2015... Let's start blogging once again

Well for starters, since becoming manager of my favorite lure company, my fishing time has diminished. I've been concentrating on how to make Jackall's presence in the U.S. grow. Last year I introduced many lures that you guys love, especially the Pompadour that I tested a year before release.

Let's get this blog going once again. This year will bring lots of new opportunities. For one, I will be fishing as a Co-Angler for Bassmasters Central Open. I'm not really into tournament fishing but I am open to new things.

I will also be attending the fishing shows in Japan next month; both Yokohama and Osaka. I will then decide what lures I should bring in to the U.S. I'll post a few here and I'd like to hear your thoughts.

So let's get this year started!

Expect updates soon.

Sorry for the lack of updates again. But I will soon start posting all my adventures as well as techniques I use.

I will be flying out to Japan for Yokohana Fishing Show next week so I will be updating this with all the latest products from Jackall that will be out in Japan.

Updates that are to be up soon will include:

Jerkbait Techniques

Jackall I-Prop 75S and I-Motion technique

New lures for ICAST 2014

Recap of my experience at the Bassmaster Classics in Birmingham, Alabama

Yokohama Fishing Show recap.

and my first ever Double Digit fish weighing 11lbs 8oz.

Please be patient for updates.

Another on the Topwater Plug

Went fishing again today with the new Jackall Pompadour, and it sure is a winner! I caught one within 20 minutes. A decent 3.5 lb fish

Went back later in the day and again hooked on a fish, but this was a huge fish! This fish slammed the plug 3 ft. from me. As I was about to lip the fish, there were just too many trebles in the mouth. It ran once more, and then my line went slack. I saw my lure floating, and the bass casually swimming away. The fish was in the 8-9 lb range, easily would have been my personal best largemouth bass. As I lost the fish, the bait and waiter cat fishermen began laughing. Perhaps jealous that I actually use technique to catch fish rather than throwing bait and sitting down waiting for a bite.

I left the lake immediately with a crushed ego, but with the confidence that this lure can catch huge fish at highly pressured lakes. The Jackall Pompadour is hands down the best topwater bait I have ever used, and it's proof is in its ability to catch these fish at the city ponds, especially one known to be one of the toughest local ponds here in Southern California.

Jackall Japan's new topwater plug; the POMPADOUR

Today, Japan sent me two samples of their new Topwater plug and I was just too eager to try it out. My first impression of it when I saw the video was that it just makes too much noise, because there's a distinct noise it makes when it is retrieved.

I was too busy at the office so during my lunch break, my plan was to toss it for 15 minutes, then order pizza for the temp workers I hired. Well all it took was 10 minutes and about 20 casts when a huge fish just smacked it! Broke in my new reel from Japan, the Shimano Metanium which casts beautifully and has a very smooth drag as well. Went back to the office immediately and ordered pizza wishing for 5:00 to come soon so I could go back.

I did go back and had another fish hit it but missed the hook. I am now a believer of this amazing lure produced by Tsutomo Kawashima.

Rod: Jackall Poison Heritage "Master Stroke

Reed: Shimano Metanium

Lure: Jackall Pompadour

6.1 lbs

Fishing Lake Biwa

I'm not sure I made the news public on my blog since I haven't been updating this as much as I should, but in case you didn't know, I now work for Jackall as the Manager of the USA division.

I was invited by my boss, the President of Jackall Inc to attend the Yokohama Fishing Show in Japan and to fish Lake Biwa. It was a dream of mine to visit Japan and attend one of the shows, and also to fish Lake Biwa where the world record fish was caught.

Unfortunately, the week I arrived the weather became pretty bad for fishing. Slight rain, and the cold front made the fishing extremely tough but we managed one fish each and I could now say I've caught a bass in Japan (even though it was small).

Rod: Poison Glorious Wolfgang

Reel: Shimano Vanquish

Lure: Jackall I-Shad

Stay tuned for a post regarding the Yokohama Fishing Show, and a few goodies I brought back from Japan (^.^)

Just a Few Fish From a Few Weeks Ago

Nothing special. Just posting to show you guys I'm still here.

