Gear of the Year 2019 - Part 1
It’s that time of year again when I try to wrap my head around all the different fishing tackle related stuff I have fished with during the past nearly twelve months, and then distill my favourites down and present them here to you lucky people! If fishing tackle and films and books and so on are not your thing then you might want to pass on these Gear of the Year blog posts, but if you are interested then as ever, these are merely my opinions, and what I use and end up liking for my own fishing might not do it for you at all. There’s what I believe is some seriously good fishing tackle here, and for all kinds of budgets as well, so as the bass season winds down and we move ever onwards to Christmas, grab a cup or glass of something nice, spin some Rotting Christ on the stereo, and sit down to read about my Gear of the Year for 2019……...
Product of the year no. 1 2019 - Crewsaver Crewfit 180 Pro HD lifejacket (review to come). Absolutely bloody brilliant, so much lifejacket for the money, so easy to wear, beyond a no-brainer for a lot of my lure fishing, yet again I have to ask why on earth not have one?
Product of the year no.2 2019 - Sufix 131 braid (review here). Damn you Sufix! I had sworn to myself that there was no point these days in spending over £20 for a roughly 150m spool of braid for my lure fishing, but then the swine people at Sufix go and release this 13-strand 131 braid. You obviously do not need to spend this much money on a spool of braid these days, but I still come back to the fact that I drive an Epic Berlingo and you might not. It’s a matter of choice, and - annoyingly I might add - I reckon this Sufix 131 is THE best braid I have ever fished with. I have been using it this year on three or four different spinning reels and I haven’t had the merest hint of a problem. I also remain convinced that no other braid I know of casts as well or cuts through wind and waves like this stuff. It feels like a complete line rather than a braided line if that makes any sense. One of my reels has had a spool of Sufix 131 braid on it for more than a year now and I see no reason why I won’t get at least another year of flawless performance out of it. A special mention has to go to the outstanding (mouthful that is) Varivas Avani Sea Bass Super Sensitive Full Cast LS8 braid (review here) - it’s an outstanding braid, but I got to the Sufix 131 before this Varivas stuff.
Around £100 Lure rod of the year 2019 - Maximus High Energy-Z 27M 9' 7-35g (review here). As much as I like the HTO Nebula 9’ 7-35g (review here) and if I had to choose between the two myself I reckon I’d go with the Nebula, but I am trying to think out of the box here - and the Maximus High Energy-Z 27M 9' 7-35g is a slightly easier to use lure rod for a lot of anglers. It’s made and built just as well as the Nebula, and my understanding is that once the current stock is gone then the price has to go up a bit.
Best non-budget lure rod you can buy here in the UK 2019 - Tailwalk EGinn 96ML-R 9'6'' Max 35g (review here). What a rod, and it’s a rod I would own and fish with a lot if I hadn’t tarted out early last year and bought the ridiculous Shimano Exsence Infinity S906M/RF 9’6’’ 6-38g (review here). The 9’6’’ 35g Tailkwalk EGinn does it for me in a big way, and my mate Mark has been thrashing his all year in all manner of conditions and he can’t get enough of it. This is a subtle kind of lure rod that to me works best with lures up to 30g, and the handle design on the butt of the rod is definitely a Marmite kind of thing, but I like it. A class bit of kit that isn’t cheap, but it’s a hell of a lot of rod. A special mention to the brilliant Shimano Dialuna S96M 9'6" 8-45g lure rod that seems to be so hard to track down (review here). If you need to go up to 45g lures then this Dialuna essentially does the lot without losing very much at all at the lower end.
Spinning reel of the year no.1 2019 - Penn Spinfisher VI 3500 (review here). I have thought a lot about this category and I can’t pick just the one spinning reel. I have fished a fair bit now with the 2500, 3500 and 4500 sizes of Penn Spinfisher VI reels, and over time it’s the 3500 version which for me is the one I enjoy using the most. I like the smallest 2500 version (same size as a Shimano 2500/3000 spinning reel), and my mate Mark is absolutely loving his one, but it niggles me a little bit that I have had to play around with the line level to get it to play nice all the time. There are no such issues with the 3500 size. I have turned to the Spinfisher VI 3500 a lot now for those times when I’d have gone for a Shimano 4000 size reel - they are essentially the same size - and it’s an absolute peach with some serious winching power that gives me so much confidence. I also like the fact that weight wise the Penn Spinfisher VI 3500 sits right between Shimano 4000 reels and the mighty but heavier Penn Slammer III 3500.
Accessory of the year no.1 2019 - Nitecore NU25 headlamp, same as last year (review here). Perfection can come in very small packages, and this tiny little and very lightweight Nitecore NU25 headlamp packs a serious punch. Mine continues to perform flawlessly and I have actually just bought another one to go in my surf bag because I know that one morning I am going to end up forgetting to put the one Nitecore NU25 into whichever bag. I fail to see what more a lure angler who goes night fishing for bass could possibly want from a headlamp, and damn I’d have loved a little headlamp like this for my bait fishing days.
