All the lures we sell will catch not just bass but a whole range of predatory fish. If however you are finding it difficult to decide which lures to buy picking one or two, or all twelve if you like, from the "deadly dozen" should see you getting some lure action this summer.

Good Luck - The Veals Mail Order Team

DEADLY DOZEN

1 – Maria Chase BW – When Henry Gilby highlight the Chase BW as one of his favourite bass lures and showed it in his magazine article and on his excellent Bass DVD the popularity of this lure rose dramatically. The popularity of the Chase lures has continued to increase as anglers find that Henry’s praise was deserved and the Chase lures are indeed fantastic bass catchers.

This shallow diving minnow is best used when the bass are searching for small bait fish near the surface. As it does not dive too deep it can be used in fairly shallow water but do not discount the Chase BW in deeper water as the bass will often be looking for an easy meal near the surface. They can be fished in a number of ways but a fairly fast retrieve with regular jerks of the rod tip can induce some savage takes.

2 – Lucky Craft Flashminnow – This is a shallow diving minnow with a nice wobbling action. It dives down approx 2’ so you do not need a huge depth of water to use it. The finish, as with all Lucky Craft lures, is superb and with some skill from the angler can fool even the wariest of fish. The flashminnow can be fished fast or slow but a steady retrieve with plenty of rod tip movement gives the lure an erratic action which the fish can find irresistible.

3 – Lucky Craft Sammy – These superb surface lures can provide fantastic sport but you have to work a Sammy to get the best out of them. At rest the Sammy sits with its head out of the water and as you retrieve the lure it skates across the surface. The secret of getting them to really work is to constantly twitch the rod. If you are using braid every twitch of the rod causes the Sammy to dart from side to side, add in the odd pause of a few seconds and you have an action which surface feeding bass often find irresistible. In fact even if no fish can be seen near the surface the Sammy can draw bass up from the depths to have a look. Takes are very visual but if the fish misses the lure, rather than striking at thin air, pause for a couple of seconds and twitch the lure again as this will often result in a positive second take.

4 – Maria Angel Kiss – The Angel Kiss was the first sub surface lure we sourced from Maria and it has proved so successful that we now have our own exclusive mackerel colour in the most popular 115mm size. They fish very shallow, <12’’, with a slow retrieve so you can search out the productive shallows where other lures fear to go! If the fish are not responding to a surface lure then the switch to an Angel Kiss will at times lead to positive takes. The Angel Kiss is not just for shallow water as bass, and other species often drive small fish to the surface and a fast jerky retrieve can lead to frantic sport. During a trip to Chesil we had pollack coming up through 20+ feet of water to hit our Angel Kiss lures with such force that they cleared the water as they took! So keen were they to take the lure that one “lunker” turned out in fact to be two 2lb fish, one on each treble!

5 – Dexter Wedge – Probably no other “lump of metal” has over the years caught as many bass as the Dexter Wedge. The “Wedge” can be fish from both shore and boat and the bass just love them wherever you are. From the shore the compact shape casts really well, even into the wind, and the wobbling fluttering action combined with the flash from the holographic finish imitates as wounded fish. Both a steady retrieve and “sink and draw” work well and it pays to vary your retrieve until you find what is working on the day. The smaller sizes are good for shallow water and/or calm days whilst the larger lures come into their own in deeper water or strong on-shore winds. The larger sizes are also very good from the boat where they often fished by casting down tide from a drifting boat and then worked back through the bass shoals.

6 – Yo-Zuri Mag Popper – Ever since one of the fishing magazines published a picture of a bass with a Mag Popper in its mouth on the cover this once “secret” lure has become the must have bass lure. At one time they were very hard to obtain but we now import them direct and normally have good stocks of all the top colours. With its moving magnetic weight system they are a good casting lure which will cover a lot of water. They are primarily a surface lure and a steady retrieve with plenty of rod tip movement gets them to dart across the surface in a very attractive manner. As with other surface lures adding a few pauses can often induce a take with the fish hitting the lure just as you restart your retrieve. If you miss a take stopping the retrieve will sometimes get the fish to take as you start again or occasionally even take the static lure on the surface. If your normal tactics are not working it may be worth having a go with a fast retrieve which will make the lure scoot across the surface and occasionally dive down a few inches. If you try this make sure your drag is set correctly as takes can be very fierce. As the mag popper has quite a subtle action they are best used in calmer conditions as rough water can overwhelm them.

