MIDDLEWEIGHT LURES FOR ALL SEASONS
by Robin Shipp

INTRODUCTION by Deputy Editor Brian Barwell
Traditional lure angler Robin Shipp argues the case for his classic middleweight plugs, spinners , spinnerbaits and spoons; you know the ones, those lures which always can be relied on to 'do the business' whatever the weather, water or time of year or species, and what's more they have been doing the biz for decades, and they don't need special rods to do it either! "Nevermind your great big glide baits or your lightweight stuff, give me my good old middle weight lures every time" Robin says!

MIDDLE~WEIGHT LURES RULE OK
I've read a lot about giant jerkbaits and about lightweight lures, haven't you? Too much perhaps, and I can't help feeling that a lot of lure anglers are forgetting that good old trusty middleweight lures still have their place, and a very big place, in my lure collection anyway. I'm not knocking anglers who rate these other lures, I'm just saying don't forget middleweight lures because they are every bit as good on the day.

I'm not knocking those other articles or writers, just saying that in my opinion middleweight lures shouldn't be forgotten. What's wrong with a good old Big S? Nothing! What's wrong with a 4 inch Creek Chub Pikie? Absolutely nothing! And what's wrong with a Size 6 Rublex Ondex or a Size 5 Mepps Aglia or a Lizard or a Professor spoon? Nothing at all! I think they're all great lures for all seasons and yet I have read about and even heard people knocking them, and I just can't understand why. That's what's got me going and made me write something down.

ROUGH WEIGHT RANGES
As there are no real hard and fast definitions of big, medium and small lure weights etc that I know of, I'm just going to use the following weights as a rough guide just so that everyone knows what I'm on about. I've done a rough list to show the sort of weights that I'm talking about. The weights aren't cast in stone or anything like that, just some of my humble suggestions.

Alright, so some so-called experts say that jerk baits are the biz but are they good for the sort of small waters that most of us fish? At the other end of the scale, I can quite believe that lightweight and those tiny so-called UL lures will catch a whole load of different predator species like other writers say they do. But right in the middle are my faithful middleweight lures which have caught most of my pike over the years and perch and chub too as well as a very occasional zander.

And I wouldn't mind betting that a lot of other lure anglers are just the same. They just keep quiet about it and get on with their fishing. What's wrong with medium weight lures? After all, which lure angler hasn't fished with a Shakespeare Big S at one time or another? ...Exactly!

My lure bucket is full to the brim and overflowing with lures that I'd say are middleweight. These lures may weigh an ounce (28 gm) or so, maybe more, maybe less, but sure as eggs are eggs, they catch pike and what's more they're dead easy to cast. OK, so they may spook a chub or perch or two but I can live with that. In my experience most decent sized pike don't give a stuff about a splash or two, in fact sometimes I think it might actually wake them up!

MIDDLE~WEIGHT "MUST HAVEs"
As with all forms of lure fishing 'depth' is critical, and one of my favourite middleweight plugs is one that actually has an adjustable lip that controls the depth which it dives to; of course I'm talking about Abu's all time classic middleweight plug, the 'Hi-Lo'. Abu also have some good middleweight spinners e.g. Reflex, which is another Middleweight Must Have for my lure box. Everybody knows about Rapala lures basically because they consistently catch fish! In my bucket I've got Magnums, Countdowns, Floating and Joined Minnows and a couple of Minnow spoons which I've found very handy - they're weedless and ideal for snaggy swims. And who doesn't know about Nilsmaster? Their Invincible is my favourite, and for me it always seems to do its name justice!

Of course, I couldn't write about my middleweight lures without mentioning the Creek Chub Pikie plug, a fantastic fish catcher which is as good today as it was 30 years ago, and I should know! Bagleys are some more favourites of mine; I always have one or two Top Guns and Monster Shads in my trusty lure bucket. And I've already mentioned Shakepeare's classic Big S plug several times. Pike just seem to love my Bomber Jointed Long A minnows - don't leave home without one!

Also a Manns 1-Minus is another "MUST" for my bucket. I use a nice Manns Stretch 25 if I need a good bit of extra depth. One rather odd plug that I use a lot is a sort of combined spinner and a soft plastic fish; I think it's called a Renosky's Swiss Lunker minnow and I use it quite a lot when nothing else has worked and it often winkles out a pike or two even if they're only small ones. I can't remember exactly where I bought it and to be honest I don't know if it's still available but there must be other similar ones around.

In shallowish water when the weather's warm I like to get out some of my surface plugs and have a bash. Probably my favourites are Heddon's classic Crazy Crawler and Ozark's Woodchopper, a wizard topwater torpedo-type propellor lure. If you've never tried these surface lures you ought to have a go, if you can stand the real heart stopping action! I've also tried Jitterbugs and now I'm OK with them, but it took me a while to get the hang of how to fish these unusual and quite difficult lures - (I have to keep my rod well up in the air for one!). One aim is to stop the weight of your trace affecting its action, and yes OK, I guess those lightweight guys are smiling, even laughing at this right now because I suppose they don't have any of these problems, but I prefer to stick with my tough meaty tackle thank you very much all the same!

