Sea Angling Ireland

can any one tell the right way to retrieve a sp black minnow i think it looks great in the water but never had a sniff of a fish wit it i tryed slow fast jerkin but still no interest

Like any soft lure, there is no "right" way (You probably expected this answer ) I would suggest that if you are catching on another soft lure then you should do the same with your BM.
It depends on where you are. In a typical cast from the shore into reasonable depth - I would cast out and wait till I feel the lure touch down. I would then give it a lift and a few turns of the reel. I would continue like this all the way back - speeding up to avoid rocks and reefs. I wouldn't be adverse to stopping for a few seconds where the ground is nice.

Also if you are fishing over sand let it hit the bottom and lift it up again and repeat, this will create a puff of sand when it hits and is a real turn on for Bass, especially at dusk when sandeel are going back underground

maybe theres no fish where you are fishing..?
i would reckon any and all rates of retrieve will entice fish if they are about
of course, light conditions (dim=better) etc could come in to play but i reckon your problem here might simply be lack of fish a the time of fishing
come back another time on a different tide, time of day or whatever. or try somewhere else?

ps. i have had a bad experience with the fiiish black minnow. THREE times the hook has come off the head whilst fighting fish!!!!! unbelievable!
i reckon the design of the hook-to-head link is a complete joke - useless
I have since put a new hook on (again) and bent the wire that holds the hook so that it wont fall off as easily. i have also had to glue the body to the head. its all a joke, the little soft body will survive maybe 3or4 hook-ups if you are lucky
i wont be buying another one and i will warn people against them
couldn't be bothered to contact them to complain either. great looking lure but its a liability, to say the least

chuckaroo wrote:
ps. i have had a bad experience with the fiiish black minnow. THREE times the hook has come off the head whilst fighting fish!!!!! unbelievable!
i reckon the design of the hook-to-head link is a complete joke - useless
I have since put a new hook on (again) and bent the wire that holds the hook so that it wont fall off as easily. i have also had to glue the body to the head. its all a joke, the little soft body will survive maybe 3or4 hook-ups if you are lucky
i wont be buying another one and i will warn people against them
couldn't be bothered to contact them to complain either. great looking lure but its a liability, to say the least

Interesting to hear your experience. I have heard of others having the same problem. I have never had the issue. I have always glued the body to the head. The manufacturers have always said to glue the head. It seems that the gluing of the head got lost as others were promoting/reviewing the lure (Hype!!). Would it seem that once the body is glued there is less chance of it happening?
I think the softness is part of the success of the lure but I would not use it for any other fishing other than bass. It would be a waste of money targeting pollack or wrasse - unless you have loads of BM's

Confidence in a lure counts for a lot and if you do not have confidence in a lure it gets left in the box - After three problems it will be a while before your confidence returns!

nice 1 lads cant give up on it yet action looks too good goin to bring it back to place where i first tryed it just pure sand and try jims method feeling confident it will work

JimC wrote:Interesting to hear your experience. I have heard of others having the same problem. I have never had the issue. I have always glued the body to the head. The manufacturers have always said to glue the head. It seems that the gluing of the head got lost as others were promoting/reviewing the lure (Hype!!). Would it seem that once the body is glued there is less chance of it happening?
I think the softness is part of the success of the lure but I would not use it for any other fishing other than Bass. It would be a waste of money targeting pollack or wrasse - unless you have loads of BM's

Confidence in a lure counts for a lot and if you do not have confidence in a lure it gets left in the box - After three problems it will be a while before your confidence returns!

