Accurate Crew hits the East Cape.

The Accurate crew took a worksman's Holiday this last week and spent some time fishing the waters off Punta Arenas for some pelagic gamefish with good success. Myself, Douglas, David, and Jack were joined by Sean Montgomery for three days of fun fishing on Mark Rayor's 35 foot Innovator, the Jen Wren. We set up came at John Irelands Rancho Leonero, which if you haven't been there you definitely need to visit. It's old time Mexico at its finest with small, quaint rooms with patio's on each one. Great atmosphere located on the bluff above the beach.
This trip was to review products and that is what we did. The first day we saw a full blown bite on Sailfish which was a kick on the Boss 870NXC and the 7030 Xnergy rod. This was the perfect outfit complimented by the AccuBraid 50 lb and 40 lb P-line top shot. We used Blackwater 60lb leader and live mackerel to get the job done. We also had a decent Dorado bite with fish to 20 lbs the first day, great snacks with the after fish drinks.
The second day saw a completely different turn of events. We did not see any billfish except one jumper as we drove towards a porpoise school that ended up holding some nice YFT's.
We had our Halco 195 Laser pro's in the pattern and "boom" it hit the fan. When the dusk settled I had one 30 lb tuna and Douglas had one about 75 lbs. We caught back up to the school and bingo, it all started again with one more about 75 lbs for Sean and a couple more small ones. Total for the day was six tunas ranging from 25 lbs to 75 lbs all on Boss 870NXC's with 50 lb Accubraid. The "Small reels Big fish" was definitely happening and we were loving it.
Our third and final day we saw no life after the wind blew out of the north but we kept our hopes up and were rewarded late in the afternoon with one Sailfish for David, a nice 50 lb tuna for Douglas, and my best ever, a 50 lb Dorado which all came from a small pod of porpoise 30 miles out.
The trip overall was awesome with a lot of fresh ideas discussed and some fond memories for years to come. We missed our friend Del but on the last day we left part of him right in front of Mark's house, a place he loved dearly. We all miss Del but knew he was on the deck for every fish we caught.
Hope your fishing adventures are as successful.
Till next time.

Ben

Local Yellowfin With Bongo Joe

Lucky for us, Dave's friend Pete had booked a trip on the charter boat
Bongos and invited all of us to go. Dave, Douglas, Pete, and I all met
up earlyThursday morning to go chase the local yellowfin tuna everyone
had been catching on the paddies and under the porpoise schools. We got
down to Davey's locker at 5 am to meet Joe and Marty, load the boat and
head off in search of theYFT's.
We met up with Pete's friends and
our six pack was complete and ready to roll. We stopped by the bait receiver and filled
the tanks with bait, bigger dean and mini mack. Then tried making some mackerel in
front of the jetty for nothing.
Joe headed out towards the 277 and
turned it south towards the 43 running a course over the 289 as we
headed towards the border. We baited a few paddies forNada and kept
going until we started to see some life. We were a few shy of the 289
when we saw some terns working. As we got closer we could see breaking
fish under the birds. We put the boat in close proximity to the birds
and threw some bait which instantly got boiled on. It was game on with
all rods bendo and mass mayhem going on in the corner. The bite lasted
about 45 minutes with 16 or 17 fish boated in the 15 to 25 pound range.
Much better grade of fish than I expected.
We continued the search
for more birds and porpoise schools which we found one that cooperated
that ended our day with 21 fish total and one fish towards the 35 lb mark.
As
we sped in towards Newport we ran into huge bird schools with the local
5am to 5pm boats chasing them trying to get baits to the fish for very few
fish. Joe's idea to make the run paid off for us and we really had a
good day of fishing while it lasted.
I really look forward to the next trip before the year comes to an end.
Hope you find some time to catch a few. Until the next trip.

Ben

The Passing of My Mentor.

Dear Friends I am sad to tell you that on September 6th, 2009 my favorite fishing friend passed onto the big waters in the sky. He was my best friend, fishing buddy, most knowledgable guy I knew, he was my dad. Ben Secrest Sr. was the one that gave me my start in the world of fishing which has lead to a lifelong passion and career letting me do what I love to do.
Without his love and support throughout the years I would have never been able to attain my dreams and aspirations. He always had time to take me fishing and enojoyed his self no matter what the conditions were. From the days of bluegills with a small hand made cane rod to fishing his love, the green bass, my dad was my hero. He was always there no matter what, his support and guidance have shaped my life, and those of you who knew him have an idea of what I am talking about. The man never had a harsh word to say about anyone and loved my mom whole heartedly.
I hope the pond he is fishing has a load of 8 to 10 pounders and its all topwater, his favorite technique to fish. Send a prayer out for old Ben, a true fisherman and the greatest man I ever knew.

