Who doesn’t like trying new lures? In this case, some old Gulp! Classics released in new colours. When Berkley releases a new lure or intends to, they often turn up in my letter box before they hit the shop shelves, which means one thing. Time to go fishing!
After putting in thousands of casts in the last few years, I’ve developed a series of go-to lures, with often no need to go outside these winners. I have about a dozen or so Berkley soft baits that I regularly use for lure fishing, and I feel like I’ve cracked the code in what’s a sure thing for casting lures into the shallows for big snapper. However, every day is different, and sometimes, you have to deviate from your usual selections to trigger a bite, or you risk coming home with little to show for your efforts.
The latest two Gulp! colours to be released on the NZ market are Coral Trout and Disco. Both these colours are pretty fitting, given one imitates a coral trout and the other more like a banana berry ice cream. For whatever reason, orange lures are crazy good, and it’s something I’ve never been able to work out. There is no apparent reason why a bright orange lure would be more successful on snapper than anything else. Perhaps it’s simply a case of anglers liking the look, so that’s what they use and catch their fish on. Sliding lures is where the popularity of orange started, so perhaps its something to do with colour change at depth triggering snapper to bite. Whatever the methodology, orange is a clear favourite and works exceptionally well on snapper. And if you like to fish water between 30-50 metres, I would add Coral Trout to your arsenal.
Both colours performed exceptionally well in our pre-market release testing, accounting for several fish between 65 and 79cm – close to the magic 20lb mark. We fished them over a couple of trips during the winter period this year, predominately in water under 15 metres, paying no attention to moon phases.
Both new colours have found a home in my lure box, and quite often, first thing in the morning, a bright colour is an excellent selection or when I feel like the fish are around but not taking more natural colours. Bright and bold can sometimes be the difference, and I’m not sure you could find two more brilliant colours than these.
