Client Catches – The Real McCoys…?

Client Catches – The Real McCoys…?

Corrrrrrr I’ve been enjoying myself of late via numerous days and nights of fantastically warm and settled weather, aided by some exceptionally tasty sea conditions across a real multitude of venues that I am fortunate enough to have at my disposal. Furthermore, we’ve also been lucky enough to witness Tuna destroying mackerel and sprat only 30m off the shingle. Above all though, my clients and I have been achieving some marvellous catches too, so all in all – you’ve got to love the early-Autumn.

Proven

The diversity to the south Devon coastline, and the bass catches we’ve achieved from venues ranging from disgustingly sludgy inland creeks to formidable, deep-water headlands that jut out into the English Channel have routinely seen my clients and I balancing on rocky plinths during one session, and stood in knee-deep mud the next – all for the frill of experiencing that, boil, smash, splash, or hit and run!

Moreover, in addition to the ‘medley of marks’ that I have worked exceptionally hard to accumulate over the past 32 years, and that I have professionally guided upon over the past six, another standout feature to 2023 has been the impressive variety to the types of lure that have accounted for ‘our’ bass.

I’ve written specifically (here) about the virtues of the Xorus Patchinko 125 (that have worked from the shingle beaches in moderately turbulent sea conditions too as seen above), the hard, diving minnows such as the IMA Hounds and Daiwa Shoreline Shiners (here), and of course, our continued use of the soft plastics such as the OSP Dolive Sticks (the near 5lb bass below took the white 6″ version) and Savage Gear Gravity Sticks here and here.

Proven lures then – classics in their own right that some (including me) would say have revolutionised the way in which bass fanatics approach their marks. But to the angler, be it someone completely new to the sport, or a grizzled, veteran salmon or fly fisherman who wants to ‘give the bass a try’ do they really need to purchase these top-end lures, or could maybe something closely resembling the ‘Real McCoy’ be just the ticket…?

‘Cheapies and Copies’

“Save the fakes, cheapies and copies for when you take your friends fishing, and you don’t mind losing them!” is, I am ashamed to admit, one of my ‘sayings’ when I am out guiding my clients and they have the ‘real deals’ lined up in their lure boxes alongside some, dare I write it, ‘bargain bucket’ examples.

But bear with me here as I am not a complete fishing ‘snob’, and instead, I will reveal two very, very good ‘copies’ that cost a fraction of the price of what they are imitating, in addition to a ‘cheap’ surface lure, all of which have been catching some serious bass of late!

The Seadra Spitta

The Seadra Spitta 125 first of all then – that you can purchase here. It is clearly is ‘modelled’ shall we say on the ultimate top water lure in my opinion: the Xorus Patchinko 125. Now, as you will see from the image below I do like to remove the hook closest to the head of the lure, because it is ‘over-kill’ on a lure of this, or any size for that matter.

It casts almost as well as a Patch 125 – even into a headwind. The zigzagging ‘spitting’ action is easy to perform with the ‘walk-the-dog’ technique, and interestingly, rather than sitting on the surface with its arse-end hanging vertically like the genuine article, it rests horizontally on the water – a larger or more viable target perhaps?

Onto what the Seadra Spitta 125 accounted for then, and the reason why I have attached such a terrible photograph of the lure above is not only because it was the very lure that accounted for the marvellous 63cm bass for my client (Nick) below, but also because there is lovely story behind it…

So, after Nick’s lure had picked up a few more blemishes courtesy of all the bass that had been attacking it, a ‘duff’ cast in which his leader knot caught in the tip ring saw it ‘ping’ out across the bay with the line no longer attached… Him and I were gutted, and so was James as I think it might have been his lure actually! It was a real pity as I’d only said a few moments earlier that a lot of my clients ‘retire’ the lure that has accounted for their PB bass, and some have even framed it or kept it as a keepsake or memento.

With a further few hours of the session remaining though, we kissed it goodbye and carried on well into the dusk – a period in which I swapped my clients over to the soft plastics as the tide ebbed and darkness finally arrived. Now, picture the scene. We’re stumbling back along the slippery foreshore, with clumps of weed everywhere that all look the same under our narrow beams when, quite unbelievably, James spots the Spitta 100 yards down the shoreline from where it had become unattached! So there you go – exceedingly happy endings do occur from time to time.

Yokozuna/Ryoshi Shibasu 105

Next up, the Yokozuna/Ryoshi Shibasu 105. A bit of a mouthful yes, with the quite staggering number of quality bass that it put ‘on the deck’ during what was the most memorable session of the season confirming this! What’s more (and I do have a habit of doing this so I hope you don’t think I am being over conceited here!) despite having all manner of established bass catchers in his armoury, as soon as I spotted two identical patterns of this appealing lure in the box I decided one was ‘going on’ while I asked the second client (Paul’s friend Simon) to attach the ‘standard go-to’ for this domain -a Patchinko of course!

Fickle

Sunny, baking hot, crystal-clear water in front of us, and with a tide flooding over some gorgeous ground, what was about to unfold over the next few casts, let alone hours, was just magnificent to be part of… Demonstrating its use, and how I wanted to Paul to deftly retrieve/work the Shibasu 105, I made a cast and commenced the recovery… A massive swirl circled the lure so I quickly gave the rod back to him! Booooooooosshhhh!

It was “Fish on!” as they say and an absolutely beautiful bass in the 53cm range was quickly brought ashore and netted (the first of the slideshow below). But the remarkable thing was that on the two subsequent cast and retrieves, two further bass of over 50cm were also landed! Yes that’s correct – three bass over 50cm in the first three casts!

I’d initially chosen the Shibasu 105 because although still a top water lure capable of stirring the flat-calm water, I had wanted something that would be in contrast to the more pronounced, flicking, spitting, water-spraying action of the medium-sized ‘Patch’ that Simon was using remember – it’s great having two or more clients to test the water so to speak. But what makes the ‘snaking’ virtues of my new discovery even more astonishing in those moments, is that Simon just could not get a touch on the Patchinko 125 – my how fickle these captivating creatures can be…

Better and…

Was it because Simon wasn’t working the lure correctly? Hmmm, it looked pretty good to me, therefore, I directed Paul further up the foreshore so to place Simon into the hot-spot with a view to also changing his lure to the second Shibasu Paul had in that box if he didn’t connect within a few minutes, however, the bass had other plans for me!

Following Paul, so that I could place him into position from which he could target a submerged feature, first cast, and Holy S**t, the water just erupted! “I’ll be back down in a minute Simon” I shouted, as I waded back into the water to net Paul’s near 60cm specimen (above). But it got better – courtesy of the confirmed 60cm+ bass (below) that obliterated the £7 piece of hard plastic into next week within a couple of cast of returning the first 60. Wow! This was great fishing!

Considering that Paul has Game Fished all over world, his comment once things had calmed down a little that “this is the best fishing I have ever experienced in my life Marc” came as a surprise and a massive compliment to me. I did ask him later on that evening if he’d meant it, and he did!

One more…

Do you want one more example of a cheap lure or one ‘copying’ another doing the business? Go one then, here’s one more… With Paul and Simon’s session fresh in my mind (they managed to land many more on that sunny afternoon and evening) I welcomed a late replacement (Trevor) onto one of my 3 Day Packages. It was during a session within one of south Devon’s muddiest creeks that I happened upon the BASS LURES UK 4.5″ Shad Style Lure (here and below) after having a root around in his tackle bag.

As I was expecting within this creek, there were dozens of shoals of immature mullet harbouring on the leeward section of any ‘weed clumps or gravelly humps’. Therefore, after thrashing the clear water with his Patchinko 100, I suggested a change to a soft plastic paddle tail as the water turned shallower and more turbid could yield a bass during what had been a strangely quiet morning – quiet until this one turned up and made Trevor’s trip that was!

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Thanks for reading – I hope the information contained with these posts continues to assist you.

Marc Cowling