I hope all your time on the water is memorable.

Till the next time.

Ben

Accurate visits Norway the land of the Goliaths.

Hey everyone, sorry for the late post but been on planes all over and just got home to share the adventure of our Norway expedition.
We have a Pro Staff guy in Tromso Norway Per Jonasson, who has told me for a while about stories of giant halibut over 400 pounds being caught up in the north land so with an invite from a friend we traveled up to see what we could catch. My crew included Doug Olander and his beautiful wife, and John Beath, noted outdoor writer.
My adventure started at LAX and after flying accross the United States and into Oslo (13 hours) with a 8 hour delay in Oslo, ended two hours later in Tromso, Norway.
I was greeted by Per at the airport and driven to his fish hide away, some forty minutes north.
Remember in Norway this time of year there is no night time, its light 24 / 7 and can play tricks on your body. Per had a couple other writers / friends staying with him, Peder and Soren who were very hardcore fishing from 6 am to 11 or 12am everynight catching a lot of fish between 100 and 200 pounds.
My first day on the boat with the guys was very slow with me hooking one nice fish that came unbuttoned quickly. The bait of choice was a savage swim bait baby calico color (brown, gold, and black) on a 6 oz lead head. All the fishing was done in 50 to 75 feet which was completely different than my Alaska fishing. The key to the fishing was you could use smaller reels with braid because the fish coul not spool you in deep water.
My personal experience with big Halibut is they don't pull really hard and if you keep constant, even pressure on them they swim to the boat rather easily. This wasn't the case here, these fish would smoke an initial run like a Bluefin and you couldn't control them unless you put the drag up, and I mean up around 18 to 20 lbs. This was a real workout but it gave the tackle the test that I like to see.
We caught a few nice halibut over the five days but to watch Per on one that taped over 200 pounds with all the drag and land the fish within 15 to 20 minutes was amazing.
I truly learned what kind of drag it took to stop a fish like that and how our little B-197XC could handle it. He has been doing this for a few years with lots of fish between 100 to 200 pounds under his belt, and his reel of choice, a single speed B-197 with a 6:1 gear ratio.
Besides the Halibut we also caught Atlantic Cod and the ugly Wolf fish that looks like a monkey's head on an eels body.
The weather was unseasonably warm with 70 to 75 degrees during the warmer days and maybe 50 degrees in the morning as we ran out to the fishing grounds.
We all got our chance at the bigger fish and we caught some decent ones but this trip turned into the "One that got away" with that happening to all of us at least once.
I had one fish light me up for several minutes, as we started to follow him with the boat he feel off but he pulled as hard as anything I have hooked throughout my years of fishing.
A real stud, like a pitbull on steroids chasing the local mail man.
All said in done, this was one of the most unique trips I have every taken with a great group of people to share it with.
I would definitely get back to Tromso to chase that Goliath Halibut hoping to land the trophy of a lifetime.
Thanks to Per for his guidance, it was much appreciated.
I hope we are able to get back there and give it another shot some day.

Till the next trip, hope your time on the water is productive.

Ben

A Day on the Ohinemuri River

At Accurate they really keep us hopping either looking for new ideas or spending time traveling to far away places doing shows or better, spending time on the water. I recently returned from the Auckland Boat show in New Zealand and had the pleasure of spending a day trout fishing with Brett Tapper, father of our distributor, Kane Tapper of Decoro Fishing.
I spent all night flying from LAX and upon arrival at a early bird 4:45am Wednesday morning (left on Monday and lost a day in the air)was greeted by Brett who had everything ready to go.
Sun was coming up to a rather brisk day, maybe 51 degrees with a little rain and we were off. If you have a dream of rolling farm lands with the coolest green color intermixed with cattle and flowing rivers, this is the place.
After a couple hours on the road we reached our destination, the Ohinemuri river, which reminded me of the days I spent fishing the west Walker river with my dad as a young boy. The morning was rather slow with a few fish caught but as the sun heated up the water in between rain showers the fishing started to get good. The river itself is full of solid riffs with a lot of larger rocks casting shadows. As we worked our spinners down through these riffs and into the shadows we ended up catching a lot of 12" fish with a few larger models but the brown trout eluded us.
Mid day Brett fired up his portable stove and brewed up some fresh coffee and made the best corn beef sandwiches possible followed by home made cake and cookies. Then he set off to find the old Brown trout hole on some private land he knew. As we walked through the pastures to get to these hidden holes I opted to go North and he went south on the stretch. Unfortunately for me he landed the nice brown we where looking for and I ended up with one more rainbow.
As luck has it, after the last fish the skies opened up and poured on us. I could not have had a better day knowing I had to stay awake to get on there time zone and trust me with fishing like that it was hard to remember I was tired. I want to say thanks to Brett and Kane for their time and this for sure will not be the last time I fish the Ohinemuri in pursuit of those legendary big browns.
Hope all is well with you and your upcoming fishing is off the hook.
Cheers Ben.

