Petro's

[canyongear]

Since the Petro is a hot combo right now, we just started offering all of our abalone tuna and marlin lures with the petro head and skirt colors.

11 diffrent head shapes, including the "Masher" which I can't keep in stock, some heads have 3 sizes, some 2 and like the "Masher" just the one..here's a look at our version of the "Petrolero". You can custom make your Petro of choice on the site. In total you can Petro over 26 diffrent shapes and sizes.

If you want yours the "upside down version", just type "upside" in the order message field or call, happy to make it that way. This means the outer skirt will be put on dark side down (belly).

[Captain Fred Archer]

I believe that the comments here are a verbal sneer at my post concerning the true Petrolero color, the company, Allure, that developed it, its history and so on. I absolutely don’t like that, especially since it seems to me to be a case of utter disrespect for a truly innovative, pioneering type of company, plus a sad display of actual knowledge of the facts concerning something that is being blatantly copied by some. As one of my Mexican pals has said, “Why don’t you tell those guys that if they’re going to copy something, at least get it down right before they try to steal a name.”

The absolute and clear truth is that "Petrolero" is the name given to a combination lure skirt color by the Allure Company that was developed in Mexico many years ago. It is a very different and distinct combination that I don't see being presented by some of those who are making and selling what they are calling "Petrolero colored lures". In fact, I am seeing many "Petroleros" that are the exact opposite of the true Petrolero color. To me, that is downright disgraceful.

I have pictured a real Petrolero color lure below that was and is made by the originator. It is heavily counterbalanced and runs as shown. The description of that color, taken directly from the Allure website catalog is, "Silver back, black sides, brown belly." They omit mentioning the orange inner in this description, but show it in any and all photographs. I repeat, this is the true Petrolero color.

The history of Petrolero told to me shortly after the first ones made their appearance was that when the lure was skirted, a mistake was made...it was skirted as what many would call upside down. A large number were made during that first production run, so instead of scrapping the ones that had been made, they sent them out. And they caught fire with the Mexican crews, and because of that, the gringos who fished and ran boats down there. So the original skirting became standard and the rest is history. I don't know for sure if this story is true, but it was told to me by several people who were in a position to know.

My crews and I fished the Petrolero many times and of course, I knew a lot of other captains and crews who just loved the damned thing. Being a lure manufacturer myself and being interested in why this color combination had become so popular – not because I was interested in copying it...I was already rigging my own personal lures "upside down", regardless of their color, but this was such a departure from the norm for most fishermen, I wanted to know the “why” from the anglers’ side.

So I asked many of them what it was that they liked about this lure. After saying that they liked it because it caught a lot of fish for them, to a man they said that they also really liked it because they could easily see that silver back in their spreads. This was especially important because it is a rare Mexican fleet boat that has any kind of tower. Most have low flying bridges and pangas and some other boats don't have any kind of elevated platform to see regular colored lures from.

This was important to them because Cabo (Southern California too) has always been a "modified" bait and switch fishery. I say "modified" because unlike true bait and switch fishing as practiced in most other venues where there are no hooks in the lures, theirs had hooks in them, usually various double hook rigs that did produce poor results.

They all felt that their hookup and landing ratios were a lot better with drop back live baits than with lures, so SOP was to try to get the lure away from incoming fish and replace it with a live bait as fast as possible. And even when a fish was initially stuck on lure hooks and it pulled off, SOP was again to retrieve the lure while dropping back and then slow trolling a live bait for any suicidal “come back” fish.

Those who have read my Marlin book know that I believe that there was another factor involved, one that caused and causes me to rig all of my own personal lures "upside down" (but that I call, ”right”), with the dark color on the belly and the light one on the top. When I bait and switch fish for marlin I do so with special, hookless "Teaser Bars", not lures. But when I am purely lure fishing with the intent of hooking the fish on the lures, I don't care about seeing the lure so I can beat a marlin to it with a drop back bait. Besides, I always fished out of a boat with a tall tuna tower and was a dedicated "wake head", who watched the spread like a hawk with high quality, polarized sunglasses and I saw just about every marlin that came into it before he went after a lure.

I like the “upside down” colors because I believe in the principle of, "he who stands out, dies." Meaning that the apex predators are programmed to see and eliminate baits that are "different" because of age, sickness, being injured, or simple inferiority. Healthy baitfish are dark on the top to hide them from birds and light on the bottoms to help them disappear from fish below them and looking up against the sky. Many also have wave and ripple-like markings on their sides that Nature has obviously given them to help camouflage the healthy ones from the predators from the sides. In other words, lures rigged the traditional way, with the dark colors up top and the light ones below tend to imitate living, healthy baitfish, not the injured or otherwise “different” ones that the gamefish instinctively hunt for. And so, my philosophy has always been to reverse the natural baitfish color patterns in order to make my lures less visible to the birds (who cares about them anyway?) and more visible to the fish.