Also I was invited to Japan to attend the Yokohama Fishing Show, and fish Lake Biwa. Stay tuned for pictures from the Jackall Booth with new products.

Rod: Jackall Poison Heritage Super Inch Wacky

Reel: Shimano Ci4 1000

Lure: Jackall Flick Shake (Prototype)

Rod: Jackall Poison Heritage VCMCAST 68

Reel: Shimano Curado 200 E5

Lure: Jackall Squad Minnow 115

Fishing With Jackall Staff Day 2

Toshiro Ono left for Japan but Chikara and Taiki stayed for a few more days. I was able to go pond hopping with Chikara and Taiki last Saturday. I met them at the Jackall USA office and got both of them a few gifts from Bass Brigade.

We started off at Legg Lake at around 12:00. The rain made the day cold and the fishing slow. Chikara was able to land a small one. My friend Hideto decided to join us and once he arrived, we hopped into my car and went off to Puddingstone.

We fished the East Shore for no bites. We decided to move to the dam area but Taiki was far away so we drove to pick him up. Funny thing is that when we drove to the other side, Taiki walked far away to the opposite side!

We arrived at the Sail Boat launch area and we managed a few small fish. I caught a tiny bass off Jackall MC60, while Taiki caught one off Jackall Waver Shrimp.

Chikara rockin' his new Bass Brigade shirt

After a long day of fishing, I took them to BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse. We all enjoyed a few potato skins, hot wings, and deep dish pizza. It was their first time having potato skins, and a deep dish pizza. Of course we ended it with BJ's famous Pizookie for dessert.

It was a great day filled with fishing, and just an amazing day for me as I rarely fish now due to me working full-time. Chikara and Taiki leave for Japan this week, but will come back for business once again in November. It was a pleasure to fish with a few employees of Jackall Japan. I hope to fish with them again!

Taiki and I

Chikara and I

Fishing With Jackall Staff Members

The other day, I got a message from Ty Ono asking to fish since he was visiting California once again. Well what do you think I did? I took him and his staff fishing... URBAN FISHING.

Here's Chikara schooling me at what I do best.

And here's Jackall's very own Toshiro Ono showcasing why he's one of the elite anglers in Japan, but doing it in Southern California.

It was a pleasure to finally fish with the CEO of my favorite fishing lure company. I hope we can continue this again.

So I apologize for the lack of updates, but at least this one was a great post!

Sometimes it's good to tweak plastics

Bass get accustom to everyday lures, but when you don't want to spend money on new lures, what do you do? The answer is to tweak them:

I did more to it, but that's a secret.

I would love to fish Lake Biwa one day...

Angler's Marine's Annual Bass-a-Thon: A (not so) In-Depth Look

Today was the first day of the Annual Bass-a-Thon event in Anaheim. This is a two day, small expo for bass fisherman, which features many special guests such as Kevin Van Dam, and Bill Dance. This year, special guests included four time Classics winner Rick Clunn, AOY and Classics winner Skeet Reese, and even Jimmy Houston. Although there were big stars in the fishing industry at this expo, my main reason of going is to socialize with other anglers like me; you know, those who aren't famous, the ones who just love this amazing sport and fish because it's their passion.

It's a full house today.

The Lunker Punker booth was a great success as usual. A very effective topwater bait.

Skeet Reese gave a seminar today, and will be speaking once again tomorrow.

Yes, my favorite booth, from my favorite company. Curt Arakawa and Tony Lain were there to discuss Jackall lures to those who had questions. I can answer them too haha!

CL8 Swimbaits with their new rats; they were large. I ended up picking up a 6 inch swimbait from them. Now I need a new rod for it. Swimbaits are new to me.

JDM (Japan Domestic Models) lures have been seen more often here in Southern California. Here's an example of a few from Deps.

The Extremely popular Silent Killer and High Sider. Cough up the $70, it's worth it. Wish I had the money.