Wading boots of the year 2019 - Northern Diver Freestyle Safety Boots V2 (review to come). Another fantastic alternative to conventional wading boots that are without doubt the most comfortable and easy to move around in footwear I have ever worn with stockingfoot chest waders. I did try studs in these Northern Diver Freestyle Safety Boots V2 but the slightly sticky-style soles don’t really like them, and to be honest the grip on these “water rescue” boots is so damn good that studs are not really required. So easy to get into and out of with the velcro straps, I have used these boots a lot now and I really like them.
Soft plastic of the year 2019 - Savage Gear Sandeel. Yes, I am a bit late to the party with these lures and I know that lots of you here have been fishing with these things for a long time now, but as a paddletail I can cast a long way if needs be and swim back to me I can’t really see how a soft plastic can get much better. There have been a number of times over the last couple of years especially when the Savage Gear Sandeel has kept me fishing and caught me fish in specific locations and conditions that other lures have not been able to deal with. Nice and simple, not too expensive, a few heads and bodies options, I don’t go out without them now.
Best way to have my lures at my side when I’m fishing 2019 - HPA Chest Pack. Yep, just like year I am going to have to apologise for being unable to find a better or more efficient way of carrying my lures with me and at my side, but the HPA Chest Pack yet again has done it for me all year and I still haven’t seen anything I want to use more. An update on a fair few years now with this thing can be found here.
Polarised sunglasses of the year 2019 - Costa del Mar Sunrise Silver Mirror lenses. I have been in love with the Costa 580G Green Mirror lenses for a few years now, but for polarised sunglasses to fish with in the UK and Ireland I have carried only a pair of Costa del Mar sunnies with the 580G Sunrise Silver Mirror lenses this year. For sure it takes a few minutes to get used to how bright and sort of high-def yellowish the world becomes especially in bright conditions when you wear these things, but damn they are such good lenses in a wide variety of light levels like we get here. Perfection if you ask me.
Alternative hard lure of the year 2019 - Savage Gear Sandeel Pencil 125 or the Savage Gear Seeker. Take your pick, both lures never leave my surf lure box especially, and to be honest I am finding more and more uses for both these lures in more of my bass fishing. The Seeker is 100% my go-to metal lure in the surf, but you will need to be patient and wait until spring 2020 I believe to get your hands on the 28g and 32g sizes once more, and this new Savage Gear Sandeel Pencil 125 “fixed Line Thru Sandeel” has never left a few lure boxes of mine ever since I got my hands on some early samples back in the summer. It’s 125mm long and weighs 19g, it absolutely flies, and it works on a simple, slowish straight retrieve in more situations than I envisaged. As per above I rig the ones I use in the surf with a 2/0 or 3/0 single hook and two split rings.
Film of the Year 2019 - Free Solo. Holy frigging cow I still try and crawl behind the sofa every time I watch this masterpiece. I am a sucker for a good Scorcese film but I need more time to live with The Irishman, I wanted to like Lords of Chaos more than I actually did, I really liked Ghost Stories, I thought American Animals was a pile of poo, and I loved watching Eddie Murphy in Dolemite Is My Name, but no film has hit home so hard as Free Solo this year. Granted, it’s arguably a documentary more than a feature film, but I don’t care. I am not a climber and I know squat about this sport, but Free Solo goes way beyond climbing and into the realms of what makes us human, and what some reviewers are arguing might just be the greatest sporting feat in human history. When has any other sporting endeavour required the athlete to be at 100% for 100% of the time of the event because if they are not then they die, end of? Absolutely bloody incredible.
Album of the Year 2019 - The Heretics by Rotting Christ. I love this incredible band so much that even an album which is a little weaker than their previous offerings still has to sit at the top of the yearly table for me. Get past the name of the band and you’ve got some of the catchiest and more irresistible extreme metal on offer. Single along to what is at heart a black metal album? Damn right, and I still find tears falling uncontrollably down my cheeks at certain points during Rotting Christ’s 2019 offering that is The Heretics. I am not worthy.
Podcast of the Year 2019 - Bear Brook. I am eternally grateful that my youngest brother urged me to start discovering and listening to podcasts a few years ago, indeed any longer car journey especially has almost become a joy with how much good (free) stuff there is out there to listen to. I use the Overcast app on my iPhone to deal with my podcasts, and it’s miles better than the pile of shite which is the Apple podcast app. I never get enough time to listen to all the podcasts I would like to, but I subscribe to a few fantastic rugby and cricket podcasts, I really enjoy the Pilot TV and Empire (film) ones, the Anchored fishing podcast is often really interesting (thanks Nick for the heads up!), and the Outside one can be fascinating. I do like a bit of true crime podcasting from time to time, hence Bear Brook being my podcast of the year.
Part 2 coming on Friday……..
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