captain fred archer's

58 Pages·2008·4.55 MB·English

by  Fred Archer

CAPTAIN FRED ARCHER’S
2008 S B
UPER AR CATALOG

FEATURING OVER 400 SPECIALTY SPREADERBARS,
WE OFFER BY FAR THE WORLD’S BIGGEST SELECTION.

(Limited edition print available)

HOME OF THE MOST INNOVATIVE BAR LURES ON EARTH!
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S B
UPER ARS

FAR SUPERIOR TO ORDINARY METAL BARS
Talk is cheap. Here are some of the reasons why our composite bars are better than metal bars...

SuperBars are so flexible that you can actually tie them in a knot and then return them to their original “fishing
position”. They impart lifelike action to our bars that can’t be remotely approached by old fashioned metal ones. Add
this wonderful flexibility to the fact that they will not kink or break during normal fishing conditions and handling and you
already have a vastly superior spreaderbar. We guarantee that the bar will not break when fished with and will replace
any broken bar for free. In over twelve years of selling SUPERBARS we have never even seen a broken bar, let alone
replaced one. SUPERBARS not only don’t kink, corrode, or rust, they are incredibly tangle-free. When it comes to not
tangling, no metal spreaderbar made by anyone, anywhere can remotely compare to a SUPERBAR.

Unlike ordinary spreaderbars, SuperBars have almost no metal components to jam, rust, corrode, break, tangle or weigh
our bars down and impede their performance. Due to their streamlined shape and lack of junky, clunky metal
rigging components, they are incredibly weedless when compared to metal bars!

Our bar stays out of the water because its light weight and the diameter of our bar cause it to act like an airfoil, or wing
when trolled. Metal bars are too thin, yet heavy, to create an airfoil effect, so they dig in and run bad.
RIGGED TO STAND UP TO HUGE FISH
Our unique composite centerpiece is produced for us out of a proprietary material on our tooling. Look closely and
you will see that other than passing alongside it, the leader has nothing to do with and does not stress or affect the bar
at all.
(cid:190) WILL NOT KINK, CORRODE OR RUST
(cid:190) WILL NOT BREAK WHILE FISHING – GUARANTEED
(cid:190) TROLLS ANYWHERE; FLAT LINES, SHORT OR LONG RIGGERS
(cid:190) TROLLS GREAT AT VERY SLOW SPEEDS TO OVER 10 KNOTS
(cid:190) DOES NOT TUMBLE, PLOW OR TANGLE
(cid:190) IS BIG FISH RIGGED, WITH HEAVY MAIN LEADERS
(cid:190) TINY MODELS CAN BE FISHED WITH VERY LIGHT LINE, ALL THE WAY UP TO 80#
(cid:190) WILL NOT DAMAGE BOAT FINISHES OR FISHERMEN

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NEW BARS FOR ‘08

ALL PRO TIP!
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UPER RYBARS!
LITTLE BARS FOR BIG FISH
Gamefish of all kinds, but especially all members of the tuna family and dolphin/dorado spend a great deal of time feeding
on small-to-tiny bait – far more than most fishermen realize because they are trolling lures that are too big. The reason
big fish crave little bait is simple and natural and is in fact, the same one that explains why the biggest of the whales eat
nothing but - small fin and other forms of tiny bait have a much higher protein-to-body weight ratio than larger fin bait.
The latter have much higher fat-to-body weight ratios and fat is not a desirable building or energy block for fish. So,
when the fish have a choice, they instinctively choose the small, protein-rich fodder over the bigger stuff, which in most
cases is also feeding on the tiny bait too, and for the same reason. Troll lures that are too big during these common times
and you are not going to catch any fish, or catch just a few. YOU MUST MATCH THE HATCH IF YOU WANT TO
CATCH FISH! BURN THIS FACT INTO YOUR MEMORY AND APPLY IT TO EVERY FISHING TRIP AND
YOU WILL CATCH A HELLUVA LOT MORE FISH!!

