hooks and Shads available from: Veals Mail Order. 306. Central Park, Hengrove, Bristol. BS14 9BZ.Telephone: 01 275 892 000 Fax: 01 275 892 777Roger Bayzand Sportfishing Supplies. 26. Westfield Road, Lymington, Hants. SO41 3PY.
Tel / Fax 01 590 674 652