NEEDLEFISH, LIPLESS, METALS, ETC.
I find myself taking more and more of these types of less conventional, non diving minnow-type hard lures out bass fishing with me these days.
Savage Gear Surf Seeker
30g, 35g, and 40g versions of the already lethal regular Seekers, these Surf Seekers deliberately have a slightly larger profile for even more movement in the water, and they also come supplied with a proper #3 saltwater treble and a #3/0 single hook. You choose. And yes, they absolutely fly!
Affiliate links (my sincere thanks if you choose to buy via these):
Seeker: Veals Mail Order or FishingMegastore.com
Surf Seeker 30g, 35g & 40g: Veals Mail Order or FishingMegastore.com
Savage Gear Seeker (various sizes)
A simple metal lure that absolutely flies, and on nothing more than a straight retrieve it nails bass in the surf especially. I have mainly used the 23g and 28g sizes and they cut into a wind like an arrow. Deadly, but so nice and simple. I rig mine as per this blog post here if that helps.
Affiliate links (my sincere thanks if you choose to buy via these):
Seeker: Veals Mail Order or FishingMegastore.com
Surf Seeker 30g, 35g & 40g: Veals Mail Order or FishingMegastore.com
Savage Gear Sandeel Pencil 90
The baby of the family that I had initially overlooked, but this Savage Gear Sandeel Pencil 90 (90mm, 13g) is turning out to be a very interesting little lure. It’s a little missile and on a medium sort of straight retrieve it comes up nice and shallow and does enough of a “shimmer” in the water to seriously switch bass on. Give me more time with this lure, but early impressions are that it is lethal for night fishing.
Affiliate links (my sincere thanks if you choose to buy via these):
Sandeel Pencil 90mm, 125mm & 150mm: Veals Mail Order or Fishing Megastore.com
Sandeel Pencil SW 90mm, 125mm & 150mm: Veals Mail Order or Lurefishingforbass.co.uk or Fishing Megastore.com
Savage Gear Sandeel Pencil 125
Perfection, plain and simple. Take the killer Savage Gear Line-Thru Sandeel, remove the Line-Thru part which we don’t really need for bass fishing but keep all the attributes which make the lure so deadly for bass fishing, and you’ve got this lethal, very long casting 125mm/19g Savage Gear Sandeel Pencil 125. Whack it out and wind it in.
Affiliate links (my sincere thanks if you choose to buy via these):
Sandeel Pencil 90mm, 125mm & 150mm: Veals Mail Order or Fishing Megastore.com
Sandeel Pencil SW 90mm, 125mm & 150mm: Veals Mail Order or Lurefishingforbass.co.uk or Fishing Megastore.com
Savage Gear Sandeel Pencil 150
I am so excited about getting this missile of lure out into the surf and also for my night fishing. The brand new Savage Gear Sandeel Pencil 150 (150mm, 30g) is the “fixed hook” version of the Line-Thru Sandeel and I love it. There’s a rattle inside, it absolutely flies, and you can fish it in a few different ways.
Affiliate links (my sincere thanks if you choose to buy via these):
Sandeel Pencil 90mm, 125mm & 150mm: Veals Mail Order or Fishing Megastore.com
Sandeel Pencil SW 90mm, 125mm & 150mm: Veals Mail Order or Lurefishingforbass.co.uk or Fishing Megastore.com
Savage Gear 3D Jig Minnow
Available in 20g and 40g, the Savage Gear 3D Jig Minnow is a very long-range casting jig which I tend to work either with a fairly fast sink and draw (the fish will hit you on the drop), or with a simple straight retrieve where it swims with a really nice side to side action. Simple but very effective. Comes pre-rigged with the hooks you can see.
Affiliate links (my sincere thanks if you choose to buy via these):
Savage Gear 3D Needle Jig
A much slimmer profile than the Seeker, this 3D Needle Jig in the 40g size absolutely flies, and on a straight retrieve it’s obviously doing quite enough for bass to latch onto it in some hectic conditions. With thanks to a north Cornish bass angler for putting me onto this lure.
Affiliate links (my sincere thanks if you choose to buy via these):
Savage Gear Line Thru Sandeel (various sizes)
The Savage Gear Line Thru Sandeel is an absolute missile of a lure, and I really like the 19g and 27g versions. Whack them out and wind them in, and they’ll swim just under the surface with a really subtle little wiggle. Have a look at a blog post I wrote about these lures here.
Affiliate links (my sincere thanks if you choose to buy via these):
Charles Nelson Needlefish (CNN)
Without doubt my favourite needlefish for night fishing now, these Charles Nelson Needlefish are handmade by Charles up in Wales and they are works of art that hammer bass. There are a bunch of different shapes, weights and colours available, and I know that Charles has also done seriously well in the surf with some of his needlefish. You can buy them here now.
Westin Kongetobis
You can blast this 27g Westin Kongetobis out and work in fairly fast as a splashy kind of surface lure which lads I know can do so well on in some decent surf conditions with that discontinued Bass Bullet, or you can simply wind it in and it’s working as a shallow swimming needlefish type of lure.
Affiliate links (my sincere thanks if you choose to buy via these):
Samson Lures Enticer Sub Surface (various sizes)
When you catch a good bass on your first ever cast with a new lure it kinda helps - check here. This Samson Lures Enticer Sub Surface is an interesting lure that can be ripped hard and fished almost like a sub-surface WTD surface lure if that makes sense.
Affiliate links (my sincere thanks if you choose to buy via these):
Spofford’s Lures needlefish
An obscure US brand of what I think is ABS plastic needlefish lures that for me are the perfect mix of size for our bass, castability (they fly!), and price. Around £10 here in the UK for the two sizes that I like the most (all details in a blog review here), I just like how they are virtually indestructible and catch bass for me. What more do I want from a needlefish when I am going to do nothing with it save for whacking it out and winding it in at night? Fantastic lures.
Affiliate links (my sincere thanks if you choose to buy via these): Lurefishingforbass.co.uk
Super Strike 1oz Super N Strike needlefish
Super Strike make a bunch of different needlefish over in the US, and their 1oz size Super N Strike one works well for our bass fishing. They cast ok, but not quite as well as their shape and weight suggests, the hooks they come with need to be changed because their gauge is so heavy it’s hard to set them into the mouth of a bass, and you need to be careful not to snag them up if you wind these things too slowly over shallow rough ground.
Affiliate links (my sincere thanks if you choose to buy via these): Lurefishingforbass.co.uk