New Lure for Surf Fishing Yields Impressive Results

I made it out for a quick morning session with a buddy of mine this weekend with two targets in mind: Halibut and big surfperch only. To be honest, I had no intentions of trying a new lure, but here we are. Before we talk about the lure, here’s a very brief run-down of the session.

Surf Fishing Report

I began the session fishing with mussel meat while my buddy fished the Lucky Craft FM 110. Prior to my arrival at 7:15 am, he had already landed a 12-inch surfperch on the LC. I rigged up with a Carolina rig and began by using mussel meat for bait. As expected, for the next hour and a half, I caught a handful more fish than he did, but he was consistently catching larger surfperch than I was. This is typical in surfperch fishing – mussel meat catches more fish and lures catch bigger fish. No halibut yet on the day.

Gear and Tackle for the Day

• Rod: Okuma SST (8’6″ MHA)
• Reel: Penn Battle II or III 4000 series
• Mainline: 15-pound monofilament
• For Bait: Carolina Rig:
  • Leader Line: 15-pound fluorocarbon
  • Swivels: 15-19mm barrel swivels
  • Hooks: size #2 or #4 owner mosquito hooks
  • Weights: 1-oz egg weight
  • Beads: 8mm fishing beads
• For Lures: Lucky Craft FM 110 and Shimano WM 115 SP
• Other best surf fishing rods

It was about 9am when I switched over to the Battlestar 115 jerkbait. In 30 minutes, I landed one nice surfperch, but that was it. Just before my buddy had to call it a day, he hooked up on this whopper of a surfperch at a hair over 15.5 inches!

After he left, I fished with bait again for about 15 minutes, landing a nice black surfperch before switching back to the Battlestar 115.

After another 30 minutes of fishing, I had nothing to show for my time. I headed back up the sand, opened my tackle box, and the reflective foil inside one of my lures popped right out at me. It was the Shimano WM 115 SP with Flash Boost technology that my good friend, Jeff Weight, had given to me a while back. Apologies, Jeff… it’s taken me this long to try it out, but I absolutely love it!

I was in need of a change and this one felt right. I fished about 30 more minutes, landed 3 more surfperch between 12-14.5″ and missed three other bites. The fish clearly liked the lure and I loved it. Let’s talk about the lure now.

Shimano World Minnow 115 SP with Flash Boost

The Shimano WM 115 SP’s most unique facet is it’s “Flash Boost” technology. This is essentially a small piece of aluminum implanted within a translucent-bodied lure via spring-loaded fastenings. With even the most subtle of movements, the aluminum will vibrate, thus emitting reflections through all sides of the lure, even during pauses.

See general features below:

• 115mm / 4.5 inches
• 5/8 oz
• Flash Boost Technology
• Scale Boost Technology
• Depth: 4-6 feet

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Swim Action

The swim action on this lure was what most impressed me when actually using it. I’ve praised the LC’s swim action in the past for its ability to maintain such a tight wobble even through slow retrieves. This is the one thing I believe the Battlestar lacks. I believe the WM-115 SP holds as good a wobble as (if not better than) the LC 110.

Full disclosure, I’ve fished only one time with this lure, but in my opinion, its action is the best I’ve ever fished. It also practically never rolls. This is an area where the LC 110 is pretty good, but the LC 115 and the Battlestar 115 lag. Overall, I was very impressed with the wobble and overall appearance of the lure when it was swimming.

Upon my mandatory “near feet shallow testing”, I was very satisfied and immediately gained confidence that I wasn’t wasting time with this lure.

In my opinion, when you can look at a lure’s action in front of you in clear water, you should be able to tell immediately if it’s worth your time or not. Sometimes, you’ll have unproductive days even fishing great lures, so it’s important to maintain confidence if it looks like a good lure in the water.

Casting

Casting is where the Battlestar has everyone beat, but it’s also a tad heavier than the rest of its class. The Shimano WM 115 SP is solid in terms of casting. I would put it right in line with the LC Fm 110. I did notice, however, that it’s very worth-while to give it a little shake prior to your casting in an effort to balance the weights properly to allow for optimal casting. There was a noticeable difference between when the weights were vs. weren’t balanced.

Any questions about this surf fishing lure or others? Let me know in the comments.