THIS TINY SIZE THING CREATES A HUGE PROBLEM FOR THE AVERAGE FISHERMAN
Plain and simple, that problem is matching the many tiny hatches with lures. Most fishermen don’t even carry single
lures small enough to interest fish zeroed in on tiny bait in the first place. And in fact, it is almost impossible for gamefish
to even spot single tiny lures in the typical trolling spread, so even if anglers troll some tiny, single baits, the odds are that
no fish will see and hit them. Gamefish don’t look for individual little baits, they look for schools or pods of them!
NEW! THE ANSWER TO “THE LITTLE BAIT BLUES”, SUPER FRYBARS

This is the deluxe MEATBALL SUPER FRYBAR teaser pattern. The center leader on this bar and all other FryBars is 150# test
because at times, BIG FISH hit it. The color selection is on the right..

Actual size Fry Squid

Hopefully, you can imagine how terrific this little bar looks when trolled and how it represents a highly visible pod of
FIFTEEN tiny baits as opposed to just one to attract and catch fish. And that is exactly what happens, over and over again
for sharp trollers who are ready with the only lures that will catch piles of fish on those many tiny bait days. Ready to
fish all the way up to 80# gear, these little bars are also absolutely perfect for light tackle fans who want the power of
spreaderbars in their corner. FRYBARS are also priceless when it comes to making bait such as mackerel, skipjacks,
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Spaniards, sierra and small tunas. Squash down the hook barbs and use small chasebaits when making bait with FRYBARS.
Fish them on heavy gear and horse that bait in. Wire leader on chasebaits for Spanish Macs and Sierra’s.

10” WIDE MEATBALL FRYBAR – 15 SQUIDS 9” WIDE LITTLE FRYBAR – 8 SQUIDS
THE BIRTH OF OUR NEW SPORTBOAT AND PANGA/SKIFF BARS
The SPORTBOAT AND THE PANGA/SKIFF BARS were developed by an actual California sportboat captain. As a charterboat captain
who has fished SuperBars for thirteen years now, he knew how effective they are and trolls nothing but bars when he is
charter fishing for school species. California sportboats after tuna, dorado and wahoo troll four or five anglers across the
stern until they get hooked up and then they chum them up with live bait. We knew that the bars would be superior to
single lures on sportboats too, but as a sportboat captain himself (Californian for what others call partyboats) our guy
knew that the crews and customers would refuse to use any kind of spreaderbar because of their universal reputation for
tangling and the fact that, even though he knew that ours did not tangle, like all spreaderbars, they LOOK like they will.
And so we took everything that skipper knew about sportboat fishing and bars and came up with the perfect SuperBar for
it – the SPORTBOAT BAR.

The overall leader length not only produces a great running bar, it is just the right length for hooking the chasebait hook
into a harness lug with the leader and squids hugging the bar, so they are out of the way when the rod is racked up. The
upper leader is short for easy handling, deployment and gaffing. This special little bar runs great medium, short and long
and at speeds from six to over ten knots (wire leader on chasebaits in wahoo country...and wahoo LOVE spreaderbars, by-
the-way). Built way sportboat tough, you can fish the SPORTBOAT BAR on the lightest gear, right on up to 80# in complete
confidence.
DOUBLE DUTY TOO!
Meaning that even though we call this a “SPORTBOAT BAR “, it makes a great small boat bar. We also make a smaller, 6” wide
version, our PANGA/SKIFF BAR that is just as effective on little boats and dynamite for traveling fishermen, especially those
who fish pangas. They are so small and compact you could fit a half dozen of them in your shaving kit! If you are Baja-
bound and you don’t take some PANGA/SKIFF BARS with you, you are forgetting that SuperBars were created and tested there
for literally thousands of days. Not having bars on a trip to the Baja would be one big mistake, Senior! And if you are
panga fishing and you don’t have them you are missing a HUGE bet! At least one top panga fleet, Fisherman’s Fleet in
La Paz already uses these new bars on all of their pangas. Fleet owner, David Jones calls them “incredible fish catchers,
both inshore and offshore! We tested them before putting them on the fleet boats and they blew our minds!” SuperBars
are also standard equipment in three top charterboat fleets, Checkmate, Tail Chaser, and Wild Dorado.
8” WIDE SPORTBOAT BAR 6” WIDE PANGA/SKIFF BAR
7, 2 ¾” SQUIDS, 6” CHASEBAIT 7, 2 ¾” SQUIDS, 6” CHASEBAIT

