I do love that hit when you’re fishing a soft plastic on a sink and draw

I am always going to love how fishing fits us all in with how we all thrive on the slightly different things about it. How much do you love fishing new spots for example? A mate of mine who I fish with all the time went out yesterday for a wander along a bit of coastline he had never been to, with rod in hand of course, and he landed a bass around 5lbs on the white Gravity Stick Pulsetail which of course makes me even happier for him! I was also out at a location near to where I used to do a lot of bait fishing back in the day but have never, ever lure fished around there for bass - thank you kind person for asking me along, I stand by anglers for the most part being some seriously good people………...

So the fishing wasn’t remotely epic yesterday afternoon, but damn it was some fascinating ground and I can’t wait to get back down there for a far lengthier exploration. I did have a bass on one of the brand new 13cm/33g Savage Gear Sandeel VR Weedless lures which made my day like you would not believe. I have obviously been fishing with all these new lures (in shops early June) as we have moved through the various samples to the finished products which I have had here for a while - but yesterday was the first time I was able to actually take a brand new Sandeel V2 Weedless out of a shiny packet and put it in my lure box. The day I lose the thrill of fishing with a lure that I have been so heavily involved with from day one is the day I walk away from working in fishing.

I really like how this Sandeel V2 Weedless lure can be so effectively fished like you would so many sub-surface hard lures - whack ‘em out and wind ‘em in - and because of the makeup of the location yesterday I was often bumping the Sandeel V2 Weedless smack into rocks as I retrieved the lure. I am not saying I wouldn’t have got a regular hard lure through there because I didn’t fish with one yesterday, but it did feel good to kinda control that Sandeel V2 Weedless through some pretty rough ground in close especially.

But with how the sea was surging and the way the current was pushing, plus of course on the advice of the lad who asked me along and who knows the mark really well (why on earth would you not ask for advice from an angler who has fished there many times before?), it made a lot of sense to fish a lure like the Sandeel V2 Weedless - soft plastic lure body, weedless hook, relatively heavy jig head - with a bit of a sink and draw kind of retrieve. Whack it out, sink and draw as the waves and current helped push it around, then lower the rod tip to finish up with a straight retrieve to make sure you cover all that lovely broken ground in close. I dread to think how many big bass I have seen caught by many anglers over the years fishing lures such as the Fiiish Black Minnow or the MegaBass XLayer rigged on a jig head, bumped along in a good run of current and/or fished via a controlled sink and draw method.

Ireland, September 2012, 10.5lbs, caught on a Black Minnow, sink and draw, damn Nick fishes these lures so well!

And I so love that kind of stop/hit you get from bass and indeed pollack when you fish lures like these on a sink and draw. Up you go with the rod to “set” the lure I suppose, and then wind down with it as the lure drops, but then you suddenly feel a sharp bang and the lure literally stops - wind down fast and hit it! I completely get why so many anglers love the hits you get on surface lures, as indeed do I, but with how varied our approaches can and indeed often need to be for bass fishing, I really do appreciate the different hits and bangs and bites you get via the various techniques - with that stop/hit on a sink and draw being something a bit different and another jolt of glorious electricity down the rod and into your arm as you try and react as fast as possible to set the hook. What’s not to love?

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