It's taken me ages to finally get around to writing a proper description of this lure on the website, but having used it and mentioned it's successes so much locally I thought I'd better sort something out!

http://www.artoffishing.co.uk/lure-fishing/nories-laydown-minnow-mid-110-suspend/c7b71f3296/4383clf9cc

12 months ago I suppose I (like others) almost graded my lures on their casting abilities above all else. Action in the water was important too, but if I couldn't cast a mile then my confidence was always less. There are different places around the country and even different types of marks locally where distance can be a requirement, but for the vast majority of my fishing and where I catch most fish, it's close in, amongst the rock, weed and swirling water that the fish are! Not out there in the deep blue! It wasn't really until i started using this lure during 2010 that I actually stopped to think..... what is more important?....

1) having a lure that will cast to the horizon but who's movements under the water are nothing more than 'average', or....

2) having a lure that sacrifices distance (perhaps only 5-10 yards) but works much more freely in the water?

Where are the fish?...... In the air?..... In the water? I think they're in the water.........!! So what's more important to me around here when the fish are almost all at close range?!..... makes perfect sense really, but still the majority of lures I see do have weight shifting systems to aid casting. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that as many of the best lures are capable of great casting and decent action (it's why they're worth paying for), but it's often only once they've been brought up to speed that they start to move. The majority aren't very versatile as a result.

This lure with it's lack of in-built, shifting weight works (wide rolling action) from very, very slow speeds. I fish a lot after dark and the ability to work a lure at sloooooooow speed is a massive, massive bonus. Like I say in the product description, what it does have is a series of carefully placed weights along it's back and belly to absolutely maximise the amount of roll this lure can produce without losing stability. As a result it has a very low centre of gravily which combined with its large bib keeps it superbly stable in the types of rough conditions I often end up fishing around here. It's not often (if ever) that i've seen lures that have so much design and planning behind them to produce something a little different. And in this case it has definitely worked!

I started fishing these lures part way through 2010 and from day one it caught me fish, and it soon became apparent that almost however I wanted to fish it on any certain day (depending on conditions), it did it all. Being a true suspending lure (unlike some. Although it does depend a bit on water temperature) it's great fished with regular jerks and pauses. A straight retrieve of almost any speed (from super slow) will also have if wildly rolling. There really isn't much you can't do with it and as a result of that it is the perfect lure for me to take with me when I just want to go out for an hour or so with as little baggage as possible.

I can't speak highly enough of it. When I'm back on the bass this year I can almost guarantee that my first cast with a hard bait will be with one of these! Super confidence bait.