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The MAGNUM SPORTBOAT BAR

Followed by an armed, 6” chasebait. This basic configuration is almost the same on the LITTLE, SPORTBOAT AND
PANGA/SKIFF BARS, except the Magnums have eleven squids for a bit bigger presentation. Any size chasebait can be used,
depending on what is being fished for. A killer wahoo and sierra bar, its chasebait must be on wire.

You’ll find UpRiggers and SuperBars on some top Baja panga fleets, like Fisherman’s out of La Paz. Many a blown out
offshore trip has been happily replaced by a day of inshore bar fishing for roosters, wahoo, sierra, skipjack, pargo,
cabrillo, toro, yellowtail, amberjack, grouper and more. Trolled bars consistently fish circles around bait inshore!
OTHER LITTLE BARS
All three of the configurations shown above can be ordered with two bigger sized teaser squids – 3 ½” or 4 ¼”

This is the actual size of the 3 ½” squids found on ITTYBITTY Bars.

And this is the actual size of the 4 ¼” squids found on LITTLEBARS. See price sheet for colors and cost.

This lure is 50% of its real size. The “bill” is put on with a Magic Marker to look like a ballyhoo

Rig either one of those little squids up there a couple of feet in front of a bigger lure that represents a small predator on a
bar or lure, just about to catch and eat it and you’ll trigger instinctive, competitive responses from fish that ignore single
lures that represent a meal that they just aren’t interested in because they aren’t hungry. The Pro Squid above is a mighty
good ballyhoo copy that some of our customers have had great success. It not only looks like a ‘hoo, it feels like one.
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Here is our new SPORTBOAT BAR with six different chasebaits that make it six different lures. How’s that for versatility?
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BY POPULAR DEMAND, INTRODUCING REEN EMONS,
OUR VERSION OF THE GREEN MACHINE
Many of our customers who have fallen in love with our XT-11 composite SuperBars have repeatedly asked us to make
the above. Well, here are our versions, THE BIG GREENDEMONS and THE LITTLE GREENDEMONS.

Twelve and nine inch DEMONS.
Invented and manufactured by Sevenstrand Company in California and called “The Green Machine”, this type of
wonderful fish catcher is only popular on the east coast of the U.S. It isn’t just popular in the east, it is immensely so.
Some sharp west coasters and fishermen from other areas are beginning to discover how deadly they truly are (a major
Mexican tuna tournament has been won twice bait and switch fishing with Little GREENDEMON bars, but of course, no
one admits it). The twelve inch bar is the most popular back east and there are those who will tell you that size is all you
need, but we absolutely don’t agree with that – there are many times when the 9 inch model will outfish the bigger one.
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EMONS ON UPER ARS VERSUS OLD FASHIONED METAL BARS – NO CONTEST!
“Machine-type” lures are very light and have very little water resistance due to their streamlined shape and lack of action.
This presents problems when they are rigged on ordinary metal bars that are heavy and more importantly, that cut through
the air, instead of creating an airfoil effect that causes the bar to “float” over the surface of the water, like SUPERBARS do.
Because of this, a metal “Green” bar can only be trolled from certain positions and at certain speeds in order to keep the
bar itself out of the water. Not so with a SUPERBAR!. Put simply, GREENDEMONS run great off light, flexible SUPERBARS and
you can fish them anywhere in the pattern and at a wide variety of speeds. You’ll love how they run and you’ll love our
prices, too!

