Plugs & Poppers

At TraceAce Tackle we look at the best lures on the market that offer true value for money, tweak them with all of our little extras that we know will do the business when it comes to catching fish, and then try to keep the prices to a level where you can fish them confidently without ever having a heart attack every time you feel one hang up!

All plugs and poppers need to be fished where Bass love to hang out - inevitably where there are rocks, weeds, pier piles or some other underwater obstruction to give plenty of cover and tide movement, to ambush any unsuspecting pray. This is great for Bass plugging, as this is where they will nail your plug or popper without too much hesitation, but your lure needs to be fished as close to these underwater obstructions as possible.

Bass have a strike range, an area where they will move from cover and hit a target. Anything out of that range has far less chance of being hit. If you're fishing a plug that has just cost you between £8 and £10, you're far less likely to fish that plug where it really needs to be fished - in the strike range, and so this leads to far fewer hits. The reason is simple, lose two or three of those expensive plugs in a session and you would be more likely to throw yourself into the sea.

At Traceace Tackle our plugs have been individually selected for their fish catching abilities, not for what’s going to look good in a tackle box. All have been tank tested to ensure perfect running and movement and our plugs also have added strike points, fish strike eyes and colour patterns that consistently work for Bass... and of course needle sharp hooks!

Plugs

22g 130mm Super Launce:

This 22g jointed plug has a fantastic side to side wiggle, 3D active eyes, triple strength Mustad hooks and the fantastic UV coated shimmer skin. Extra strike points can be added on all the hooks (see accessories page for tail fin flippers), red fish strike eyes and two superb Bass catching colours make this a real Traceace Tackle winner.

This plug will dive to 2.5m - 3.5m and hold steady and true at that depth, wriggling frantically, the red strike points waving and flashing from side to side when trolled behind a boat. This lure can also be cast from the shore and allowed to dive on the retrieve, but will gently rise to the surface once the retrieve is stopped. This is how to work this lure from the shore: cast it out, then reel in fairly fast to get the plug to dive, working the rod tip to also impart extra movement into the lure. Stop the retrieve and allow the lure to float to the surface. Now do short bursts allowing the plug to dive slightly but constantly float back up to break the surface, the more commotion on the surface the better, then a steady retrieve again to get the plug to dive deeper. This is a good way to work this plug.

There are many top water poppers on the market today - they all look very similar and they all claim to be the perfect top water lure. Check them all out and then compare them to ours.

With the strike points flashing and shimmering on the lures' belly and tail, and the heavy, large faced popper splashing, popping and bubbling, you have all the right ingredients for a large Bass to nail this lure. Add to this the 3D active eyes, triple strength Mustad hooks, and the incredibly life-like UV coated Shimmer skin, we can justifiably claim to have the perfect top water Bassing lure.

Our poppers can have double strike points added on each hook as shown below. This is a fantastic idea because the surface poppers are viewed from below so the more stimulants you can add that show just below the surface, the better chance you have of attracting a large Bass.

TOP TIP 1: To really stimulate a bass into slamming your popper, tie one of our superb bass flies on a short dropper so it sits just in front of the nose of the plug (see picture below) This gives the impression that the popper is chasing a small fish on the surface causing all of the commotion and noise. This added extra stimulates all of the bass' predatory instincts to either nail the plug or the fly.

A 7lb 2oz & 7lb 6oz Bass taken on a wrecking version of a Murderous Mackerel on a long flowing trace over a wreck in the English Channel.

You have never seen a lure move as realistically as our red hot Murderous Mackerel.

This multi-jointed lure is at the cutting edge of lure technology, featuring its totally unique swimming action, hydrodynamic shape, Strike-Pro Micro-Skin coating, 3D Laser eyes, VMC razor point treble hooks and of course you can also add our multi point Red strike points.

This lure is ideal for long casting or trolled behind a boat, where it will sink until you start to retrieve, and then swim at this depth level and true. This lure is also fantastic fished on a long flowing trace over a wreck or reef, I've had some massive Bass and Cod on this lure, but take care, and heed this top tip if you're going to use this method: Remove the treble hook at the front, you can still leave the strike point on if you like, I also swap the rear treble for a single 5/0 hook, keeping the red strike point on here. This is enough to hook any striking fish, but dramatically lowers your chances of losing this fantastic lure.

The above is a wrecking version of the Murderous Mackerel - remove the treble hook using a pair of split-ring pliers & add a couple of tail fin flippers

This lure has the fantastic side to side (walking stick) action. Once again this is a great lure to fish a small Bass fly in front off, creating the impression of a Joey Mackerel chasing small bait fish. Multi-strike points below the water line add to the visual stimulus, coupled again with the active 3D eyes, triple strength Mustad Hooks, and UV coated Shimmer Skin. Fish this lure aggressively, varying your retrieve, and using your rod tip to rip the lure through the water, causing it to dart and change direction continually, and making as much disturbance on the surface as you possibly can.

This superb 50g jointed surface popper is hand made and painted for TraceAce tackle in Scandinavia. The massive Blabbermouth at the front of the lure causes masses of bubbles, pops, and splashes, while the wriggling jointed tail section sends out a huge bow wave in its wake. I’ve yet to see a surface lure that causes so much disturbance, and has so much movement on the surface.

The weight of this floating lure means that it can be cast way out, and then allowed to cause utter commotion on the surface as it is reeled back, just as Mackerel do when chasing and harassing bait fish. Once again there is no better lure in the world to tie a small fly in front of it; this plug was just built for it. This is not only a great lure to use in British waters, take this beauty with you if you're going abroad and it will nail all manor of toothy game fish.