I do actually do what I write about on here!

The other day I wrote a blog post about some rigging info for these new Savage Gear Sandeel V2 and Savage Minnow lures, mainly because I am so aware of how confusing lure fishing can be, and secondly because there is some stuff out there which I think is really useful in certain situations but I think that it might sometimes slip under the radar and not get noticed………….

I made note of the fact that the new 14cm size of Savage Gear Sandeel V2, (which consists of the 11cm Tail plus a jig head) comes pre-rigged with those lovely matching colour jig heads for a 33g total weight (4/0 hook, 23g jig head, Tail/body weighs 10g) BUT that there is also a 4/0, 30g jig head designed to fit this particular Sandeel V2 which takes this new size of 14cm Sandeel to 40g. Now I didn’t just make a note of this in the blog post - I do actually take this stuff I talk about out fishing with me, and with the forecast of strong onshore winds for Wednesday morning I put a few of this particular combination in my lure box.

A good mate of mine came down fishing for the day and I was really looking forward to getting Nick out on my local coastline with the conditions I was hoping we might find. The first location I decided on was exactly how I like it - bouncy and green and seriously fizzed up, indeed the sea was pretty frigging lively. I had told Nick not to worry too much about bringing lures with him because I have got plenty of stuff here(!), and first off we started with the regular 14cm/33g Sandeel V2. I still get a kick out of the fact that this size of Savage Gear Sandeel didn’t exist until I noticed it as “missing” in a meeting over in Denmark when the world was normal - remember those days? - but as well as this size casts and grips, the sea was that short and bouncing that within a few casts I didn’t think there was quite enough weight to the lure for the conditions we faced.

So I delved into one of the two lure boxes I carry at my side and I picked out a 14cm Sandeel V2 in the White Pearl Silver colour that I had rigged with the 4/0, 30g jig head (yes, I continue to love white based lures in bright sunshine, and in the interest of fairness I also really like the Black Minnow 120 with the 25g Offshore head in situations like these). I handed Nick the lure having already talked him through where and how we have tended to catch bass from this particular mark in the past, and in no time at all he was into a bass. Cue great big grins from me because it floats my boat like you would not believe to fish with good friends and be able to help put them onto a few fish around where I live. From a technical point of view it was apparent straight away that the extra 7g of weight on the jig head was making a difference with how the Sandeel V2 was able to get out and “grip” in all that turbulence. The fishing never got epic but Nick caught a few, we both dropped a few more, and I loved every single second of it. I am sure you are the same as me in that you still can’t quite believe the shitshow we are in these days, but time spent like this reminds me of how important the simple things are in life - family, friends, the outdoors, and obviously fishing. All the money in the world (which working in fishing ain’t going to get you) can’t buy the sort of fun we had out on the coastline the other day.

I put this up on Facebook yesterday with regards to the rods we were using to deal with all that sea - with at least a F6 in our face and some properly bouncy conditions I brought along the two 9'6'' 12-46g rods we have just brought out (Savage Gear SGS5 and SGS8, about £150 price difference between them), both rigged with a Penn Slammer 2500 spinning reel which have only just been announced but after 6+ months of fishing with them I still can't stop stroking them. Now my mate Nick happens to be a very good fly and lure angler, but because of the world situation and everything that goes with it, we haven't seen each other for a fair while. This was the first time Nick had seen or indeed fished with "my" new lure rods, and I gave him the more expensive SGS8 9'6'' 12-46g to start off with, whilst I fished with the cheaper SGS5 version.

After a while we swapped over and then I couldn't get the cheaper SGS5 out of his hands because he preferred it a bit to the more expensive SGS8 - which makes me really happy. Without a doubt our SGS8 9'6'' 12-46g is a touch lighter and slightly more subtle and refined (which was not really going to be felt in those conditions yesterday), but when you've got a F6 and good bit of sea pumping right at you there's an argument that a touch less refinement in a lure rod is no bad thing. Fishing rods are always very personal things and I do love a nice bit of bling and refinement, but I am so damn proud of how good we have been able to make our "cheaper" SGS5 rods. Please can I have it back Nick! You all have a good weekend, hope you don’t get pinged, please stay safe and well out there………….

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