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TOURNAMENT WINNING REEN EMON TOURNAMENT BARS
Because of heavy metal spreaderbars and their negative effect on the fight of gamefish, the IGFA has banned the use of
spreaderbars with the hooks attached. This was a great disappointment to us – not because it made fishing bars in
tournaments more difficult, but because it might encourage other competitors to learn how we always fish tournaments,
especially ones for the biggest tuna. What follows has been a deep, dark secret of ours and a handful of the
best tournament tuna fishermen on the planet for five years now. In that time, the biggest tuna tournament of them all has
been won twice using the method and not long ago the rules had to be changed for the tuna division of The Stars and
Stripes Tournament in Cabo (100% of the proceeds go to needy children in Mexico and California - over two million
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dollars raised for that cause over the last two years! This is a BIG one for a great cause!) after Captain Fred and his team
took all three places in the Tuna Division running on one engine for three quarters of the contest! The rules were
changed after this unprecedented sweep to allow for only one winner per boat, per division! This is the deadliest tuna
tournament trolling technique ever invented and it is murder on marlin, too!
ALL PRO TIP!

(cid:190) ONLY ONE TUNA, THE BIGGEST, MEANS ANYTHING IN A TUNA TOURNAMENT
(cid:190) CATCHING ANY OTHER TUNA IS A TERRIBLE WASTE OF TIME – A LOSER’S GAME!
(cid:190) FISH WITH “ARMED” LURES AND YOU ARE GOING TO GET HOOKED UP WITH WORTHLESS TUNA, OVER AND OVER AGAIN
AND ARE GOING TO WASTE TIME FIGHTING AND LANDING THEM. THIS IS NOT ONLY A LOSER’S GAME, IT IS A FOOL’S GAME
WHEN IT COMES TO TOURNAMENT FISHING!
(cid:190) TROLL A CERTAIN NUMBER OF HOOKLESS GREENDEMON TOURNAMENT BARS THE RIGHT WAY AND IN THE RIGHT
POSITIONS AND YOU WILL NOT HOOK UP AND WASTE TIME ON “REGULAR” TUNA – NOT A ONE! ZERO WASTED TIME! DITTO
FOR MARLIN, SAILS, DORADO, OR WHATEVER.
(cid:190) DONE RIGHT, YOU WILL SEE AND WITHIN SECONDS HOOK ANY AND ALL BIG TUNA THAT SHOW IN YOUR PATTERN WITH
NO MORE THAN A FLICK OF THE WRIST.

SORRY...ONLY FOR GREEN DEMON TOURNAMENT BAR CUSTOMERS!

TRUTH IS, THE MACHINE IS POPULAR BUT WAY OVER RATED...AND TOO MUCH MONEY, TO BOOT!

Captain Fred says, “Yes, we sell Green Machines, but only because they are popular and people want us to carry them,
but I think that hollow squids are great alternatives to Green Machines. I vastly prefer a green, hollow squid to Green
Machines for chasebaits on spreaderbars or as single lures with birds in front of them. The squids are hard heads, like
the machines, the hollow squids are soft, like the real thing so the fish hold onto them longer and will actually eat them.
They even collapse in gamefish mouths like real baits do, leaving just the hook in there for great hookups, they look a lot
more like a real squid or even (blue and white) ballyhoo, they come in many more and far better colors and sizes, can be
as heavy or light as you want them to be, are a snap to rig, and cost a helluva lost less than the Machines. Green
Machines may be popular and all, but that’s tradition, not performance speaking. No machines for me – squid only!

TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT SQUIDS LOOK LIKE ON ONE OF OUR DAISYBARS

Looks good, doesn’t it? Pick your chasebait size and you can buy three or four of these for the price of one, skinny,
poorer performing and vastly more expensive Green Machine daisy chain with a few teasers on it. It’s a no brainer!

CEDAR PLUG COLORED SQUIDS

Another thing that we asked our squid supplier to make for us was cedar plug colored squids. We just had to have a squid
that was the same color as those wonderful cedar plugs that we have all used for years. And they made us a great one, but
no wonder – they are the original and biggest manufacturers of cedar plugs! The natural “squid look” of the cedar plug is
common knowledge. Can you imagine what whole packs of them on spreaderbars do to the fish?

