Mepps Black Fury

Many Kiwi anglers refer to a trout lure as a spinner even if it doesn’t actually spin. The black blade on a Mepps Black Fury really does spin! it spins around the centre wire which acts as a fixed axis, as the lure is retrieved. The lure is probably most accurately described as a “blade spinner.”

It works great at attracting strikes from predatory trout. This lure works just as well after dark as it does during the day. Many a big old brown trout has been tricked into snapping at one of these lures that have invaded its territory during the night!

This is a highly productive lure to use when spinning for trout on small clear streams. Use it to cast upstream, downstream, or on wider water, cast across and retrieve as it drifts down. The spinning blade sends out both sound and vibration which combine to draw brown trout out from under overhanging banks and vegetation. They are no need to wind quickly. Simply let the lure do the work. You may want to wind a little faster when retrieving from upstream.

My greatest concern when fishing the Mepps Black Fury, and other blade spinners on small streams, is losing them in bushes and low hanging branches on the opposite bank. More so if the water is too deep to wade across to get the lure back! There is nothing more annoying than being able to see the lure tangled in vegetation on the opposite bank whilst being unable to retrieve it! On confined water with bush overhanging the stream wayward casting soon becomes expensive. However, it is in just such small streams that the Mepps Black Fury is at its most effective.

It is also good for casting and retrieving slowly along the edge of weed beds while lake fishing. It has also proven to be a good fish catcher for me when trolled from a rowed boat or kayak. As I mentioned earlier there is no need to wind fast for the lure to attract trout. Indeed a fast retrieve tends to bring the lure to the surface when you want it to fish deeper.

I have found the Mepps Black Fury to be a great lure for trolling on Lake Selfe and Lake Lyndon, in Canterbury, for rainbow trout when fished with the aid of a light-weight Scotty Lake Troller downrigger and a rowed 12 foot Porta Bote. This combination has proven successful for me when many other anglers were having no luck at all. The downrigger made it possible to present these lightweight lures to deeper fish that would otherwise have been impossible to target.

The Mepps Black Fury is quite light in weight with the No.3 weighing just 6.5 grammes. This is good on that small stream but isn’t much use when casting into deeper water. It is best fished on 6 lb or lighter monofilament line.

The Black Fury comes in six sizes but only these four sizes are available in New Zealand: No. 0: (2g), No. 1 (3.5g), 2: (4.5g), and 3: (6.5g). It is also available with a dressed treble hook though I haven’t seen these. The Mepps Black Fury comes with either white, red or yellow dots on the black spinning blade. I’m not sure which colour spots work the best. I have only ever fished this lure with the yellow spots – which has produced well for me. The dots on the spinning blades of the Black Fury provide contrast under a wide range of conditions. A bright brass bead and gold-plated treble hook add to this contrast making the Black Fury very effective under almost all water and weather conditions.

Mepps spinners are made in France. The company first started producing fishing lures in 1938.

I highly recommend you try this lure. It is one of the most effective trout spinners available especially when it comes to fishing those small clear water streams.