[Mick Ward]

I tried various soft lures today for the wrasse. Fishing was hard but thats because it was our first trip of the year and it felt like the first day at a new job. As I say I tried various lures but every time I put an Xlayer back on, bang, fish on or half an Xlayer on the jighead!! They are expensive but I have got some Sakura Snoops that are basically copies of the Xlayers, they look very very simular and smell the same and have the same rattle. Half the price though. I will take some next time and let you know the results.

I just read Mike Kennards thread on what HRF requires. Keith was bang on with his reply, Bob and I were doing the exact same with the same suggestions that Keith had stated. Its interesting that both Keith and his fishing partners, and Bob and I have all come up with very simular findings, surely we must be getting something right here then eh.

 

[Steve Lewis]

Mick,

I saw those Sakura Snoops in Nantes and they do look good, Just wish my season would kick off like yours has !!!!!

 

[Keith White]

I think it is the shape, colour, texture and the rattle Mick.

Darker Xlayers are doing it right now but, target area seems to initially be the rattle after a touchdown or a shake.
I had 2 xlayers get crushed right at the rattle yesterday and whilst still effective, they are less so.

I've had takes and fish on ayu, emeraude and smoke and glitter. shrimp and minnow and wagasiki along with any lighter colours have come a poor second. Of course, they are catching fish and if we hadn't experimented with the darker lures at depth in the clear water we'd have still caught 30% of the fish and still walked away with a smile because, yet again, the weekend has thrown up about 20 + fish. Lost count. Bites into the hundreds though and people are running out of xlayers. Serious, i went through 2 pkt's this weekend and around 6 or 7 jig heads. I hav placed small glass rattles into my Zoom Gobies and the effectiveness seems improved but, bite to cast ratio is still half that with the xlayer. What I have noticed with the xlayer is they change colour depending upon view angle. Maybe they are made from processed corn LOL

Who cares, they are HOT right now.

 

[Mike Kennard]

I think it is the shape, colour, texture and the rattle Mick.

Darker Xlayers are doing it right now but, target area seems to initially be the rattle after a touchdown or a shake.
I had 2 xlayers get crushed right at the rattle yesterday and whilst still effective, they are less so.

I've had takes and fish on ayu, emeraude and smoke and glitter. shrimp and minnow and wagasiki along with any lighter colours have come a poor second. Of course, they are catching fish and if we hadn't experimented with the darker lures at depth in the clear water we'd have still caught 30% of the fish and still walked away with a smile because, yet again, the weekend has thrown up about 20 + fish. Lost count. Bites into the hundreds though and people are running out of xlayers. Serious, i went through 2 pkt's this weekend and around 6 or 7 jig heads. I hav placed small glass rattles into my Zoom Gobies and the effectiveness seems improved but, bite to cast ratio is still half that with the xlayer. What I have noticed with the xlayer is they change colour depending upon view angle. Maybe they are made from processed corn LOL

Who cares, they are HOT right now.

I am sure after the amount of ingenuity shown out there that it will only be a matter of time before a cottage industry starts up making Xlayers from corn....... (or sidewinders?!?!?!) LOL

 

[Mark Sleep]

We were chatting about this yesterday. I reckon the rattle also. I save the glass rattles out of each Xlayer that gets bitten to pieces by the Wrasse to put into other SP's, so will be trying some other stuff.

As successful as they are, there are more SP's that 'look' so much better in the water, lifelike flexing etc, but something about the xlayer just stands head and shoulders above the other stuff. Maybe the ribs on the body put out the perfect frequency of baitfish imitating vibration, the amount of technology that goes into them wouldnt suprise me at all, but I will stick with the rattle and little bit of scent theory for now. There is no doubting the Wrasse love them.

I had a good size fish yesterday chasing down a purple xlayer. I had my MJ's on and could see 20ft down where my xlayer was tapping boulders and this big dark shape behind, smashed it 2 or 3 times, but not hitting the hook! I then ran out of water but it was still there, so I gave it a flick (to rattle) and just dropped it onto a rock about 1m out and 1m deep, and the fish casually swam up, picked up the xlayer and turned, chomping on it! I struck but it had hold below the hook so didnt hook up, but whatever, that Wrasse seriously wanted that bait. (weedless stingers would have caught me another 3-4 fish at least last night, but thats a different thing to suss out)

The pattern will develop and become more obvious as we continue into the summer, as it did with LRF at night for Pollack which took some serious refining before fish were consistently caught.

 

[Keith White]

Very nicely thought out response Mark. I totally agree with the last paragraph. What we are doing now might get refined to something that looks completely different by the time we are finished.