Sit a hundred bass anglers down and ask them what their favourite way to fish for and catch bass is and I reckon the majority will say off the top. I am never sure myself because I love catching bass in a bunch of different ways, but there is obviously no getting away from how exciting it is when a predatory fish comes up and smashes a lure off the top that you are directly connected to. I know that pollack will sometimes come up and mostly miss surface lures, but at the end of the day we only really have the one species of saltwater fish that we can realistically target off the top………….

How many of you here have a whole bunch of different surface lures sitting in a few different lure boxes? I would hazard a guess that a healthy percentage you own at least one of the original size, long-casting Xorus Patchinko II lures, and I always hear a number of anglers raving about the smallest version Patchinko 100 which I have hardly used. Over the last couple of years I reckon I might well be preferring the newer Patchinko 125 over its larger Patchinko II sibling. I am convinced the 125 casts just as far, plus it seems to go out better more regularly, and I also think the 125 is a slightly better made lure. It also smashes bass, and on a few occasions now I have seen it produce bass when the larger version hasn’t.

And then of course I have fallen into an obsession with what has turned out to be a highly effective surface lure for me, the flies like a frigging missile but it doesn’t really look like it should Whiplash Factory Spittin’ Wire - to which I might add, a little birdy has told me are starting to come back into stock right here. I believe a few are available right now, with the full stock arriving in a couple of weeks. And yes, I might or might not have a “few” on order!

So I guess I do like a surface lure that casts well, and if I work backwards I reckon it’s because a lot of the time I am fishing surface lures when there is a bit of wind about, plus of course I love having the ability to cover as much water as possible. Does this always make a difference? Quite possibly not, but I’d rather have the ability to punch a lure out than not, and I tend not to like a surface lure which casts like a banana…………….

I was sent a couple of these new “Surface LaunceR” surface lures to have a play with a while back, and if you haven’t heard of the brand Seadra then it’s Veals Mail Order’s own brand. As per the disclaimer below, please note that I affiliate link with Veals Mail Order on this website, but I would hope that you trust me by now not to come on here and yap about stuff I haven’t fished with and/or don’t like.

I am naturally drawn to hard lures that cast well, and this Surface LaunceR absolutely frigging flies, and what I also like so much is that it doesn’t take an absolutely perfect cast to get it out there as true as an arrow and without that wobbling during flight that cuts your distance right down. How far does it cast? Well I have never measured a lure cast as such, but it looks to me like it’s going out further than the mighty Patchinko II if needs be - it just goes out so straight and true with minimal effort which of course tends to mean better timing. This Surface LauncerR is 165mm long and weighs 19g, the ball bearings inside move to make a nice sound when you work it, and pretty early on from playing with it I went back to the grownups at Veals Mail Order and advised them that a size 2 treble hook on the rear and a size 4 treble in the middle seemed to be the ideal way to rig the lure - all credit to them for listening to little old me. I do like that the 19g weight means I now have a good sized, very long casting surface lure which I can use on lighter lure rods if needs be.

Now as per the title of the blog post, I haven’t done as much surface lure work this year for bass as I would tend to. It might be down to me looking so much for surf conditions, but in part it’s also down to more night fishing during the calmer times and so on - but I do love my surface lure stuff for bass, and it was interesting to take the two sample Surface LaunceR lures I had over to Ireland for that co-guiding trip I did back in July. On a few occasions I got one of our clients to fish a Surface LaunceR after catching nothing on a different lure, and the Surface LaunceR went and produced bass. What does this prove? Well the lure works which kinda helps, and to me it’s always interesting when a lure change suddenly produces fish - was it the lure, did bass suddenly turn up, was it the different action on the lure which got them going? And so on and so on until my brain is once again properly fried!

So there you go on what is a grey and nothing sort of Monday morning here in Cornwall - a new surface lure that I am more and more inclined to carry in my lure box. I have caught a few bass on them and I love how they cast and look when you work them, and of course this means that I feel nice and confident about clipping this Seadra Surface LaunceR on. I do like how you can work it very subtly if needs be, but now increase the tempo and you can make it really splashy if you want. I have my eye on a couple of specific marks this autumn where a bit of distance never hurts, so in due course I will report back with what I hope might be some reports of good bass inhaling my lures right off the top…………..

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I haven't done a huge amount of surface work for bass this year, but this new Seadra “Surface LaunceR” is an interesting top water lure

© Henry Gilbey 2023