Sea Fishing Tackle

NEW- Seadra Super Bait Scissors- Initial Thoughts. By Jansen Teakle.

Whether you’re crafting the perfect bait, trimming a shock leader knot or rig making at home, a pair of scissors should be at the forefront of any angler’s armoury. And that doesn’t only apply to sea anglers. Personally, I like to keep a pair on my work bench at all times, a pair in my cool box and a pair in my bag and seat box. Scissors are easily lost on the coast, in fact slipping between the cracks in the boulders is my favourite way of losing them, so taking several pairs with you makes good sense.

Have you ever tried removing bait elastic from your old baits without a pair of sharp scissors? It’s not fun and it’s time consuming to say the least. But what should your choice of scissor be?

For years, my go-to was the Mustad branded bait scissors. They were stainless steel, featured over-sized handles that were a doddle to get hold of in cold, wet conditions, but most importantly they were seriously sharp. I once recall catching a bass and fancying keeping it for the table. To my horror, I’d failed to pack a filleting knife, but these Mustad scissors made a very reasonable job. And if anyone who has witnessed my filleting ‘skills’ will vouch, that’s actually quite some accomplishment for me!

An old and tired looking pair of Mustad Bait Scissors

When Mustad decided to discontinue their scissors, anglers were literally panic buying what was left and I was as guilty as the next man. I managed to squirrel away several pairs, but over the space of a couple of years they were lost to the rocks, dropped in the water or pinched by mates. For a short while there was very little available on the market that came even close to the Mustad scissor. Very small scissors with fiddly handles and poor blades were the only thing around, unless you wanted to part with thirty-odd quid for something unnecessarily up market that you were frightened to use for fear of losing them. 

Imagine my excitement when a couple of weeks ago these new Seadra Super Bait Scissors came to the fore! I must admit, I had to do a double take as they did seem incredibly similar to the Mustad scissors of yesteryear. The same easy grab handles and super sharp blades, constructed of stainless steel, of course.

The incredibly similar Seadra Super Bait Scissors- Shiny and new!

I’ve put them to good use already and they really are as good as I remember the Mustad version to be. When scissors are this sharp, they’re perfect for cutting strips of mackerel and in my opinion, do a far more efficient job than a filleting knife ever will. A knife does okay with this task, but only in conjunction with a cutting board and that’s something extra to carry at the end of the day. It goes without saying that they make a fine job of trimming that all important shock leader knot and, in fact, knots in general and these new Seadra jobs have already made short work of some 200lb mono I was having a play with. If you’ve yet to try these Seadra Super Bait Scissors, I guarantee that they could well be the best £5.99 you’ve ever spent!