Question about Lucky Craft

[fishtales]

Hi all,

I went shopping for my first LC today. I discovered they come in 2 different packages. One is red and the other is blue. I plan on fishing the surf for halibut.

I wanted to buy the Lucky Craft Metallic Sardine 110 SP because that seems to be the hot one. There was no SP on the label. What does "SP" stand for? I wound up buying the metallic sardine in the blue package. Did I get the "right" one?

Thanks,

fishtales

[jerryG]

Blue is saltwater and red is freshwater.. SP stands for suspending.. The only difference between saltwater and freshwater versions are the hooks and color selection.. There are some freshwater colors that work very well in saltwater such as arora Black, American shad, MJ Herring, and metallic Ayu just to name a few. As far as saltwater colors go everyone has their favorites.. I like the bleeding metallic arora black and the Metallic Anchovy.. The metallic candy sardine is also a good color.. Although the metallic sardine is not one of my favorite colors personally but the metallic sardine is probably the most popular pattern LC of all time among surf anglers and it catches a lot of fish. It just really comes down to finding what color(s) work best for you as you build your confidence around your results. Don't be afraid to stray from the pack and try new colors. Honestly just about any color will work.. No one has demonstrated this better than Arthur (AKA Wingnut) who has proven that fish will eat just about any color LC. I've watched him out fish everyone in the group using a pink LC.. Of course there are times when certain colors are going to out fish others.

I believe there's a lot to be said for matching hatch. The past few years we have seen a huge increase in the abundance of anchovies along our coast and the metallic anchovy has been kicking butt.. Just ask Robert AKA Murrieta angler and Lieutenant Bones.. When grunion are around my favorite colors are metallic arora black or just the standard arora black. The color looks blue in the water and if you have ever see grunion or smet in the water they have a blue hue.. Brown patterns are also hard to beat..I don't know if they imitate brown baits (tomcod and herring) or perhaps more so small barred perch but I know they work and that's all that matters.. DO NOT fish the freshwater (red label baits) without changing out the hooks.. If you hook a big fish the stock freshwater hooks they will fail.. It's just a matter of time and it won't take long either before you find yourself regretting not changing the hooks. I even change out the hooks on the saltwater LCs but if you use a light action rod such a salmon rod or a spinning rod you should be ok with the stock saltwater hooks just know that you cannot put too much pressure on a fish or the hooks will give (bend or tear).

[fishtales]

Thanks, Jerry.

What about the SP for suspending? I'm surprised that Turner's didn't have the SP version. (Still a bit confused about this.) I'm assuming you do not necessarily use LC's that do not have that designation?

I'm planning on using braid. Losing an expensive lure like is not something I want to do. What hooks do you recommend to replace the ones the LC comes with?
I've seen some LC advertised with no hooks, same price as the ones with hooks.

[jerryG]

I tried fishing braid with the LCs and after I lost a couple legal + halibut from the hooks tearing due to no stretch I switched to a super parabolic salmon rod setup with a curado reel. I figured the light rod would compensate for the stretch. Soon after I lost about about 35" halibut in inches of water from the hooks tearing out in the shallow surging surf. I know the hooks would have held on mono.. After I lost that fish I was done using braid for the LC.. Braid has it's place (backing, rockfish, kelp cutter) but other than for backing I'm not a fan of braid in the surf. I do know some guys who do well with it and it really comes down to preference. Personally I feel it will cost you more fish than it will save lures. If you do go with braid I would recommend throwing on spinning gear and using a mono leader of at least 4' for a shock absorber. Double check your connection knot about 50 casts or so constant casting/ catching will weaken your connection.

I fish the the LC on a bait casting rod with 12 lb mono (Izor). Although it doesn't stretch as much as mono I also like to use 15 lb straight fluorocarbon (Seagaur or Izor) as well. Fluoro sinks and it seems to keep the lure down a little deeper. I've bent the stock hooks out like paper clips with 12 lb mono which has resulted in some big loses. You just have to know you can't pull that hard.. You can replace the hooks with Owner stinger hooks but You don't want to go much heavier than that with the hooks because if the hooks are too heavy they will kill the action of the lure and it won't swim as well... Fishing the hard bait is all about finding the balance in your gear. Not too heavy but heavy enough.. Not to lite but lite enough.

All the flash Minnow Series are suspending (SP) They came out with a new hard bait model called the Flash Pointer which dives deeper and is classified as slow suspending. They make a larger model that is sinking. I like that. Stay down deeper in the zone for times when they are not going to come off the bottom to eat the flash minnow..

JerryG

[drc521]

I'm sure op will appreciate the wisdom. I know I did.. Thanks for the pointers! Going to have to make a break for npj this week. Does anyone know if the sunset beach jetty is productive for anything other than rays and sharks?

[Nipple Twister]

I'm sure op will appreciate the wisdom. I know I did.. Thanks for the pointers! Going to have to make a break for npj this week. Does anyone know if the sunset beach jetty is productive for anything other than rays and sharks?

Yes, work it and you'll find'em..........

[PTN]

I'm sure op will appreciate the wisdom. I know I did.. Thanks for the pointers! Going to have to make a break for npj this week. Does anyone know if the sunset beach jetty is productive for anything other than rays and sharks?

NPJ is probably going to be closed down... Have you seen how big the waves are this week or so? The swells are up everywhere.. My advice would be to try another time :Razz:. Just a heads up :Cool: