June Monthly Meeting – Guest Speaker: Cory Sanden of MC Swimbaits
Even though game 7 of the NBA finals was taking place simultaneously, many loyal FIB’ers came out to participate in this month’s meeting. The meeting began with Floyd giving us a devotion.
Tom and Val were awarded their prize money for their 2nd and 3rd place finish at last month’s Newport Harbor Bay Bass Tournament. Tom and Val each weighed a 1.80 Spotted Bay Bass.
Following the awards, Walt Galin gave us all a fish report from his trip aboard the 6 pack Options. Walt shared about staying up all night only to catch their first fish around 4:30AM and then the bite broke wide open on 30-40 pound White Seabass. One tip he shared was that when you are fishing the dropper loop, try to only use enough weight to keep your bait near the bottom. They discovered that if you had too much weight on the seabass would sense that and then spit the bait back out.
It was an honor to have Cory take time out of his busy schedule to drive all the way up from San Diego to be our June guest speaker. Cory is the sole owner and operator of MC Swimbaits, and he still pours every single lure himself!
Over the last 5 years he has developed a unique style of fishing called “Sluggin.” Here’s a look at one of the many he brought with him:
Through several years of research and development, Cory has refined sluggin to catch trophy sized Calico Bass, as well as pelagics such Yellowtail and Dorado. The slug is designed to be fished completely weedless. The beauty of the slug is that is is designed to fish where most baits can’t. Typically the slug is fished on top of the kelp stringers with an erratic retrieve that gives the slug an amazing zig zag swim which resembles wounded and fleeing bait fish. 
Cory has “sluggin” down to a science with recommended hooks, spectra, fluro carbon leader, high speed reel and even a signature rod made by Seeker just for this application. More information is available in his on-the-water videos he has produced. The list of advantages to fishing the slug for trophy Calicos is long, but above all is the excitement. You see, the slug is designed to be fished on the surface, and drug through all the bad neighborhoods where Calicos live. When you get bit fishing a slug, you can almost always see the fish boil on it. The temptation to immediately swing on the fish is powerful, but a well-trained slug fisherman will allow the fish a split second to really bite down on it before putting the wood to it. Please note, while the slug is an incredibly exciting way to catch big fish, it certainly favors certain conditions. Cory stated that he prefers water at or above 64 degrees, and the bad neighborhoods where the Calicos live. Cory finished the night introducing his newest lure, which is a completely weedless swimbait designed to be fished with the Owner BEAST hooks.
It was another great evening of FIB’er fun. Next month our speaker will be Daniel Mattos of the Orange County School for the Culinary Arts. Lord willing, he will be demonstrating how to cook up some of the catch from the July 2-Day offshore charter!