Last day guiding, heading back home tomorrow, this Slender Scoop Shad lure continues to grow on me - and our anglers

We have had some tough fishing conditions the last few days, but because the way this coastline is “designed” out here in Kerry, we have always managed to find very fishable water and also a few bass. The lads are fishing hard, the weather gods are conspiring against us, we are having such a blast, and just like that it’s our last day of guiding today and tomorrow morning I start the long trek back home to Cornwall………..

I have got so much to digest when I get back home. Quite apart from a huge amount of photos I need to process and then put into photo galleries which I create for our anglers as a memento of their time with us, yet again it’s been fascinating how certain lures and techniques and so on seem to almost rise to the top when you’re targeting certain types of terrain as tends to be dictated by weather and conditions. Andrew seriously nearly fell off a rock yesterday morning when a proper, proper looking bass turned right over his white coloured (Golfball) 20g SG Slap Walker surface lure, but frustratingly didn’t connect. I have been fishing with various samples and iterations of the Slap Walker lures for a fair while now, and I really like them in more and more situations. It is also really good to be able to watch other anglers fishing them and this lad Andrew works a surface lure SO nicely.

I liked the look of the SG Slender Scoop Shad paddletails from the first time I saw them in a promo video and then put in a request for some. It kinda helped that I then went and caught my first ever UK February bass on one, but as with a lot of lures, the more you use them in all manner of different fishing situations, the more you learn about what they can and can’t do. I can’t pretend that the slightly weird shape of the Slender Scoop Shad “spoke” to me as a paddletail which would really grip well in current and bouncier water especially, but they are so good for these situations. And yes, it continues to amuse me that these soft plastics were designed for the freshwater market and definitely not bouncy conditions like a lot of us might fish, but about the only two paddletails to rig on weedless hooks I now take out bass fishing with me are the Gravity Sticks and these Slender Scoop Shads. They have grown on me that fast and I think they are bloody brilliant - as do our anglers who have caught a few bass on them. Wow do bass inhale these lures!

Anyway, I hope you are all doing well and finding a few fish yourselves. We were out early this morning and we will be out for the rest of the day, then it’s supper with our anglers, editing and keywording a bunch of photos, bit of sleep, then up and pack and hit the road tomorrow. It has been such a privilege to to spend this time out here doing this guiding work, but of course I cannot wait to see my wife and girls after nearly three weeks away from home. Really looking forward to doing some fishing myself as well…………..

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