Lure Fishing Forum

Steve	The first thing I want to ask is about the popularity of lure fishing. Lure fishing has had many bouts of popularity, notably in the 1930s and then, thanks to anglers like Barry Rickards, in the 70s. It became popular again in the 90s and this time the interested has been sustained. Do you all think that this is going to continue, or dry up again as it has done in the past?
Del	I’d say it’s grown over the last 10 years. I’ve just received the Harris Angling catalogue. I remember receiving their first one, and Sue writes this year that it’s their 10^th year. Now I was probably one of the people who got caught up in the upsurge in lure fishing at that time. I’ve been editing the LAS magazine for the last 3½ years. To be honest, there hasn’t been a big increase in members since then.
Steve	What is the membership now, Del?
Del	It’s close to 500 compared with 350 or so when we took over.
Steve	And how does that compare with the PAC Ray?
Ray	Well with the PAC you’re talking of over 2000. But both groups are holding a big nucleus of members and are building on that, whereas a while ago it was replacing the drop-outs. You still get the odd drop out for various reasons but it’s nothing like it was. The LAS in particular has held onto a hell of a lot of its members.
Steve	What do you all reckon then has been the reason for the sustained popularity of lure fishing this time round? I know that Leon is involved with sea fishing. Has there, for instance, been an increase in the number of bass anglers using lures?
Leon	Yes, there has been. With the numbers of bass on the increase (the small bass anyway thanks to the nursery areas) it usually means that somebody with a lure rod can go out and fish where they know there’s some bass and catch two or three in a session. And there’s also the bonus mackeral or garfish etc. People find they can take a fish with a lure rod rather than having to organise bait and worry too much about the tides. They can just turn up with a lure rod, a handful of lures and start fishing.
Steve	What’s been the difference then this time round? Has there been better communication, better fishing or what?
Leon	I think it’s the variety of lures that are available now. In the past lure fishing was seen as a method for catching small pike and the lures were quite small, more suitable for perch fishing. But with the larger muskie lures coming over from America people started taking some very big fish on lures. This seems to have broken down a lot of the barriers.

Steve	I’d certainly agree with the size issue. For various reasons I’ve used smaller lures than a lot of other pikers. One of the reasons is that I’ve often been hoping to get a big perch at the same time. I use lures that are much bigger than others would use for perch, 4 & 5 inch lures – in other words what would have been considered a standard size pike lure a few years back. Although I’ve caught more pike than many of my friends fishing the same waters simultaneously, it’s interesting that they’ve caught more of the very big pike using their bigger lures.
Ray	I’d agree with Leon. In the 70s you were limited to half a dozen spoons, a few Woolworth lures and not much else. It was the American connection, but it was the people who got involved this time round. People like Del and John Milford.
Steve	Yes, it was John and his partner forming TG Lures in the 80s that started the thing this time round wasn’t it?
Ray	Yes, you had a couple of experts there who knew what they were talking about. They introduced a wide range of lures and, instead of just chucking out a Colorado spoon at the end of an unsuccessful bait fishing session, it because a whole new world. I can’t see now that it won’t continue to grow – big time.
Steve	It’s interesting having just come back from Germany. I went to one tackle shop and it was 90% lures. What’s also changed is that of all those lures, perhaps 50% were soft plastics. It’s interesting that these are just catching on in this country with some anglers, notable Steve Crowther. Steve has demonstrated that soft plastics can catch fish of a great many species. I remember when Steve last came to Wingham, last November for the England v South Africa match, the Springboks used soft rubbers and pulverised us! Two of the English team pinched some and hooked tench with them. Maybe there’s a lot to be learnt from that. Anyone got any comments as to where the lure market is going?
Del	I think a lot will depend on, shall we say, a more friendly attitude from the reservoirs and British Waterways. For instance, one of the canals up in the Midlands was netted recently, and there was 2000 lbs of zander netted out. The guys were told take what you want, then a hole was dug and the rest were buried. Now those fish were obviously doing very well. We’ve got to try and force a change of attitude. The only thing that they seem to be interested in is money. We’ve got to convince them that predator anglers are also willing to pay good money to fish, which I think was well demonstrated on the trout reservoirs. You try and book a boat on a trout reservoir on one of their pike fishing days and you’ve got to get in quick or the boats are all gone. I go down to these trout waters on days when there’s no pike fishing and there’s boats not being used. Now if those waters were open to everyone there’d be more money going into the fisheries.
Steve	Do you think the pike fishing would deteriorate with the extra pressure?
Del	Well, then I think you’ve got to look at management – proper management. I say that ‘cos I always put British "fisheries management" in inverted commas. It’s not really management, it’s just "let’s get the pike out and then we’re all right". It’s been proven beyond doubt that that’s not the case. I mean, in America waters are stocked, stocked with game fish. Pike and muskie are considered game fish there. It’s a completely different mind set over there. If you say you’re a carp fisherman they laugh at you. Although that is changing slightly. Even then, they’re not looking at carp fishing with boilies as much as catching carp on fly gear, rather like going after bonefish.
Steve	Well, Leon’s just written an interesting piece on Angler’s Net about attitudes to pike, trout reservoir culls and predator/prey balance etc. (At this point, Leon summarised the article but we suggest it’s worth reading it in full. Click here to go directly to it) One of the reasons I don’t allow pike fishing at Wingham, except by invitation, is that I’m trying to grow big fish of various species. I don’t want the predator/prey balance to be upset – at the moment it appears to be perfect. I just allow a little bit of pike fishing every year to check that the balance in maintained.
Ray	The other thing is that water management nowadays is based on silver fish and carp. True water management I feel should start with managing the predators and work its way backwards. It’s my experience that natural waters as opposed to commercial waters (yes I know few waters are totally natural), holding species such as tench, big roach and rudd etc almost invariably are clear, weedy waters, and invariably have a good head of pike. I think as Leon says in his article good pike fishing and good predator fishing are linked – you can’t have one without the other.
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On The Bank

Interview conducted by Steve Burke