Luretour

By Eric Weight

As a dyed in the wool zander angler, I find soft shads to be the most essential lure in my tackle bag. Other lures such as spinners are arguably equally effective for a range of species, but they aren’t as interesting to use. I was very pleased when these landed on my mat and just as surprised to find myself feeling that way at all, because for many years I failed dismally to catch on soft shad baits of any kind after much struggling and experimentation, I finally succeeded but what really sent my results soaring was the arrival on the British lure angling scene of first the storm and calcutta ready-mounted shads but more especially the Kopyto relax shads. The Kopytos managed to combine fantastic tail actions with tooth resistance the like of which I had been dreaming of for a long time. The action of those shads came from the cunningly notched tail section which gave a lot more flexibility where it mattered and the extra life it brought to the lure really switched the zander on. As soon as I saw these Reno Killers, I knew that the action would be good because rather than notching the tail section they have made the whole lure from the belly area as far as the paddle tail, thin. They are already working when you get them out of the packet which has to be a promising sign!

Thin tail profile for maximum flexibility

First Impressions

I received three sizes 2.5”, 3” and 5” which was great. As far as I am concerned there are no bad sizes to buy with these kind of baits. You can only go wrong by picking the wrong size for the job. The influx of skilful Polish anglers to this country has bought many benefits to the jig fisherman; not least is the fact that they have been using them for years while we are still learning our way around. Many of them use little else but un-mounted shads of one kind or another and they work the combinations all the time to get the best from them, constantly varying jig weight, lure lengths, colours and patterns to find what is turning the fish on at the time. While relax shads are great, they don’t always work, but often a change pattern can make the difference. I found the tail action on these lures to be more easily activated and of a different, slightly faster frequency to that of the Kopyto. I admit that I wasn’t convinced that it would make any worthwhile difference at the water’s edge, but until you try you never know.

The finish on these softbaits was about par for the course with a few insignificant and irrelevant moulding lines, but they do have a couple of features that make their use easier. Along the back, they have a row of small protrusions that can be used as markers to make threading the jig hook easier; a clever but simple idea. They also have a mouth which gives an entry point for the hook when you are mounting the lure onto the hook and helps to locate a ball headed jig correctly (see pictures). They may be small refinements but attention to detail is never wasted in lure angling and can make all the difference between success and failure over the length of a season. There is nothing more annoying than a softbait that won’t fish properly because the angler hasn’t got the hook positioned correctly. I am not saying that it bothers the fish, but it can affect the angler’s confidence in his lure.

Jighead location moulded into lure

Testing Time

Large rivers for pike: The first time I tried these lures, was on the Trent. To be honest I wasn’t really expecting to use them on this occasion, but the opportunity arose so I took it. An upper single made a dash at my weedless fluke as I brought it to the side, so I clipped on a crankbait that I was testing at the time, but still he wouldn’t commit, merely showing interest. In for a penny I thought and put on the 5” reno killer mounted on a 5/0 jighead. Three turns of the handle and the tail was already working perfectly – four turns and the pike launched itself with savage violence at the lure and was firmly hooked. It had to be, the bait was right inside its mouth. Now this isn’t absolute proof that nothing else would have worked, but two other lures hadn’t, so a fish first chuck was a very good sign at least.

bang first time. It really wanted this lure – first cast – first fish

All set up and ready to go. Baitcasting ouitfit and lures alongside the Trent

Shallow canals for zander and perch: I had really wanted to try these out on my local canals after all this is where I would use them most so on my next trip I clipped one on as soon as takes had dried up on my usual lures. I had been catching fish on Kopytos and had also tried curly-tails, and spinnerbaits but takes had as they so frequently do, dried up. Once a fish or two have been caught from a swim a bait can die on its feet but a change to something else will often re-awaken their interest. Previous experience had shown me that the fish stay in this spot all the time and I was pretty certain that fish were still in front of me, so I wouldn’t be wasting my time and the new lures’ abilities in an empty peg. 3” is my default size for canal fishing so on went the white Killer with a black back and I flicked it out past the hotspot. Halfway in there was a distinctive pluck on the line but no fish – and sadly no tail left on the lure either. I had found a possible drawback in that they aren’t as hardwearing as the Kopyto, but more importantly I had found them to be effective change baits for when the fish had become tired of them. Two casts – two takes on two different venues!! At the next lock – one that had never produced anything at all before, I had two perch on the 2.5” version. Three sizes – three species – these were turning out to be very good indeed.

Variations on a theme Before using these I had dropped an e-mail in to Artur at Lure-world asking his advice on mounting them as the body is not as long as on most other brands, requiring a shorter hook. He suggested 1/0, 4/0 and 6/0 respectively and advised me that they require a bit less lead than usual because the bodies are comparatively heavy. I would agree but point out that hook sizes can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and that like all shads, if the lead is too light they will become unstable and this will not force the tail to work as hard as it can. Using less lead will allow you more leeway in shallow water canals for example so these super lures offer more variety to your approach which can make a lot of difference when targeting pressured fish.

A nice fish that had already refused two other types of lure

Build Quality	Great design features, but not as hard wearing as some	(8/10)
Quality of finish	Not the most realistic to our eyes but the fish don’t mind	(8/10)
Performance	The category that really matters	(10/10)
Value For Money	more expensive here than in most other countries	(8/10)
Variety of Options Available	Loads of colours, plenty of sizes	(10/10)
TackleTart Factor	Maybe some cool because it’s different, but not that sexy	(6/10)
Overall	A great score – recomended	(8/10)

Details of all Dragon Lures are available at www.firmadragon.pl

Testers Kit

I used my 6’6” Rick Clunn topwater baitcaster rated at 1 oz, shimano citica baitcasting reel, 20lb Calcutta braid, 20lb Ti wire and a small genie clip to throw the 5” ones. The others were fished on either a Spro u/l carrying a pfleuger micro-spinning reel loaded with  20 lbs Calcutta braid, 20lb Ti wire and small genie clip or a Dragon Destiny 10-30 gm baitcaster, Rick Clunn baitvcasting reel and 20 lb Calcutta braid.