COPIES OF ESTABLISHED LURES THAT DO WORK
I am not entirely sure how comfortable I feel that so many hard and soft lures are being so blatantly and easily copied these days, but on the other hand I can’t ignore the fact that a lot of anglers want to go lure fishing and simply can’t afford the expensive prices of many of the established lures that a lot of us use and catch fish on. I have used the lures below, and as much as I will do what I can to fish with the originals, they do work. There is also the odd time when an established lure that I really like gets discontinued, and if I can track down a viable alternative that enables me to keep fishing with a similar lure then I am going to do so.
Seadra Spitta 125
This Seadra Spitta 125 (125mm 17.8g) is a copy of the killer medium size Xorus Patchinko 125, and it casts great and catches bass. For some daft reason it comes with three sets of treble hooks on which I think is a complete overkill for a surface lure like this - I removed the front treble hook and the lure works just fine.
Affiliate links (my sincere thanks if you choose to buy via these): Veals Mail Order
Payo Perca 125 Mac Tune Floating Jerkbait
The IMA Hound 125F Glide has been discontinued, and this Payo Perca 125 Mac Tune Floating Jerkbait copy (125mm, 20g) is one hell of a lure. It flies out easily as well as the original, and perhaps even better, there are some really good colours, and the trebles and split rings are of really good quality.
Affiliate links (my sincere thanks if you choose to buy via these): Ebay
Payo Perca 125F Shallow Mac Cast Floating Jerkbait
Essentially a copy of the discontinued IMA Hound 125F Glide, but this long-casting Payo Perca 125F Shallow Mac Cast Floating Jerkbait (125mm, 20g) swims a fair bit shallower. Good split rings and trebles.
Affiliate links (my sincere thanks if you choose to buy via these): Ebay
AXIA Search
A good copy of the discontinued IMA Hound 125F Glide, this AXIA Search (125mm, 20g) casts well and comes in some nice colours. I would advise binning the supplied treble hooks and split rings and rigging this thing yourself, but it’s a very viable alternative to the Hound Glide.
Affiliate links (my sincere thanks if you choose to buy via these): Veals Mail Order
Rapala MaxRap Walk'n Roll (The Patchala)
It’s surprising to see the biggest lure company in the world imitating Xorus Patchinko surface lure, but this Rapala MaxRap Walk'n Roll (130mm, 29g) comes in some stunning colours and I find that it casts incredibly well if I use a slightly longer drop than I would for the original Patchinko. To be fair the action on this lure is a bit different to the Patchinko when you WTD with it, but it’s so close to the Patchinko in looks and dimensions that from now on I’m going to call it the “Patchala”.
Affiliate links (my sincere thanks if you choose to buy via these): Lurefishingforbass.co.uk, Veals Mail Order