When I got back into lure fishing this year, I had to buy some new lures, looking online I was amazed by the huge amount of lures you can buy, hard lures, soft plastics, and metal lures are just a few, then you have different colors, shapes, weights of the lures etc. I watched a few YouTube videos to see what others were catching bass on, Savage Gear Surfseeker was popular, along with weedless soft plastics. I bought a few Surfseekers and a selection of soft plastics.
So off I went fishing thinking I would be catching bass in no time, Boy was I wrong 7 or 8 trips all blanked, what was I doing wrong, I had lures that caught fish for others, why couldn’t I catch, was I fishing them wrong, was there any bass there, and I lost several seekers which disheartened me from using them.
Being a Rookie and looking back I think the bass was not there, my error in losing them, the Surfseeker is a super lure but it didn’t work for me. I went back to YouTube searching for something else, and I came across a YouTube channel by the name of Angling Addict 75 owned by Wayne Morgan, he was showing a new lure by the name of the Slingshot Surface Iron, and he was catching bass on it, he also has an online tackle shop called Lures Edge and was selling this lure, so I decided to order some.
The Surface Irons come in 6 Different colors you got the Dark Knight (Black/Silver), Chrome Bullet (Chrome), Red Baron (Red), Fusilier (Green/Blue), Sardine (Blue) and Mint Glow (Light Green/Yellow). They come in 3 weights 9g, 17g, and 26g, initially, I ordered some of the 9g and 17g in each color. They are a 3-sided wedge shape and come with a treble hook and a split ring on top, they have 3 slots in the top of the lure which gives off vibrations when retrieved through the water.
So my Surface irons arrived and off I went to try them, after so many blanks I wasn’t too confident of catching anything, so I attached one of the 9g lures, a little tip shared by Wayne and used by myself, don’t attach the lure clip to the split ring, instead connect it to the lure eye when retrieving the split ring rattles around and could attract a bass. I used the chrome first after a few casts I hooked a schoolie, a small one but to catch that bass I was elated, my first bass of 2024. I wanted to try different colors and sizes, I caught 5 schoolies that day I was chuffed.
Over the next few sessions, I was catching bass still schoolies but was catching, but I was using the 17g more as I was hoping to get a bigger bass with a bigger lure, and I was keeping a record of my catches, lure weight, and especially color to see what they like were. It soon emerged that the red was catching more, followed by the chrome and then the mint, the others were catching the odd fish. these lures cast a good distance even the 9g but sometimes I felt I could do with a bit more distance.
I hadn’t tried the 26g version, so I ordered some, boy these fly you can throw them a good distance into the wind they scream braid of the reel, just perfect to get a better distance. I got to my estuary mark I have fished a lot this year, I had planned to fish the ebb at least an hour before low and fish the flood in, when I arrived a few fish were splashing on the surface and a few birds were diving into the water.
I put on a surface lure but could not get it out to where they were moving, so out came the 26g Chome, clipped it on, and cast it, I was getting it out where the fish were moving, and a few casts and I was catching a few bass, one coughed up a couple of baitfish it had eaten, it was the same length as the 26g lure, I was matching the size of the baitfish perfectly. As the flood continued I picked up a few more bass, I decided to change to the red color to see if there was a difference, I had nothing, not a touch, I put back on the Chrome and was getting hits immediately.
I had been watching a group of birds moving up along the estuary heading my way, they were intensely diving on a baitfish shoal, and for certain the bass were pushing them along, they arrived in casting distance, and in the next 10 casts I had 10 fish it was insane the lure was amazing. It was a Red Letter Day for me i had 30 bass in 2-3 hours nothing massive most were in the 20-30cm size, with one a 38cm.
In my latest session, I was trying out my new rod the Apia Foojin’RS Art Magic 90ML+ same place but the water was very cloudy, i was getting a fantastic distance with these lures, and even in the murky water it was showing well, i soon lost a schoolie at my feet, I also caught a nice mackerel, even he couldn’t resist the Surface Iron. A little while later I managed to christen my new rod with a nice 44cm bass taken on the Chrome 26g. The Biggest Bass so far on the Surface Iron.
Conclusion!
The Slingshot Surface Iron is a fantastic lure you can fish it sub-surface or deeper depending on the speed of retrieve and height or rod, it has caught 90% of the bass this year, I wouldn’t leave home without some in the lure box, and saved me a few times from blanking. It hasn’t caught any huge fish as yet the 44cm being the biggest.
They are available through the Lures Edge online shop and are £8.99, I will put a link below if you want to take a look and purchase some to try. Please mention the Kernow Bass website if you do purchase some Thank you. Also a YouTube video of Wayne fishing with them. Many Thanks for reading my review, Steve.