7 – Rapala J Series – At one time the Rapala J13 in blue/silver was THE plug for bass fishing and when plug fishing first became popular in the early 90’s the J13 outsold all the other lures we stocked by at least 10 to 1. Although they are not as popular now this does not mean that they no longer catch bass and it is a foolish lure angler who does not have some in his lure box. The jointed design gives them a fantastic action and with even a slow retrieve you can feel the lure working through the rod tip. Mike Ladle used to say to retrieve the lure so slowly that you could just feel it twitching the rod tip and this is a very good method to adopt. A slightly faster retrieve will get them to dive down deeper than some of the more modern lures and this can be handy in deeper water but care needs to be taken in shallow areas. They are not particularly good casting lures, especially the J9 and J11, but in reasonable conditions casts of around 30 yards should not be a problem and this is plenty far enough to reach the fish.

8 – Storm Chug Bug – The Chug Bug is now the standard surface popper but like many of the successful bass lures they were once a well kept secret. This was many years ago and now most lure anglers will have at least one chug bug in their collection. With its concave front the chug bug really creates a disturbance on the surface and this noise and commotion can draw bass from a distance to see what is going on. As with the other surface lures try a variety of different retrieves until you find what the fish want on the day. A steady retrieve with plenty of rod movement or a stop start retrieve are often best. The Chug Bug is a much “noisier” popper than some other types so it can be used in rougher water. It is however worth noting that very rough conditions are often not very good for surface fishing so if you are faced with rough seas it may pay to try a different tactic.

9 – Bass Buster 2 “Fight Fish” – The market is full of “cheap” lures and for the money conscious angler they can be a tempting buy when compared to the top branded products. The trouble with cheap lures is that the quality can be as low as the price and even a small bass will soon find any weakness in the hooks or poor construction. The Bass Buster however does not fall into this category and although the quality is not quite as good as some of our more expensive lures it is well up to UK bass fishing. It is a medium depth floater diver which has a wobbling action which gives a good imitation of a small bait fish. One advantage of its cheap price is that you can be a little less cautious in its use and fish deeper and nearer to rock and weed than you might with a more expensive lure. This is where the bigger fish sometimes lay and may explain why every year we get reports of big bass being landed on the popular Bass Bandit.

10 – Abu Toby – The classic toby has been around for longer than we can remember and is still as capable of catching all predatory sea fish as it has always been. The fluttering action imitates an injured bait fish and if bass, mackerel etc are attacking a shoal of whitebait a toby cast into the action will normally be nailed within seconds of starting to wind in. In shallow water a steady retrieve will work the toby near the surface but in deeper water a sink and draw style often does the business.

11 – Dexter darter – Dexter have introduced a whole range of plugs which offer good quality at a reasonable price. They are all quite popular but the darter has proved to be a particularly good lure. It is a lipless floating shallow diver and a fast retrieve makes it work just below the surface with a tight zigzagging action. This is very effective when bass are chasing bait fish near the surface and due to the fast retrieve takes can be hard.

12 – Chase SW – The Chase SW is very similar to the Chase BW but if you look at them closely you will notice that the SW has a slightly larger lip which has a couple of effects on the lure. The main difference is that you will find that the SW fishes slightly deeper than the BW which allows you to target a different target zone. The larger lip also gives a stronger swimming action which is less inclined to be swamped in rougher conditions. The SW comes in a number of different colours which are not available in the BW and by buying a combination of the BW and SW lures you can cover a wide variety of sub surface conditions.