Every summer in Southern California means tuna season… However this season has been rough. The tuna are around however they just haven`t decided to BITE.
This Friday was my third trip of the season and FINALLY with Success. We went out on an overnight trip leaving at 10 pm and returning the next day at 8 pm.
We went on a boat called the OUTER LIMITS out of Seaforth landing in San Diego. The tuna are relatively close from San Diego and are in the 50-60 mile range. This is good because that means extra fishing time!
We woke up around 4am and were anxious to get started. First light was around 5:45 and decided to start trolling, however this season the tuna are not biting the trolling feathers. This is very unfortunate because we like to fish the Slide with AA & Optimum Swimbaits. This is a very effective method of catching tuna when there are fish being caught on feathers. It`s especially effective on Albacore Tuna.
This trip there were no Albacore but we found Bluefin Tuna and Yellowfin Tuna. The day started very slow and the captain looked for Tuna marks for the first 3 hours without any luck. But around 9am we stopped and started to fish. There were 22 Anglers on board and 14 fish were caught. I was fortunate and caught 2 fish. I caught them on an ima RO Jig using the Butterfly technique. This technique is not too popular in Southern California and other anglers were curious to what I was doing. It worked great!! And Yes the very next day we made Nigiri Sushi and Negi Toro. It was so good and I can`t wait to get back out there.

Good Luck & Have Fun!
Matt

www.optimumbaits.com

Lucky Craft lures has launched a redesigned website at LuckyCraft.com. Their newly redesigned site features bigger pictures and photography along with an easier navigation to the most important features…

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Lucky Craft pro Takahiro Omori has just launched his new website TakahiroOmori.com. This is Tak’s new site that will be his home for all of his web content…

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Hello all Lucky Craft fans across the world~! It is again time for the Daily Flash Minnow Report.
This month’s fishing theme, as you all know, is to catch a Halibut. I had gotten some information through the internet about a place called Alamitos Bay in Long Beach city. According to today’s tide condition, it will be in high tide right before noon. So I left a little later than usual!
Once I arrived at the location, I realized how different it was compared to other places where the waves were very calm. Unlike Redondo Beach, even the rocky area wasn’t so bad; a child could walk through it.

Immediately, I cast the most reliable FM110 in Metallic Sardine. Then right away! I got a bite that I’ve been longing for. At first I thought, “Huh? Did it get caught in a kelp?” Then I realized, “It’s a Halibut!” I finally caught a Halibut~! In an area where there was absolutely no body, I was screaming for joy by myself. Hahaha

From the bite I got right when I started fishing, 2 hours went by. From North to South I kept going back and forth while I continued to cast, but I got no response. So I decided to go back to the spot where I got my first catch and changed my lure to a Pointer in a different color as well.
Then again, after couple casts I got a HIT!! It was my second Halibut of the day!!! Now I’ve achieved my goal!!!
The second one seems a bit bigger than the first, but it didn’t meet the legal size so I had to release it…
I believe because it was a little bit passed high tide, changing the lure to a Pointer would aim a deeper range and that probably led me to catching one!

After 3 weeks of trying to catch a Halibut, I’ve finally achieved my goal!
Instead of using a bait, with a hard lure!! And it means so much that I caught it with a Flash Minnow!!
This time the area was chosen freely and to catch one Halibut was the goal. So next time I might go fishing at where Halibuts inhabit or maybe I’ll aim higher and try to catch a legal size!
Flash Minnows are such an exceptional lure~! And I’ve decided that Pointers are going to be one of my most reliable lures.

See you soon!

Sandy
Catch: Halibutx2

This month’s fishing theme is to catch some Halibut. Without going to Redondo Beach where I go pretty often, I went 15 minutes more south to a place called Malaga Cove. It is in the Palos Verdes (PV) district where it is known to be a high class residential area. This day, there were thick fogs from early morning and the water quality was very cloudy as well! Meaning this put me in a position where it became a harder challenge for me to catch a Halibut because it was much more difficult for them to see my lures underwater! As for the lure, I decided not to use the usual FM110 Metallic Sardine, and instead used the FM110 Aurora Mackerel color. I started to cast while moving along the beachside and luckily there wasn’t any wind coming from the ocean to effect my lure while performing a long cast. But then the waves were getting pretty strong and it was hard to control my lure actions, so I decided to change my fishing point closer to a rocky tract. And from there, I started off casting to an area with less kelp, but after every cast during my retrieve, it hooks on to a bunch of weeds and I loose time. I kept casting until noon but ended up fishing nothing… Again I was neglected by the Halibuts! By next week I want to catch a Halibut!! To which location should I go next time!? Still researching…