I spent many years comparing and recording the results of running "normal" skirt patterns versus my "abnormal" ones - including Petrolero. It should be obvious to anyone who thinks about it what color combinations won and won decisively by how I rig my own lures.

If we ever start selling traditional-type trolling lures to the general public again, naturally we will offer them with conventional skirt color rigging, but we will also offer them "our way" for those who want them that way, as most do for the very limited production that we still make.

And finally, as it is with most of the original, innovative lure masters, the issue of “custom” skirt colors has been solved in an easy and relatively inexpensive way by one of the true geniuses and legitimate leaders in the lure business, Captain Roddy Hays. His “Quick Change” lures have quite simply revolutionized both the “custom color” and the fast, easy and economical changing of damaged skirts or near-instantly changing a skirt color combination and even the weight of a given lure. You can see an example of his remarkable system below. And yes, we sell them.

As a victim of “copyrats” myself, and having numerous legitimate and respected big game lure creator and maker friends, I abhor those who do this copying thing. Sure, there is a lot of similarity in lure shapes and even color combinations and we all know and understand that, but when something like a new and effective color such as Petrolero is developed and proven by a company such as Allure, I believe that it should be respected and even if it is copied, the guts of that positive change, the proper rigging of the skirt colors in this case, should be respected. Either that, or don't use the true name at all.

And by-the-way, ten percent of the colors that Allure offers are “upside down” as well, as is the famed “Evil” lure.

The real Petrolero and some other "confused" lures...

Best in Big Game catalog and online store, www.fredarchersworldoffishing.com

[canyongear]

No, Archer your assumption is 100% wrong.

It was actually meant to take into consideration your informational post of a couple of weeks ago, regarding the "mistake" of upside down skirting on the allure petro for those that want the the darkside down. Period.

We will make a Petro anyway we feel works and with what skirting colors are available from the manufacturer we do business. Right side up or upside down are just options for the customer. Certainly, don't need your permission or anyone else's for that matter.

Your narcissistic view of this subject is utterly amazing, self serving, and without merit as petrolero's have been discussed on many occasions all over the web and by many lure makers, you choose to make this a personal attack, since you have never "jumped on them for using that name for their skirt colors", just shows your true skirt colors.

Your opinion and statements in our direction are certainly entertaining as to how far you will actually stretch a subject such as skirt colors. Since you describe on your own site skirt/squid colors such as "Green Machine", "Zuchini", "Bleeding Dorado", and the "exclusive 9" chasebait" you so aptly named "Petrolero" you sure didn't originate those names for those skirt combinations or squid colors. Smacks of a hypocrite.

By the way. The literal translation for "Petrolero" in Spanish is: oil tanker.

petrolero

Spanish


Noun

petrolero m. (plural petroleros)
Singular
petrolero m.
Plural
petroleros m.

1. oil tanker

Perhaps you should go and whine about "Gay Bob" or "Gai Bob" while your at it, you must have some history on that skirt color combination.

Stay out of my threads, if your going to be a basher.

[lawaia]

canyongear – I asked this of DaGoose on another thread and thought it would be beneficial to all the members of SFC to also ask it of you since you and Captain Fred Archer seem to knock heads fairly often.

Where I come from – Hawaii – is kinda like Missouri in that when a guy talks the big talk we show him some aloha and let him talk BUT we don’t believe him until he shows us he can walk the walk.

Captain Fred Archer has shown that he can walk the walk – maybe not literally anymore, but he has earned his position as a learned elder – kupuna, in Hawaiian. His long career catching fish in Cabo is undisputed, as is his work with Shimano and now Accurate in developing unquestionably top-notch reels. He has been for very many years and still is a well-published and recognized author. He doesn’t claim to have invented the spreader bar but has without any doubt spent many years using and catching with them. He has the respect of many, including well-known and recognized expert big game fishermen like Roddy Hays and Josh Temple, and that counts for something too. Yes, he writes long posts but they’re chock full of info and nobody is making anyone read ‘em if they don’t like long posts.

I respectfully ask this in the best interest of all members of SFC, so that we all can make our own informed judgment on things. Please tell us your curriculum vitae, the highpoints of your fishing and lure development career:

Were/are you a licensed charter captain? What homeport(s) and since when? What boat?

Were/are you a mate? What homeport/boat(s)?

Ever publish anything? Ever develop any tackle?

How long have you been making and selling lures/bars?

What lure making experience do you have, meaning which companies have you worked for?

What is your fishing experience? How many years? Fishing for what? Significant catches?

Any references, meaning somebody like Roddy Hays that would attest to the above?

If you choose to reply, thanks for sharing with the members of SFC.

