Area Rule Big Game Trolling Lures

Area Rule Engineering has recently introduced a whole new range of seven big game trolling lures. We will be looking at the whole Area Rule Lure range shortly, so keep an eye out. Here are two that will no doubt become classics over time.

GRANDER SLAM FFLEXIBLE DOORNOB
These are aeronautically designed with a semi soft head and have several important key features. They give better tracking in crosswinds and when trolled through following seas. They offer reduced water drag due a self-propelling effect that is created by the acceleration area. The bubble stream or "smoke" effect is increased as air bubbles mix with the seawater and pass over the skirts. The low drag factor of these lures allows them to be trolled on lighter test lines than would normally be the case with other lures of comparable size.

They come in lengths of 9.5-inches, 11-inches, 13-inches and 14-inches, and can be slow trolled on lines as light as 4lbs, 8lbs, 12lbs and 30lbs respectively. For higher speed trolling go up one line class. There is a choice of 18 different colours to choose from.

To get the very best smoke and bubble trail from The Grander Slam Doornob it should be positioned on the high front slope of a travelling wave. Speeds can vary, but range between 6 and 12 knots. We tried this lure and with our set up running at 8-knots the lure came up and "popped" the surface about every 20 seconds.

NEON MUNCHIE
Another lure in the range is the Neon Munchie with Fishskin Skirt. These are 12-inches long with a semi soft nose, wide open at the mouth but fluted inside to take neon light sticks. This really digs in deep and scatters water, and we found at certain speeds without the light sticks inside it has a slight sideways dart that looks really hot.

The skirt is a three-tier colour and the frills have reflective chips inside to manoeuvre light and attract predators. They certainly stand out in the water! These Fishskin skirts are designed to improve the hook-up ratio over other types of lures, and the upper skirt body carries a metallic eye at either side, another feature that can increase the number of strikes a lure gets.

These are quality lures, beautifully made, and with fish catching ability. The Neon Munchie in the Mexican Flag colour is quickly becoming our favourite lure!

TUNOBS
The Tu-Nobs are a 6�-inch lure that works well on surface working yellowfin tuna, albacore and host of other species. We fished these lures over yellowfin and they proved unbeatable. These are also a hot bet if you're fishing the West Coast of Ireland for the bluefin tuna working scad at the surface.

They have a semi soft doornob plastic head with the unique Fishskin skirt with the reflective chips inside the skirt material. You can set them up to fish from any rod position, but these work well at faster trolling speeds and in rough water.

The Tunobs come in 16 different colour combinations, but especially try the Sablefish pattern when the surface light levels are subdued.

HOO-NOBS
The Hoo-Nob is a chromed lead headed Doornob lure designed to take wahoo and tuna. The outer skirts are made from fluorescent vinyl, with the inner skirts of chromed mylar. There is also that fish-killing eye on the upper skirt body.

The Hoo-nob can be trolled fast for wahoo, but gets down deep and has a habit of picking up mako shark working deep under tuna shoals. A good dodge is to trim about 1/3 off the skirt length for increased effectiveness when trolling for small bluefin, albacore and yellowfin tuna.

You can also cast this lure. It "swims" as it sinks and can be jigged back at angles or worked vertically for a range of fish.

They come in two sizes, the HD-8 weighs 8ozs and is 11-inches long, with the smaller 9-inch HD-4 weighing 4ozs. You have 16 colour variants to choose from.

NINJA SQUID DOORNOB
An 11�-inch lightweight semi-soft head lure, again with the unique Area Rule Fishskin skirts impregnated with thousands of reflective fish scales designed to reflect the light and make the lures highly visible to fish from both a shallow sideways angle and way down deep. The upper skirt body also carries a large reflective eye, often so important to trigger that strike at the last minute.

The legs of the skirts are deliberately thin. Thin skirt legs offer less resistance to the hook as a fish strikes increasing your hook up ratio. The thin legs also help improve the air bubble stream or "smoke" pattern as the lure swims. These skirts are also said to be odourless, a factor that can affect fish strikes on some lure types. This lure is highly rated for striped marlin, but is effective on all major predators.

FISHSKIN FLYER LURES
A 10-inch long fabulous light tackle lure made to imitate a flying fish as it skips over the wave tops. It has a parabolic wing with long holographic skirt legs with flash tinsel tied to the body tube for added attraction. The parabolic wing balances the lure in the water at any wave position and with any given line angle.

The head is made from a slightly soft epoxy that encompasses a three dimensional eye that can often make the difference between a predator hitting or shying away from a lure. The materials are unaffected by UV exposure.

The Fishskin Flyer can accommodate hook sizes from 3/0 to 8/0, with the lure's body tube notched to allow easy adjustment for a given species. The 3/0 to 4/0 hooks being ideal for smaller game fish, but use a 6/0 or 7/0 for marlin. The drag from this lure is minimal, just 4 to 6ozs at speeds of 8-knots when rigged with the smaller hooks allowing test tackle down to 4lbs class if required. You have eight colour variants to choose from.

FISHSKIN BUG
Fly-fishing innovator Terry Baird has designed the Fishskin Bug.

What impressed us most about the Fishskin Bug is that it is built to last. The head is epoxy, with a holographic eye either side, and the body uses the unique Fishskin skirt material impregnated with little fish scales. The under body is Mylar with flash tinsel. It measures 5-inches long and weighs just a half oz. The hook pattern is a quality VMC 7255 stainless pattern size 3/0. With 12 alternative colour types to go for, there is a pattern for every species and situation.

This Bug fly is ideal for casting in to frenzied feeding tuna or a weed hugging dorado, but can also be trolled for bonito, needlefish and roosterfish. We've also had jack crevalle on this fly. Area Rule says that the Bug has taken over 50 different IGFA game species, and we don't doubt it. Try the Skipjack pattern for crevalle, the Ghost Squid for bonito and roosterfish. We've also done well with sea bass on the Bug here in the UK.

If you want to see the full range of Area Rule lures, then visit their website at arearule.com