In Search of the Golden Lady

Wednesday I got a call from a friend, Brandon Hayward, and he wanted to fish the beach looking for a large Calico bass, hopefully getting a bruiser for a photo. We met up at 5:00 am at my house, hooking up the skiff and getting down to the launch ramp around 5:30 am with coffee in hand.
We were greeted with flat calm seas, over cast skies and an air temp around 50 degrees.
Once launched we set our course up the beach to a few stones I have fished over the years which in the hay day would produce the fat ones. We fished diligently through the first hour without a bite then Brandon caught our first keeper around 2.5 pounds on a swimbait. As the tide started its way down from a 7 + foot high(highest of the year) with a 61 degree water tempature, we were in position to get a big bite.
Brandon started off getting smoked without getting a solid hookset with the fish coming unbuttoned. I had the same happen after one them doubled my heavy Lamiglass rod and took line off a REVO 50 with new AccuBraid line on it. I was starting to wonder if we had our chances when I got bit again, this time getting a solid hook set and the fish dogging deep. At first with the head shakes I thought we were going to see a nice sea bass until I saw a brown shadow below the boat. It dogged me for a minute or so until I was able to get it close to the boat. It was a solid fish that felt pretty hefty. It had been awhile since I had caught a fish as nice as this one so I really enjoyed it. We took a round of pictures and I released her back into her stones. I was really happy to have the deep teeth marks in the palm of my hand, knowing she was the biggest fish I had caught in a couple years for sure. It was nice to see that with all the pounding our local stuff takes there are still a few goods one to catch.
I had a nice morning until about noon when the wind started blowing out of the south and I knew I had to go straight into it on the way home.
I love fishing the Calicos and really appreciate the chance to test our new products(AccuBraid) to see what they are made of. I appreciate the time on the water with friends, sharing stories and creating new ones of the fish either lost or the ones caught. However I look at it, I am definitely blessed and couldn't ask for a better life. I hope your Holidays are good ones and you spend some time on the water. Until our next outing, I hope all your fish are big ones.

Ben

Fishing Flamingo with "Hitman" Eddy Carmen

I arrived in Florida Saturday night to spend some time with my good friend Ed Carmen of the Biscayne Rod Legacy. I have known Ed for over twenty years, sharing many fishing adventures with him and his brothers and we planned to head off to Flamingo (Florida State Park) first thing Sunday morning. After a great dinner with the family we hit the hay and were up at 5 am ready for the hour drive south. For those of you who have not heard of Flamingo, it is the state park located right across from the keys near Florida City that has a myriad of fish living in its shallow waters. The species include tarpon, bonefish, redfish, seatrout, and the elusive snook. We have had many good trips catching all the species but this trip we are heading down with 40 mph winds and the first cold snap they have seen this year in Florida.
Our day started out with Ed's son Zach pushing for position on the front deck, I knew the competition was on and here used his local knowledge to slam dunk me in the morning with two snook and two redfish to my one lady fish. As the afternoon wore on I finally put a red in the boat myself but was well aware that the conditions had us beat.
I really appreciate the few good friends I have, Ed is truly one of them. Their are a lot of people that move through your life over the years but the ones that linger are usually the true friends.
I had a great time with Ed and his son Zach. I really enjoy staying with him and revisiting the old fishing trips, they live on in our minds which I plan on enjoying for years to come.
I hope you are able to spend time fishing with friends over the Holidays catching some fish that pull drag.
Until next, good fishing to you.

Ben