TEAM GREEN LIGHTNING LAUNDRY 1st PLACE IN POINTS AFTER SECOND LEG OF OREGON TUNA CLASSIC!!



"Hi Fred, Chris, Scott and all the rest of the Archer Pro Staff!

You guys ROCK! Thanks for all the fantastic tips last week, and of course for building me the best Tuna gear in the entire field!

Two weeks ago we came in Third place at the opening leg of the Oregon Tuna Classic in Newport.



With fresh tactics and new bars from Captain Fred himself and the rest of the Team Archer Pro Staff we landed 11 nice Albies yesterday to finish Second at Ilwaco (out of 78 teams entered), $2,000 richer, and alone in First Place for the overall points lead with two events to go in the 2010 OTC!

The OTC is a qualifier for the 2011 IGFA World Championships in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. First place finisher at the OTC wins an automatic invitation. Captain Fred, if we keep
this up I just might be asking you for a few more tips early next year (I think you know a little something about catching big fish down in Cabo!)



Saturday we headed west out of Ilwaco towards the 46.2/125 line. Several miles from my target we hit a subtle color/temp break. We continued west a ways, but the water continued to get colder and dirtier. After a quick chat we flipped a u-turn and deployed gear on the edge of the break. I ran two Ruckus-Raisers short off the inside corners, two MeatBalls 1-wake outside and behind the R-Rs, and a Daisy Bar right behind the Meatballs (all 4.75" Black/Purple teasers with a mix of Bleeding Dorado hollow squids and Zucchini Mini-Jetheads for chase baits, both awesome up here in Oregon). Then I dropped a Spider down below on a trolling sinker. The spread looked great, but I wasn't getting any love...

Then I remembered to deploy the Toad per your suggestion - Wow! Not two minutes later - Bendo! The Ruckus-Raiser on the starboard corner disappears and the reel starts singing ZZZZZZZZ! I started tossing chunk bait, and Joe Bean jumps for the pole. Before he even gets the pole out of the holder the starboard MeatBall goes nuts - Double! Don Hines grabbed that pole, and I continued to feed chunks and take care of the gaffing. We did this all morning, with Amazing fishing partner Casey Parker at the helm of his 24' North River Maxxum.



We wrapped up with our only triple of the day, big green water pigs that would ultimately propel us onto the victory podium and a $2,000 check that evening!!



Our biggest fish (caught on the inside Ruckus-Raiser) went an even 30 pounds, big fish for the entire event. Our
total weight was 122.6# for 5-fish.



I really can't thank you guys enough, you are all amazing. I am loving representing Team Archer. While on the podium in front of 600 avid tuna dudes, Bud (Seelicious) yells out "Archer Bars!", and I yelled back "Archer Bars Rock!". There is Absolutely No Doubt about what gear the #1 team in the OTC is running this year!



Good Fishing and Tight Lines!"

Rod Lathrop