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WHAT ABOUT THE ACTION?

Good question! The squid-like color of a wet cedar plug is without a doubt part of the attraction of cedar plugs. But it is
true, or at least we think that it is, that the action of the cedar plug is a also a big part of why it is so effective. The squids
on a spreaderbar have that great color down pat, but they don’t have the same action as a straight cedar plug. However,
bars have proven over and over again that the way that hollow squids swim on a them is mighty attractive to gamefish, so
we consider the shift from the action of a single cedar plug to that put out by a SuperBar to be an even trade-off. And hey,
if you believe that the action of a real cedar plug is important, just rig one up as a chasebait, or have us do it for you!
And the effect of packs of cedar plugs in a pattern???? Don’t even go there!!!

Just as you might imagine, whole schools of cedar plug imitators with either a different colored “straggler”, or a bigger
chasebait (for marlin, big tunas and wahoo) that mimics a small gamefish or even a real cedar plug chasing the cedar
plug teasers raise fish like no single cedar plug or even daisy chain of them ever could. As usual, wire for wahoos.

This bar is a great producer when the smaller squid that are so common around the world are present and the fish are
locked onto them. Some might think that tuna are the main fans of cedar plug SuperBars and they do love them dearly,
but everything eats squid and you are likely to have anything, right on up to marlin and sails eat them, so rig your tackle
accordingly. If there are marlin about, change the chasebait to a bigger squid and add another one to two feet to the
chasebait leader. 9 or 12 inch “chasers” are great for whites & striped marlin and the 15 and 20” are blue slayers!

ALL PRO TIP FOR BILLFISHERMEN!

WHAT TO DO WHEN A MARLIN OR SAILFISH COMES UP ON A BAR

Top Cabo charter captain and longtime bar user Captain TJ Dobson of Gata Gordo gives this advice when a marlin or sail
pops up behind a bar, “Turn your back and keep driving. In Cabo it is the sails that are the hardest to hook up on a
dropback bait, but if you leave them alone they will peck away at a bar until they get hooked. Same thing with striped
marlin. Have faith...once they get after a bar they don’t quit until they get it!.”

Captain Fred says, “TJ is absolutely right. Spreaderbars are terrific billfish catchers, the best by far as far as I’m
concerned. They outperformed marlin lures so much on my charterboat that I quit trolling the lures altogether and
trolled six bars and two ballyhoo or ballyhoo colored squids only. We caught literally thousands of blue, black, striped,
marlin and sailfish on bars. I not only learned what great lures they are, I discovered what TJ said, that the best thing to
do when a marlin or sail comes up on a bar is...NOTHING! There is nothing about a bar or it’s chasebait to spook a
fish that bills it – it’s soft and feels real, so the fish stays after it until he catches it, he crushes the bait’s head to kill it, it
“squishes”, just like the real deal so he won’t try to spit it, like a hard or even a softhead lure, and there’s nothing left in
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that billfish’s mouth but a very sharp hook...Let the boat set the hook and go ahead and catch the fish. And the best part
is you will not lose him unless you bust him off or drive over him!

DID YOU BILLFISH HOUNDS READ THAT?!

We’re talking near-100% hookup AND landing ratios on hollow squid spreaderbars, folks! That is not only utterly
impossible with marlin lures, it even beats natural baits! I hope you bill fishermen are listening! And for cryin’ out
loud, DON’T put a marlin lure on a bar as a chasebait – why in the world would you EVER want to go from a near
100% hookup/landing ratio back down to the far, far lower ratios produced by marlin lures?! Run them squids and wait
for “the squish” – you’re gonna LOVE the results! You’ll find all of the information on this in Fred’s new marlin book.

ALL PRO TIP!
PUT YOUR BARS WHERE THEY WILL CATCH THE MOST FISH!

They say that one picture is worth a thousand words. If that were so, no explanation would be needed with the one that
follows, but what this scene, shot from a purse seiner’s spotter plane shows is too important not to include some
commentary with because we don’t want anyone to miss the extremely important point that it makes. (We know the size
and quantity of these tuna because not long after this shot was taken the seiner arrived and wrapped the whole school, the
sad side of this great shot.)