Evergreen International, another JDM company even had an appearance. Although Evergreen did not have a booth to sell their products, a sponsored professional was out to raffle six Evergreen rods, and two sets of lures (about six lures per set). For those of you who never heard of Evergreen, it is one of the top Japanese companies out there with their rods reaching up to over $800 a piece, even $1000. I've handled one of the rods before, and it's truly a piece of art. I hope I win one!

A close up look at three of their models. Their "Kaleido" model (bottom) is their top of the line series of rods with both spinning and casting rods. These rods can go up to $1000. "Temujin" (middle) is their mid range rods with pricing near $500-$650 USD. Their lower end model (not the lowest model) is the "Tactics" line which sell around $350-$450 USD.

Also up for raffle: TimberFlash (Top) and Royal Flash (Bottom)

Some good friends of mine and their WARBAITS Swimjigs. These guys are well known in the Salt Water Bass Fishing scene, and these lures are proven on calicos as well as fresh water bass.

Triple Trouts, another favorite for California swimbait fishing.

Glad to finally have met the legend. Rick Clunn saw me holding one of the CL8 Swimbaits and really liked what he saw. He just never had the opportunity to walk around the expo. He also told me the reason he agreed to do this expo was to see all the lures we bass fisherman use in California.

Another great fisherman; Skeet Reese.

Jimmy Houston giving a seminar with special guesst Terry "Big Show" Scroggins.

That's it for the photos, I don't think I'll make it back tomorrow but this year was great. Other items popular in the show was obviously the Alabama Rig with versions called "Calabama Rig" and "Miss Alabama Rig".

Until next time!
Tight Lines!

Ariel Biley

Tweaking Plastics...

Tweaked a plastic craw and this is the result of three casts

When fishing pressured ponds, bass become accustomed to the lures thrown by everyday people. To gain an advantage; spice up your plastic! There is no need to buy the newest products. Tweak your old lure by perhaps making it slimmer, or removing excess appendages. Add a rattle, or make air pockets in it. All these will improve your old lure and make it a "new" lure. My tweaked plastic is still a secret, I'll show it in a few weeks.

Few from this week

Here's a couple from last outing using the P.D. Chopper + Ammonite Shad combo. As you can see, the first fish destroyed the lure. I put what was left back onto the jig and few minutes later, land a larger fish.

Rod: Jackall Poison Heritage HC-610MR "Master Stroke"
Reel: Shimano Scorpion XT1000
Lure: Zappu P.D. Chopper 3/16oz + Jackall Ammonite Shad 4.5 inch

Surgery went well guys!

Surgery went as planned. It's been just over a week since I had surgery and I am almost at 100%. The photo above is me and my beautiful GF waiting at admissions at 4:00am in the morning. She made this poster for everyone to sign and I love it. What was initially thought to be an enlarged pituitary gland ended up being a Rathke Cleft Cyst, which shows us exactly the same as an enlarged pituitary gland on an MRI and basically gives the same symptoms.

The only problems I have now are the fact that since they operated through my nose, I cannot breathe at all with my nose, which forces me to breathe through my mouth only causing severe dry throat. Occasionally the blood will go down my throat too, which hinders my sleep at night as I wake up every 30-45 minutes to either drink water or cough up blood. Doctor is not allowing me to go back to work OR school, which is the sad part since I planned on graduating with my B.S. this semester. Health is better anyways. I like to thank you all for your prayers and kind words. I cannot thank you guys enough for keeping me in your prayers.

Am I in Heaven? I awoke to an angel! ;D My GF is also a nursing student and this gave her an opportunity to take care of me during my 2 night stay at the hospital
Even my little brother came by and signed my poster. He goes to school at UCLA which is walking distance from UCLA Medical Center
Lastly, today I went fishing. I know I'm not supposed to but some rules had to be broken i.e. driving and activities that need you to bend down and lift. Maybe I should listen because sometimes I still feel sluggish.

Rod: Jackall Poison Heritage VCM-CAST68 HC-68MRG
Reel: Shimano Curado 200 E5
Lure: Jackall Squad Minnow 80 Half Mirrow Hasu