Weekly Specials

The JX is a perfect all around reel for a variety of styles of fishing in California. The line test range and line capacity make it perfect for heavier live bait, yoyo iron and dropper loop fishing. It's not too big and not too small, but has the guts to catch daytime bluefin, homeguard yellows, white seabass and a lot more.

It's rated for 25 to 50 lb line with 21 lb of drag at strike and 28 at full, a 6.0:1 gear ratio, and it weighs 20 oz. You can get it with or without the glide plate. The plate gives the drag lever distinct clicks up the ramp, a stop that takes a button press to go into full, and side to side support so lever play doesn't change your drag. The no plate version is the same reel without that hardware, at a lower price.

Every JX 6.0 is 20% off on clearance. Right hand in silver, gold, blue, black, purple, gunmetal, green, red and Neptune Heart, and left hand silver, with or without the plate (right hand blue comes with the plate only right now). For dense jigs and weighted rigs, the MC version is next on the list.

The MC version JX is great for casting and jigging, it makes casting heavier lures manageable without having a trained thumb while it doesn't slow the spool down too much to flyline effectively. The brake also helps slow jigs down on the fall to prevent them from fluttering so they can get to the bottom faster. This is especially great for bottom fishing with a standard torpedo sinker since you don't have to thumb the line on the way down until it gets near the bottom.

Otherwise it's the same reel as the JX G2 6.0: 400 yards of 65 lb braid, rated for 25 to 50 lb line, 21 lb of drag at strike and 28 at full, 6.0:1 with 46 inches a crank, 20 oz, and the choice of the glide plate or no plate.

Also 20% off on clearance. With the plate: right hand silver, gold, blue, black, gunmetal, red and Neptune Heart, and left hand silver, blue and gold. Without the plate: right hand silver, blue, black, purple, green and red.

Okuma did their homework when developing these rail rods, and had extensive testing done on long range boats which benefit the most from this style of fishing. Since then they've even quietly updated the blank design to accommodate the high speed trolling guys have been doing for bluefin all over California. The current models have reinforced blanks to prevent damage or breakage when trolling from a rod holder. These are great rods for the price, and the go-to entry to rail rod fishing.

Like the other extra heavy PCH Customs they get ALPS HXH guides with zirconium inserts, an ALPS CAH reel seat, and an ALPS non-skid rubber butt cap so the rod doesn't slide around the deck.

Four models: 741XXH, 741XXXH, 741XXXXH and 791XXXH. The compare at price is Okuma's current MSRP, and they're 20% off that this week, $275.99 to $294.39.

Daiwa built the Proteus for SoCal fishing. They're a graphite and glass composite with thinner blanks than the typical fiberglass rod at this price, so you keep the strength and durability without the weight, and they match the smaller, more powerful reels guys are fishing with braid now.

The current version gets the updated Nano-Resin and X-Tape reinforced blank from the Winn Grip edition rods, lighter FazLite Fuji K-guides that stand up to braid better than the previous generation, and X-Wrap grips on the conventional models that hold up if you end up fishing on the rail. Daiwa backs them with a 5 year warranty.

Eleven models: PTB70XHF and XXHF, the 76 and 80 in M, MH, H and XH, and the PTB810HF. All 10% off this week, $206.99.

The Wiggle Rider is probably the most popular Nature Boys jig shape here in SoCal. It's wide, with a bit of taper at either end that gives it action on the retrieve, and the width makes it flutter on the sink, so it works for bluefin day or night. They're iron, so they resist bending under pressure and last longer.

It isn't too long, so you can rig a hook on either end or both. A top assist hook is the usual choice for speed jigging since most bites come on the retrieve, but the bluefin here can be eager enough that a bottom hook is worth adding.

Four sizes: 190g (197 x 22 mm), 265g (200 x 23 mm), 300g (230 x 24 mm) and the newest, 400g (250 x 27 mm), which takes the same slide and rolling fall into deeper water and stronger current. Made in Japan, in eight colors depending on the size.

The Skyfin is the third lure in Daiwa's collaboration with Japanese shore casting angler Ryota Segawa, after the Saltiga Cuddler stickbait and the Frother popper. It's a 210 mm subsurface minnow for the yellowtail and tuna that follow a stickbait or popper without committing, or sit under the boils and won't rise to a surface lure.

It's the biggest lure of the three but casts the farthest, thanks to a 12 mm tungsten ball that shifts to the tail on the cast and helps it start swimming as soon as you wind. The action is a big, lazy slow roll that holds even on a fast steady retrieve, so you can cast it, wind it, and add a light twitch now and then to give a following fish a chance to eat.

102 g (3.6 oz), a thick walled ABS body and heavy 1.8 mm wire. It comes with split rings but no hooks; Daiwa designed it around a 4/0 treble. Blue Back, Shadow Kira, Sardine, Mackerel Tuna (Suma) and Pearl White Blue Glow.

The BG MQ takes the Monocoque body Daiwa first used on the $800 Exist and brings it to the affordable reel market. The frame is a single piece of cast aluminum, so there are fewer ways for water to get in, and it leaves room for a main gear 20 to 40% bigger than the standard BG's, which makes a big difference in saltwater. The spool has a raised lip to cut casting friction with braid.

It's an addition to the BG line, not a replacement, and it sits alongside the Saltist: the BG MQ has the bigger gear and the newer frame, while the Saltist has MagSeal and corrosion resistant bearings that make it smoother overall.

Ten sizes from the 2500 to the 20000, with 22 to 44 lb of drag.

Bleeding a tuna or yellowtail as soon as it hits the deck is the biggest thing you can do for the quality of the meat, and a dedicated gill cutter makes it fast and clean. Sensho's curved, serrated stainless blade bites into the gills and severs the arteries in one stroke so the fish bleeds out quickly.

The blade is special stainless cutlery steel with a serrated wave edge that cuts without slipping, set in a natural wood handle with a lanyard hole. It's made in Seki, Japan's blade making city, and it's built for tuna and other big pelagics: bluefin, yellowfin, yellowtail and big bonito.

ALPS introduced its single trigger casting seat in 2010, and it paved the way for a lot of custom rods, fresh and saltwater. The AT is CNC machined from 6061-T6 marine grade aluminum and hard anodized against corrosion, with dual locking nuts on delrin washers and a keyed main body so the hood can't spin.

We stock three sizes in silver or black: AT16 (16 mm ID, 122 mm long), AT17 (17 mm, 130 mm) and AT20 (20 mm, 130 mm). The AT20 doesn't come with a cushioned hood. 10% off this week, $71.57 to $81.95.

The Shikari 115 is Nomad Design's long casting, shallow running jerkbait: a 4 1/2", 1/2 oz slow floater for inshore gamefish feeding just under the surface. A tungsten weight slides to the tail on the cast so it flies straight, then rolls forward when you start winding so the bait sits level instead of hanging nose down.

Snap the rod tip hard and it darts off erratically, turning as much as 180 degrees between twitches. On a straight retrieve it has a tight nose to tail wiggle, and on a pause it holds in front of a following fish instead of popping straight up. It also slow trolls at 1 to 3 knots, running about 3 feet deep, so it's easy to drag along a kelp line, a channel edge or a bay shoreline.

Six colors covering sardine, mackerel and mullet patterns plus the translucent ghosts and Black Back Chrome, all fitted with BKK Viper 4X #4 trebles.