P.S. Right next to me was a man who caught 5 Halibuts! So I was observing how he was able to catch so many and he was basically using the same pattern as a drop shot. He cast behind a kept bed and was able to fish a Halibut about 15cm above from the bottom. Hmmm I see, in a setting like today Halibuts don’t come up to the surface so you got to aim the bottom!! Next time I might try using the Wander 95!! I will slooooowly sink it and try to catch one!!

Well, see you all soon!

Sandy

The boys at Steelheadstalkers.com have had some pretty good success lately with Lucky Craft Pointer 128′s on Northwest steelhead and trout! Chad Wilson recently sent us some photos of their exploits…

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Its Labor Day 2010, and I can’t believe the year has gone by this quickly.

Earlier this year I announced that I had signed with Stratos Boats to promote the new Champion Elite Series boats they are going to launch for the 2011 product year, and after last week, I am excited about where it’s going…

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Hello all Lucky Craft fans around the world~! This is the Daily Flash Minnow Report.
I went Bass fishing for the first time in a long time. My fishing location for this trip was at the Diamond Valley Lake in Southern California, which is also known to be a prospered bass fishing lake. And not only that!! This time I got to go fishing with the world famous FLW pro angler, Brent Ehler. So speaking of Diamond Valley, I haven’t had much good memories here. I’ve been here about 3-4 times so far and I probably only caught about 1 fish. So this is one of the lakes I assume having no Bass.
So I asked Brent what our target fish is and he said, “We will look for boiling Bass and will keep casting among that area!” As for the range, we mainly used top baits such as, Gunfish or wiggly kinds.

Man~ so this method of aiming was a hit and I thought, “What a pro (about Brent of course)!” Within 3 hrs, we caught 5 Bass one after another! Wherever Brent would cast, there would always be a Bass there. Not only that! The size kept getting bigger and bigger! Brent was amazing! As for me, I didn’t get any hits! Brent, a very nice man he is, realized that and told me he will make sure I’ll catch one and I immediately tried out his way. Then after couple casting, I finally got a hit and caught a Bass!! It was my biggest one yet! (about 3.5 lbs) But I didn’t catch it with a hard bait so that doesn’t count in my record. Can everyone imagine how I caught this?? (If you leave your answer in my comment, I will secretly tell you the answer!)

At about an ending point of our day, we found a ridiculous amount of boils, we were all so surprised!!!
Without hesitating, we immediately cast to that area and at the same exact time, Brent and I got a hit!! I’ve never experienced such pull before and the bass kept swimming around! What should I do with the drag!? Loosen it! It was a Striped Bass! Without being impatient, I waited for Brent to pull his up first, and then I did the same.
We lined up our Bass together!!! It was so~ heavy!

Wow~ that was an amazingly fun experience.
Brent! Thank you so much always! One more tournament to go, I wish you the best! The Lucky Craft staff will all be wishing you the best as well.

Brent’s official website:
http://www.brentehrler.com/

FLW
http://www.flwoutdoors.com/community/profile/home.cfm?uid=24616

Bass Fan
http://www.bassfan.com/profile.asp?pro_ID=645

See you soon!

Sandy

Lucky Craft pro Brent Ehrler was attempting to become the first pro to capture two Forrest Wood Cup victories. Ehrler, who was leading going to the final day, was only able to weigh-in three bass and finished fourth with a four-day total of 46 pounds, 8 ounces.

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Today I will like to talk about a tournament held in Southern California called the Salt Water Bass Anglers (SWBA). The main tournament is held in 6 cities of Southern California and it is a huge saltwater fishing tournament.
Every round the rules and fishing regulations is decided, and you need to be in a team of 2 people of entry.
There are no restrictions to who you team up with. There were entering teams who were both pros seeking for the championship prize to father/son and husband/wife teams to have a more bonding experience with one another.
Our Lucky Craft saltwater pro staff, Gerry and Nick has also entered in this competition.

SWBA Official Website:
http://www.saltwaterbassanglers.com/index.htm