Name: Ace Hell Tail
Length: 300 mm
Weight: 144 gr
Let me introduce:
I would like to introduce you to the Ace Hell Tail. I know, I know, what’s so special about that? The Ace Hell Tail is a lure that has earned its reputation a long time ago and it shouldn’t need an introduction! But this is no plain Hell Tail. We are talking about a new Hell Tail that has been constructed entirely from soft plastic materials. The body is about 4” long. The internal frame, the treble hook and the weights have been inserted in this lure in an ingenious way. You can even change this body if you want to. We received a spare plastic body. If this isn’t standard procedure, you can easily buy the spare bodies at your local Gordon Griffiths dealer. This makes it easy to change colors or to make the weirdest color combo’s you can imagine. It’s also quite useful because now you don’t need to throw away your lure when it has been sliced too often by pike’s teeth. Attached to the body we find a large single hook that you can easily sharpen. On this hook a large single tail grub has been attached. The large grub keeps the hook in one line with the lure so it won’t snag weeds. These large grubs are available from the local tackle store as well. This adds up to a total length of 12” (300mm).
Cast it:
This lure looks huge, but what about the action? Because that’s the most important thing about a lure. How does Miss Pike feel about it? I started out by using the Hell Tail for casting. The moment I attached the Hell tail to my leader, I immediately noticed how heavy this lure really is. It should be easy to cast this lure a mile away. Despite its heavy weight, the Hell tail sinks slowly to the bottom. The best thing you can do, is to start retrieving the lure the moment it hits the water. The Ace Hell tail will run about 40-50cm deep (1.5 to 2 feet). You can easily control the depth at which the Hell Tail runs but lowering or raising your rod during your retrieve.
If you just plain crank it back, the Hell Tail swim back at you in a straight line. The Hell Tail maintains its running depth at which you started your retrieve. The tail ripples and shivers through the water. If you add soft twitches during your retrieve, it will head for the surface nose first which makes for a totally different retrieve.
If you fish it with long pulls of 2 feet long, it will sort of glide left and then right when you make the next pull. It will dive slightly then but still you can easily keep it up in the top 4 feet feet. I must admit I’m not that fond of casting such a heavy lure all day long. After 10 casts or so, you get the feeling you’re getting a decent workout in the gym. So you can cast it, but it isn’t all that comfortable.
Troll it:
I like the Hell tail better when I troll it. I feel you get the best out of this lure when you fish it that way. It has the same magnificent action as when you cats it and you can bring it to live the same way as you would for casting by occasionally giving some twitches with the rodtip. You can easily fish it at different depths. I would say it’s a first class lure for trolling. I even tried fishing it like a jig from a boat. Its tail flutters and ripples while it sinks to the bottom. I have good faith in this new lure from Gordon Griffiths and I am convinced it will produce quite a few good fish in the future.