Venom - Golden Fury

Golden Fury has gold holographic foil, dark stripes and a red belly. It is worth trying in slightly brown-stained or greenish water when you want gold flashes with a clear pattern. In sunshine, compare its flash with the silver Dirty Roach.

Golden Fury has stronger accents: gold foil, stripes and a red belly. Old Gold has a more subdued appearance, with more even golden-brown colouring. Try Golden Fury when you want to show the fish more flash and contrast. Old Gold is useful as a subtler change.

Yes, gold is worth trying in this water if visibility is still fairly good. Brown staining does not necessarily mean heavy turbidity. When the lure disappears from view just below the surface, compare Golden Fury with Carrot UV and retrieve it close to places where pike may be holding.

It is worth having on Swedish and Finnish lakes with darker-stained water, as well as similar waters in Masuria, Lithuania and Latvia. Try it around aquatic vegetation and on drop-offs near areas holding baitfish. In clear water, Dirty Roach or Blue Mackerel is useful for comparison.

Labelling a paint UV does not by itself mean it glows in the dark. Treat the red belly primarily as part of the colour pattern, revealed as the lure glides and changes orientation. After dark, silhouette, depth and retrieve also matter, rather than just the red detail.

Venom is a lipless glider jerkbait that slides from side to side on the retrieve. Use it along reed edges, in gaps between aquatic vegetation, over underwater humps and along drop-offs near shallow water. You can take it to Masuria, Swedish lakes and coastal skerries, Finland or Dutch canals. Choose the size and colour to suit the conditions where you fish.

Venom 12 cm weighs 37 g and is slow sinking. Choose it when you want to offer pike a smaller lure or fish above shallow aquatic vegetation. The 15 cm version weighs 80 g, also sinks slowly and is a good starting point for lake fishing. Venom 20 cm weighs 170 g and is sinking. It is worth trying when pike are hunting large fish, such as sizeable roach, bream or herring, or when you need to get the lure deeper. For this version, you need tackle suited to its weight.

Start with short twitches and pauses. After each movement, take up excess line but leave the lure free to glide to the side. You can also work it with short bursts of speed on the reel. In cold water, try a slower retrieve. If a pike follows Venom without striking, change the rhythm or pause length on the next cast. Keep checking that the sinking lure does not drop into the vegetation or below the fish.

For the Swedish coastal skerries, take Fluo Yellow and Blue Mackerel — both colours work very well on these waters. It is also worth bringing Gaspar Tail Bait 7 cm so you can offer pike a smaller lure with an active tail. For clear lakes in Sweden and Finland with roach and other silvery fish, take Dirty Roach or Immortal. Add Brown Trout if pike there hunt trout. Water clarity varies across Scandinavia, so bring several different colours.

First look at the water and the fish living in it. On clear lakes, start with Dirty Roach, Immortal or Old Gold. In slightly brown-stained or greenish water, compare the gold of Golden Fury with the contrasting Buster. In murky canals and bays, try Original, Fluo Yellow or Pink Pie. The same rule is useful on Rügen: choose the colour to suit visibility and what the pike eat, rather than just the name of the destination.