Thursday 21 January 2016

Illex Warriors

Came a cross with the brand about 2 years now in the Ireland and since using them with very much success.  The inspiration to write this post didn't came from  to say how good this lures or how shiny they are....you guys knows that anyway ;)
I just found an interesting thing about they durability. When I have a soft plastic lure and I catch a lot of fish on one I like to call it a "veteran" and put it away as it's served his time very well and give me lots of fun and lots of fish.
The wears and tears on them is massive but they still together and if I wanna rig them today and make a cast they still be able to catch a fish, but to be honest I will be a little sad to loose them after all this time, so retire them nicely. The second reason is that every time I get them out of the box I get all the great memories coming back from the fish what I did caught on them.





Last year I had a 150 Dexter Shad in Rudd colour which made it to the veteran stage after over 60 pike I caught one this single lure. At the start I called the lucky lure and take care very often with some Mend-it of course, but after a while the painting stared to wear off, so that was the moment when she went to the veteran box. I think the material is now about 80% Mend-it after a while I used that much to repaired but after this lure seen hundreds of predator teeth and still in one piece it's quiet an impressive development for the material what is made of.


The other lure which made it to the box only a few days ago, is the Illex NitroShad 150 in GoldenGreen colour, rigged on the 25g Nitro Shad head. Now on this lure I caught multiple species and I had it rigged like this nearly a year.  The first fish I caught on it was a sea bass on the Channel Islands, because this lure originally designed for them on salt water and have to say this lures are the queen of the currents. Although the bass hasn't got big teeth's the little small ones are able to shred the material big time. Spinning closer to the shore I hooked and landed Ballan Wrasse on it, and the wrasse is famous to chomp your lure in half with their powerful jaw , but the lure still in one piece.
Another species of the sea was the pollack, same teeth structure as the bass , but ones you found a shoal of them  you can get a great sport and land a lots of them ....so I did and the paint coating and the hooks is still sharp, which is very impressive again when it's up to choosing tackle what is up and hold in the battle.






I moved back to Ireland and as well known in winter season the pikes move in to the deeper areas so I really need something to cut down quickly the depth and hold close to the bottom while retrieve it back, so I get the NitroShad out of the box ad clip it on. Seems perfect for the job and second cast I was in to a pike. Proudly can say in that session I manage to land on this lure 28 pike up to 16lb which is excellent fun on light gear ( rod: Illex Element Rider S230M 5-28g). The next trip after weeks we went back to the same water and without hesitation my first lure choice was the same, now the conditions wasn't good as last time but I managed to land 14 pike up 11lb on the same set up which made my day really and I was super happy.
The teeth marks as shown on the picture became all over on the lure and leave lots of damage but this lure is still gonna catch at least 20 more fish if I still spin with it tomorrow.
The decision has been made and he going to the "veteran box" as well to hold the great memories.


And of course some of them are didn't make it. :)


Tight lines ad happy fishing guys ;)