Yes indeed, apparently I'm not the only one that this has happened to. I have heard of just one or 2 other cases here and there but not too many, I'm surprised that there just hasn't been more.
and yes, i agree that the soft body is the key to making it swim and look great, for sure, it's just a pity (huge oversight) that the hook doesn't stay on too well. Yeah, gluing the body to the head would surely help matters (it would need to be a good and suitable glue) but at that price you'd think that there wouldn't be a need for glue? i reckon so anyway.
I will use the lure again for sure but only because I will have more confidence after the alterations i made to it..

and yes, you are absolutely right, it was pollack that were making a mess of the lure on me. we don't have much bass lure fishing up this way...

cheers


good luck anyway THE BROW. Aye, that bouncing method in the sand could defo be worth a try all right.

chuckaroo wrote:maybe theres no fish where you are fishing..?
i would reckon any and all rates of retrieve will entice fish if they are about
of course, light conditions (dim=better) etc could come in to play but i reckon your problem here might simply be lack of fish a the time of fishing
come back another time on a different tide, time of day or whatever. or try somewhere else?

ps. i have had a bad experience with the fiiish black minnow. THREE times the hook has come off the head whilst fighting fish!!!!! unbelievable!
i reckon the design of the hook-to-head link is a complete joke - useless
I have since put a new hook on (again) and bent the wire that holds the hook so that it wont fall off as easily. i have also had to glue the body to the head. its all a joke, the little soft body will survive maybe 3or4 hook-ups if you are lucky
i wont be buying another one and i will warn people against them
couldn't be bothered to contact them to complain either. great looking lure but its a liability, to say the least

Have you tried the Delalande Swat Shad similar to the black minnow. I have only had Mackerel on them no problems so far.

Y

es indeed, apparently I'm not the only one that this has happened to. I have heard of just one or 2 other cases here and there but not too many, I'm surprised that there just hasn't been more.
and yes, i agree that the soft body is the key to making it swim and look great, for sure, it's just a pity (huge oversight) that the hook doesn't stay on too well. Yeah, gluing the body to the head would surely help matters (it would need to be a good and suitable glue) but at that price you'd think that there wouldn't be a need for glue? i reckon so anyway.
I will use the lure again for sure but only because I will have more confidence after the alterations i made to it..

and yes, you are absolutely right, it was pollack that were making a mess of the lure on me. we don't have much Bass lure fishing up this way...

I use a fairly standard super glue (activator sometimes) ( http://www.topfisher.eu/tried-and-tested-3/ ) I glue all my plastics.

I was fishing with one last week and hooked a decent bass but when i went to unhook the fish the i noticed d tail was gone,it had flew off in d fight and this was a new lure,iv also noticed that any few pollack caught on these and they are no more good,iv sense started to glue them so Il see how that works out as there abit expensive to be replacing at that rate

nicefish wrote:Have you tried the Delalande Swat Shad similar to the black minnow. I have only had Mackerel on them no problems so far.

no I haven't nicefish. thats a decent looking lure all right, might give it a go some time. very similar looking to the black minnow, but at half the price!..
cheers

roooster wrote:I was fishing with one last week and hooked a decent Bass but when i went to unhook the fish the i noticed d tail was gone,it had flew off in d fight and this was a new lure,iv also noticed that any few pollack caught on these and they are no more good,iv sense started to glue them so Il see how that works out as there abit expensive to be replacing at that rate

fair enough rooster. hopefully the glue will improve matters, im sure it should
cheers


ps. apologies for high-jacking your thread somewhat THE BROW...

Yip I've had bass on the swat shad

Over rated and hyped up lures in my opinion.

I've had fish on them but they are by no means the best in the box.

Very soft and as said already I've had brand new from the box destroyed after one fish.

Suggested alternatives:
Illex I shad with and without paddle. These can be fished weedless or on jigheads.

Don't believe all you read about Black Minnows...there are equally and better lured out there but just not hyped as much.

One of the best soft plastics I have used (sorry Crevan), just catches a lot of fish for us no hidden agendas.

In currents off rocks you name it it has worked and the smaller one have caught me fish off rocks when nothing else was working!

Spoke with the Fiiish people when they were at the festival a year ago and they recommended a simple straight retrieve of the rocks!


J

savage gear sandeel all the way with super glue