BUCKET FULL OF SPOONS
I'm a big fan of spoons and my bucket's full of them: Atlantics, Abu Atoms and Tobys, Professors and Lucky Strike Lizards mainly! They're absolute boons to have in your bucket whatever the water or weather. Pike, perch, chub, you name it, they all go for spoons. Get right down to it with spoons I say! They're unbeatable when pike are lying low, which is most of the time. Spinnerbaits and Spinners are Winners too, Whatever type of lure fishing takes your fancy; the choice is huge! I mainly use Abu Reflex, Mepps Aglia Long size 5 and the largest size of Ondex. As far as spinnerbaits go I use a both shop bought and some of my home made ones. I quite like Bomber Bushwhackers and Northland ReedRunners, but you pays your money and takes your pick - they're all pretty much of a muchness in my opinion (i.e. do the job!!), but maybe I shouldn't say that!

TOP TWENTY
I have listed my Top 20 middleweight lures below so that, if you want, you can print it out and use it for easy reference. For convenience's sake I have listed them alphabetically 'by make', and I have also added some metric weights because that's the way most manufacturers quote them these days. As a rough conversion 1/4 oz is 7 gm, 1/2 oz is 14 gm and 1 oz is 28 gm. So here's a selection from my bucket of middleweight lures:

I see that most people recommend changing original hooks that come on on shop bought lures; well this always gets my goat to having to change hooks on a lure that I've just paid good money for, but I have to agree that a lot of original hooks, how shall I put it, are rubbish!! Decent replacement trebles aren't easy to find except, dare I say it from mail order companies. Sometimes its also important to replace or even add split rings, just to make sure that all the links between me and that fish are as strong as possible. If theres any doubt, often as not, I won't use the lure until its been rebuilt it in the workshop. That really cheeses me off tho', having just paid good money for the lure its then got to be rebuilt so its man enough for the job!

RODS
I've tried most methods at one time or another, but having watched my son and his jerk bait tackle one thing's for certain, you don't need a broom handle for middleweight lures (nor a wispy wand for that matter!). "Moderation for moderate sized lures"; so what's needed is a 5 or 6 ft baitcaster rod and a multiplier reel or a 7, 8 or 9 ft rod with a fixed spool reel. Just check that the rod's casting weight is around 1/2 to 2 oz which is roughly 15 to 50 gm in metric. I like to use my baitcaster rod and multiplier reel just as much as a fixed spool set up, but when fishing waters with a reedy margin or difficult bank its better to use a slightly longer rod (i.e. 9 ft).

Its also critical to match the weight of the fixed spool reel to the weight of the rod so that the whole setup balances somewhere along the handle. For easy casting go for a rod with a big butt ring that's a good distance from the handle; it helps if the rod hasn't got too many other rings which should also be fairly large, including the tip eye.

BRAIDED LINE
Like everyone else I've found that the type of line used can make a big difference to casting distance and accuracy even with my fat middleweight plugs! Braided lines are brilliant for lure fishing and I will never go back to monos. OK, so they're not cheap but they are excellent! I mostly use 30, 50 and 60 lb braid, but beware - they've got hardly any 'give', so it's important to adjust the drag just in case !

I quite like Power Cable because it's nice and soft, however I also use Power Pro and Herculine. They're all very good in my opinion however they say Spiderwire's the Rolls Royce of braids but as yet I've not used it. Whiplash is pretty good too.

Trace wire ranging from 30 to 66 lb BS tends to cover all eventualities, clearly depending on how, where and what I'm fishing with. Some wires are coated with nylon or suchlike but I'm still a big fan of good old plain uncoated Drennan wires, always have been!

Whichever lure's in use I'll always make sure that crimps and knots are completely secure (using the Palomar knot with braid) coupled with strong stainless steel snap lock links. Sometimes its helps to use a good epoxy resin glue to make knots etc really secure. I always double check using the 'tug and test' method, checking every hook hanger and trace link.

 1. Some anglers seem to stick with the same lure for hour after hour but that's not for me, I like a nice bit of variety in my fishing. With all these lures in the bucket if the pike don't fancy one type then I'm sure they'll have another!

2. Everyone expects 'bait' fishermen to carry around landing nets, weigh slings AND unhooking mats.. but when have you ever seen a lure angler with an unhooking mat? I use a neat little weigh sling that's designed to double up as an unhooking mat, although I try not to take the fish out of the water if at all possible.

Like most lure anglers I catch some nice perch, a few chub and I've also had a couple of zander from the Fens near Ely. The locals there call them 'zeds', and I hear that suspending plugs e.g. Rapala Husky Jerk are pretty good catchers.

Most of us however are really after Old Esox, and typically find ourselves on our local 'medium sized rivers and lakes'. So go on, leave those huge jerk baits, jumbo plugs and tiny little mini ultralights at home and pick out a nice selection of good old traditional middle sized lures - almost by definition they'll give you the best all round chance of catching pike of all sizes! I enjoy them all and be honest, don't you? Besides specialist tackle isn't cheap; expensive broom handles for jerk baits and willowy wands for light lures may leave you wondering why you abandoned the all round, good value middleweight scene - that's if you ever left it !

Robin Shipp.

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