Q&A
LURE ANGLING
Q: Can you tell me if it bothers you how well your bass lures cast? SIMON GRAINGER, BY EMAIL
HG says: Yes, very much so, even if the venue doesn’t require me to put my lures as far out as possible. Why? Because I like to have the option to cover more water, reach a specific feature if need be, and, of course, be able to put the lure out into a decent headwind if required.
By their very design, different types of lures don’t all cast the same, but within the groups of lures, there are definitely a few particular ones that cast better than the others.
Q: I was fishing from the rocks at Portland Bill when I noticed a massive bass. I put various lures in front of its nose a few times, but the fish didn’t even flicker. How would I go about catching such a wily old bass? LUC WARNER-LEE, DORCHESTER, DORSET
HG says: I would suggest that if you could see it that clearly then it could also see you. While I don’t think bass are nearly as spooky as, say, mullet, I don’t think they are stupid predators that will eat anything at any time.
If the water was calm and clear I’d scale my leader right down, and even for such a big bass I would be tempted to use a smaller soft plastic lure, fished as quietly and as subtly as possible.
Q: If you could only use one lure for wrasse fishing, what would it be?
Alex Alex W Horgan, by email
HG says: Money no issue, and I’d take the Fiiish Black Minnow in whatever size and/or colour I thought might best work on the day, but wrasse chew soft plastics up, and so this is not a cheap option!
Give me only the one lure for wrasse and it would be the lethal Z-Man Punch Crawz (pictured above). It is made from that strange kind of soft plastic that keeps on stretching, and it resists the teeth on a wrasse incredibly well. A friend has had more than 40 wrasse on the same Z-Man lure, and because it lasted so well, he used it again.
Fished on a simple Texas rig, I really like how the Z-Man lures float just off the bottom, and I think wrasse really like it, too!
Q: What strength should my leader be compared to my mainline when I am bass fishing? ALFIE BAKER, BY EMAIL
HG says: I use the amazingly-strong FG knot to secure my braid mainline to my fluorocarbon leader. While I want as much strength as possible for fighting fish, I may snag a lure and need to pull hard to get it back. If I can’t get the lure back, it will be my leader that breaks on the knot rather than on the leader knot. For instance, if I am using the very strong Sufix 832 braid in a 20lb breaking strain, I will then most likely use a 15lb or 18lb fluorocarbon leader. That is plenty strong enough for most bass fishing, and it’s very rare that the leader knot breaks.
Q: By changing the treble hooks for singles, am I upsetting the balance of the lures when retrieved? BRIAN WESTON, BY EMAIL
HG says: Great question. I use a lot of specialist single lure hooks on many of my hard lures, so it’s something I think about a lot. On a lure like the long-casting IMA Hound 125F Glide, for example, I will replace the back treble with a specialist single, remove the middle treble as I see no need for it, and then keep the front treble on there. All barbs are crushed, and the lure swims perfectly.
I have tried the same sort of approach on the Tackle House Feed Shallow and, for some reason, this lure just doesn’t seem to like single hooks. I don’t know why – perhaps some hard lures are very weight-critical – but I can’t offer you a solution other than try it out and see how specific lures look in the water. Most seem to swim just fine.