Aloha,
lawaia

[BIGJAHOOTIE]

I THINK TIMS LURES DO ALL THE TALKING HE NEEDS?
AND FRED IS A GENIUS.
SO WHAT IS THE REAL PROBLEM???
I JUST WANT THESE HIGHLY EDUCATED GUYS TO CONTINUE TO BE ACTIVE MEMBERS BECAUSE I ENJOY EVERY POST FROM EITHER PARTY


PS .....LOVE THE PETRO WISH I HAD 5 OF THEM...




THANKS
JA-HOOTIE

[Captain Fred Archer]

Big Jah,

No worries or high hopes, depending on your attitude about me, there ain't no way that I would even think of abandoning my many years on this great site. And I'm sure that the same thing can be said for the other fellow. Hopefully, there will be more peace than warfare between us, as I for one hate and try to avoid that sort of stuff. However, there are times when I get attacked, or when outright lies are spewed and I lose it a bit and come back to defend myself and the truth because I feel that silence on my part might be interpretted by some as admission of guilt. That's just human nature, I suppose, but still...I'm sorry for that and will try to go back to ignoring it and avoiding going to battle over it.

As for the issue at hand, my comments were meant for any and all who are attempting to come up with the Petrolero color combination and happen to have it wrong. I tried to make it as factual as possible and without any bashing of anything but, like one of my Mex buddies said, "Tell them to get it right". I am hopeful that, and won't be surprised if one or two of the others thank me for pointing out the error and correct it on their lures, some of which are real beauties and in no way are copies of the Petrolero head style (which in turn was a copy of a long established lure maker's model...care to guess who that was/is?) Or, they may continue to call the wrong color "petrolero", or give it another name. That's up to them.

At least they know the history now. Not knowing it is actually somewhat understandable because Petrolero and even the Allure lures were primarily a Mexican phenomenon for a long time and many from other venues were unfamiliar with the details and history concerning them.

Thank you, Hula Man (I'm no good at those tongue twister Hawaiian names). I see where you are coming from, but I ask that you drop it for now. The sooner we get back to business as usual around here, the better. Meantime, how's the fishing over there? Sounds like it's been tough sledding for a while. I hope that's changing.

Mahalo.

Best in Big Game catalog & online store, www.fredarchersworldoffishing.com

[canyongear]

If you notice the signature below we acquired the following domain names:

www.petrolerolure.com
www.petrolerolures.com

this should help add to our "speculum credentiliae", did I speel that right?

[BIGJAHOOTIE]

LOVE YOUR POSTS, MAYBE THE ONLY WHOLE POST I WILL READ ON SFC......


ANYWAY CHEERS
P.S. WHY CANT YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR



JA-HOOTIE

[Roddy Hays]

If you notice the signature below we acquired the following domain names:

www.petrolerolure.com
www.petrolerolures.com

this should help add to our "speculum credentiliae", did I speel that right?

Ha ha ha, ho ho ho, hee hee hee, stop it, stop it - please - you're cracking me up

"speculum credentilae" ???

*wipes tears of laughter from eyes*

[rarhomes]

canyongear – I asked this of DaGoose on another thread and thought it would be beneficial to all the members of SFC to also ask it of you since you and Captain Fred Archer seem to knock heads fairly often.

Where I come from – Hawaii – is kinda like Missouri in that when a guy talks the big talk we show him some aloha and let him talk BUT we don’t believe him until he shows us he can walk the walk.

Captain Fred Archer has shown that he can walk the walk – maybe not literally anymore, but he has earned his position as a learned elder – kupuna, in Hawaiian. His long career catching fish in Cabo is undisputed, as is his work with Shimano and now Accurate in developing unquestionably top-notch reels. He has been for very many years and still is a well-published and recognized author. He doesn’t claim to have invented the spreader bar but has without any doubt spent many years using and catching with them. He has the respect of many, including well-known and recognized expert big game fishermen like Roddy Hays and Josh Temple, and that counts for something too. Yes, he writes long posts but they’re chock full of info and nobody is making anyone read ‘em if they don’t like long posts.

I respectfully ask this in the best interest of all members of SFC, so that we all can make our own informed judgment on things. Please tell us your curriculum vitae, the highpoints of your fishing and lure development career:

Were/are you a licensed charter captain? What homeport(s) and since when? What boat?

Were/are you a mate? What homeport/boat(s)?

Ever publish anything? Ever develop any tackle?

How long have you been making and selling lures/bars?

What lure making experience do you have, meaning which companies have you worked for?

What is your fishing experience? How many years? Fishing for what? Significant catches?

Any references, meaning somebody like Roddy Hays that would attest to the above?

If you choose to reply, thanks for sharing with the members of SFC.

Aloha,
lawaia

I bet he don't reply

Capt Rick