Samson Lures - The Story So Far

Lure fishing has been my real passion ever since I hooked my first bass spinning on the beautiful coastline of a Portugal. That was well over 20 years ago, and as any avid shore lure angler knows, it can take hours and hours of perseverance and dedication to learn the skills required to find and catch fish on lures.

Over the years a lure angler develops a keener sense of what marks are likely to hold fish and how the lure should best be deployed. Learning all these skills is certainly one of the most rewarding fishing experiences possible. The more I fished the more I realised what qualities were important for me in a good fishing lure which was what lead me to getting Samson lures started.

Rooster fish caught on a Fat Minnow lure

Lure Action

During my early days of bass fishing I began to realise that I had more success with an erratic retrieve rather than a swimming action that looked nice to me.

I first experienced this after casting a lure with a broken lip to see what would happen. I had been fishing a nice spot on a bright day where the water was a little on the clear side and I was feeling I needed something a little different to entice a bass. My first cast to an area I had repeatedly retrieved a nice swim-bait through resulted in a nice 7lb bass coming out of nowhere and smashing into my broken lure!

In time, I found that top-water luring has to be my favourite lure presentation, as all the action of the take is right before your eyes. Seeing a really big fish coming up to hit your lure is a heart pumping moment that becomes very addictive!

This is what led me to develop with my fishing partner a lure called the Enticer. A lure that could be deployed both as a top-water or fished sub-surface depending on the situation or conditions. The Enticer is currently available in 25g and 50g, and proving to be an effective lure in catching bass and blue fish.

We are presently developing and testing this lure in the 100g range to target larger pelagic species such as Kingfish, Tuna and GTs.

Casting Distance

Sometimes you can catch fish right under your feet. However, experience has taught me that casting range is also a really important factor for a successful lure.

This is definitely the case for a shore angler. It's simply vital to cover as much ground as possible and having a lure that can blast out through strong winds is something very worthwhile.

Jack Crevalle on a fat minnow fishing lure

Strength and Quality

Another important quality in any lure, especially in pelagic fishing, is the strength of the lure. There's nothing more heart-breaking than losing a big fish to an equipment failure! I'm sure everyone has experienced this at some point.

I can remember losing a double-figure bass to a lure that broke, as it was not wired through! It's funny but you remember these experiences as much as the good catches!

That is why at Samson fishing we do our best to create lures that can cast a very long distance and are virtually indestructible. This is also the reason the lures got the name 'Samson lures'.

The fittings on all our lures are constructed from strong quality components, and the lures can take all sorts of abuse bringing them up over lava rocks and also attacks from large toothy fish.

The hooks and rings are suitable for normal fishing exploits, but if you are targeting big giant trevally and tuna with strong line and a heavy drag setting it's wise to upgrade your hooks and rings to the highest quality you can get, as I'm sure most experienced fishermen do.

Our lures are rigged with Mustad hooks and split rings and ready to use straight out of the packet.

Lure Colour

Samson Lure ColoursWhat about colour? Well as Henry Ford once said "you can have any colour as long as it's black" in our case it's white!
But don't worry if white isn’t your thing. If you love to fish lures in a variety of colours and designs, we have a range of shrink skins that can be easily shrunk on your lure to instantly change the look. (Each lures comes with 2 free skins included)
Personally I have found white a good all-round colour for lure fishing, but for those situations when you want a bright lure for coloured water, or something more natural looking on clearer days then try our skin swaps.

Over the years I have been fortunate enough to catch some lovely bass including over 50 double-figure specimens - my PB coming in at over 19.5 lbs.

This certainly spurred on my love of land based spinning to travel the world chasing some of the largest species of fish from the shore, including tuna.

For this kind of fishing you quickly realise that it's imperative you fish with the highest quality tackle.

Some of my most notable catches have been big yellowfin tuna from the shore. A 6 hour+ battle with a yellowfin of 180lb was surely my most memorable catch and actually left me feeling as though I never wanted go through that pain again! (The feeling fortunately soon passed).

The fish was hooked at 7.30am on my second cast and landed single-handed at 2.15pm in the afternoon. During this battle I had no sun block, water or food and was taken way across the rocks where I managed to eventually land the tuna pulling it through a large rock pool of hungry looking moray eels!

165lb Yellowfin TunaI have since landed from the rocks a 165lb’er and many other tuna, my biggest tuna was estimated at over 200lbs that I unfortunately couldn't get out of the water as it took me away from my gaff! After 30 minutes with the fish at the edge but unable to pull it out with the leader due to its weight, I realised the big disadvantage to fishing alone!

For anyone looking to spin for big pelagic species try our Tuna / GT Candle lure which was developed for this very purpose. It can be retrieved for long periods, without being too hard on your arms like many poppers!

Although I’ve mainly spoken about shore fishing so far – all our lures work just as well cast from boats.

When I'm traveling overseas, lures like the long casting Fat Minnow lure and Slim Minnow lure - both top-water lures - are responsible for most of my catches, and would be a great addition to any lure angler’s tackle box!

Hand Crafted Lures

Finally, what makes Samson lures attractive is the fact that each lure is hand crafted!

This means lures can be developed and improved indefinitely.

When a new shape is being developed it starts with testing many different lengths, widths, weight combinations etc to find a lure that fits the bill. There are so many variables - it's never ending.

If you’re fishing with a Samson lure we hope you enjoy the experience, and have as much fun as we have had designing them!

Happy fishing and tight lines!
Grant Woodgate

Grant Woodgate
Grant is a very experienced and well-travelled lure angler and has fished some of the world’s top gamefish destinations. His favourite sport is seeking out big saltwater predators from the shoreline on one of his own Samson lures!

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