Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 2:03 pm Post subject: In Praise of the Curly Tail
Fashion on lures come and go. The curly tail grub was one of the first soft plastics on the market and since its introduction is seems to have dropped out of favour.
The first time I came across them was maybe 30 years ago. I read an article in a sea fishing magazine, the writer had been experimenting with grubs and catching a range of inshore sea fish, he was also pouring his own jig head to match his requirements.
The next time I was in a tackle shop I noticed a small starter pack with a mix of coloured jig head and curly tail. These worked but they were not a light bulb moment. That came when I found curly tails made of much softer plastic which had/have much more action when fished. I was converted when I was messing around on a very hard river venue and had a big Perch take a black curly tail static off the bottom.
They can be fished in so many ways, weedless, weight less, jig head and as a trailer, plus they are CHEAP in comparison to say a hard bait plug. Ten Pounds will buy a good range of colours and sizes. It is easy to get carried away and buy all the colours available and lots of sizes (some products do break down so are time sensitive).
I prefer to buy brand name product as they tend to be made of the softer plastic and therefore have a better swimming action. In the past I have bought Zoom, Big Bite, YUM and my favourite Kalins which in my opinion have the best performance in the water. Unfortunately there are availability issues with some of these products in the UK but it is worth hunting around for them. The only non brand I buy are AGM’s own but they can be less than perfect when it comes to swimming action.
https://www.agmdiscountfishing.co.uk/grubs-twintails-c-39_51.html?osCsid=d8eeko1uocqm4l2aift2etpik4
All the various colours and sizes are in my lure box, but my favourites are white, green, brown and black, of course it is not that simple as they all have names such as Motor Oil (brown) or Green Pumpkin.
And then there is the other factors such as scent and salt content but these tend to be the exception with curly tail grubs as most of those additives are used more in other styles of soft plastic such as straight worms.
I use all sizes but as I fish small waters most of the time I am using 8 to12 cm but if I am after large pike that will increase to 20 to 30 cm.
Just to finish of I have caught Tench, Carp, Perch, Trout, Pike and Bass on them, there are no Zander in my area but I am sure they would take them and I do very little sea fishing.
Below are a few examples of how I use them on my local waters.
_________________ Floating Lines, buzzers, nymphs, stick floats, maggots and throwing lures at bitey things.
A quick update on my post on curly tail grubs.
It seems that these grubs have fallen out of favour in the USA and looking on the major retailers sites such as Tackle Warehouse they are in the reduced section/ end of line at knock down prices, so a good time to stock up if you are happy to buy from America.
There is still a good selection on EBay but they are mostly not branded product which can mean that the swimming action might not be as good, also they are in a mix bag of colours which means some of the colours are not that useful.
I have a selection of favourite colours that I stick to and they are not easy to find on eBay.
My last trip to Pitsford the watermelon 4 inch Big Bite caught the pike and had a follow from a good double that spoked when it got close to the boat.
Apparently a lot of the experts blanked on the opening day and they were throwing all the on trend lures.
_________________ Floating Lines, buzzers, nymphs, stick floats, maggots and throwing lures at bitey things.
Look what I snagged on a four inch curly tail.
It was hooked under the chin so was it trying to eat it or was it a foul hooking
I estimate around 25lb (on the light outfit)
_________________ Floating Lines, buzzers, nymphs, stick floats, maggots and throwing lures at bitey things.
It seems Fox has now wised up to the curly tail grub, but have added a lot of bells and whistles to help sell it.
Turn down your volume and have a watch, its a good example of how the curly tail works on a straight retrieve.
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