Tackle News In a boat with Fox Rage’s new vibrant lures

News editor Ian Jones puts the eye-catching Ultra UV micro lures through their paces

bUYING lures for perch is like picking sweets down your local shop; there’s plenty of choice but you really want to try them all.

Thanks, then, to Fox Rage which has just made this decision a lot easier with the release of more eye-catching Ultra UV Micro lure products.

Rage first introduced the Ultra UV feature to its portfolio of rubber lures around two years ago, but has only recently extended this feature throughout its micro lure options – including Micro Fry, Micro TiddlerFast, Micro SpikeyFry and Micro GrubTail patterns.

These standard designs have already proved their worth in my own fishing and for thousands of other perch anglers too, but there’s no doubt that the new UV versions certainly represent a superb upgrade.

When I was tasked with reviewing these ‘perch candies’ at Lincolnshire’s Toft Newton reservoir I couldn’t wait to put them through their paces.

stand out baits

Toft, with depths averaging 9ft, sloping down to around 15ft in the middle, holds a large head of perch between 8oz and 4lb.

There was a bit of murk to the water after intense rainfall the night before, so the conditions were perfect to really test these vibrant lures. I started the session in relatively shallow water and cast a selection of the micro lures mounted on 3g jigheads along a submerged pipe.

The vibrations put out by the paddle tails on the TiddlerFast and Micro Fry options really could be felt up the rod, and it was no surprise that they were nailed pretty much instantly by the perch.

What was interesting was that they were even following the lures up from the bottom and smashing into them just under the boat – something I’ve not normally noticed with standard lure designs.

The GrubTails also proved irresistible to the perch, and I just loved the way the C-shaped appendage whipped around enticingly on the retrieve.

As mentioned, there was a bit of colour to the water, but the vibrantly coloured body of each lure could still be seen as much as four feet down.

Switching to the middle of the reservoir I could really test the UV aspect, supposed to be at its most effective in deeper water.

Allowing the boat to drift slowly across the reservoir I could cover a lot of ground, and by vertically jigging the lures close to the bottom I enjoyed regular bites from perch in the 1lb-2lb class.

Under a UV light these lures completely transform but in deep water, where light levels are low, the UV properties really do give you an edge. They certainly convinced me, anyway!