See where it’s happening? Put your lures where the action is! Here is the original photo

ARE YOU SURE THAT YOU WANT TO KEEP FISHING THAT STINGER OR WHISKEY LINE?? NOT US!

You catch fish on your stinger, right? So why ask this seemingly silly question? The photo clearly shows “where the
action is” when a school of feeders comes in and attacks a meatball of bait. In this case the stinger lure would be way
back there with the stragglers – fish that obviously aren’t feeding in the first place, so why put a bar or lure back there?
Second, if you do get hooked up that fish is much further away from the boat and you are giving it a running start that
none of the other fish that you have hooked up in “The Action Zone” get. And would that stinger lure get bit if it was in
among the others, where the real action is happening? You’re kidding, of course! The chances are, though, that none of
the fish lagging behind the school are feeders and that long lure isn’t going to get bit many times on this sort of stop.

YEAH, BUT WHAT ABOUT THOSE TIMES THE STINGER DOES GET BIT?

Here’s what...YOU HAVE ALMOST CERTAINLY MISSED GETTING A MULTIPLE HOOKUP, THAT’S
WHAT! Remember that tuna (and most other gamefish) travel in schools. If the fish are the right kind and in a feeding
mood, or if you are trolling the right kind of lure back there to turn non-feeders on, the very first fish to strike is going to
be one of the school leaders at the front. WHEN YOU HOOK THAT FISH, IT BEATS FEET, TAKES OFF AND THE
REST OF THE SCHOOL DOES WHAT COMES NATURALLY AND FOLLOWS IT...AWAY, NOT UP TO
YOUR FULL SPREAD! If you are typical (like we were), you happily fight and land or lose one fish out of the seven or
eight that you don’t realize that you probably would have caught if you hadn’t been trolling that single lure way back
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there in the back forty! Sorry to all of you stinger fans out there, but this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and if it
happens on an otherwise slow day it can and probably will mean a one fish day versus six, seven, or eight or even more.

HOW CAPTAIN FRED DISCOVERED THIS

“I used to love fishing a stinger and still do on occasion, but I never fish it way back where I used to – except for a special
situation that I will explain in a bit - because of what was discussed above. One of the advantages of a tuna tower and one
of many reasons why I wouldn’t have a boat without one is the incredible view one gets from it. You can watch the lures
work and if you are really watching, see just about every fish or school of them that comes to your spread and see for
yourself exactly how they react and hit. It was as common as daylight on my boat to hear me or one of the crew up in the
tower bellow out, “Coming! Coming!”, followed by, “Tunas!”, “Big Tunas!”, “Dorado!”, “Marlin!”, “vela (Sail)!”, or
“Wah(by the time we got the “hoo!” part out there was usually a reel or reels screaming. God I love those things!)

It used to drive most of our customers nuts when whoever was watching the pattern started that, “Coming! Coming!”
stuff, especially when we had spotted fish way back there coming up the wake, which is where most tuna and marlin come
from – behind or behind and below, with the main exception being dorado and wahoo, which can come in from anywhere.
Sometimes it took the fish pretty long to get up and into the pattern and by then the two of us up in the tower would be
yelling things like, “Oh yes, here they come! Tunas! Oh man, grandes!”, or “look at ‘em all!” “Get ready! Coming,
coming, coming...Pow! Rrright riggah! Pow! Left riggah! Pow, pow, pow, pow! There go the flats! Hooka, hooka,
hooka!” (If you don’t freak out when you get covered by a school of tuna that you have watched come in from way back
there, don’t fish with us! Hell, I’m shaking just writing this!)

TOWER TEACHINGS

It was during my early days down in Cabo, where I fished almost every day, year-round and where yellowfin tuna are a
year-round target that I saw what happened and happened a lot when we trolled a long stinger bar or lure. The first time
should have been all that it should have taken, but we kept dragging the long bait for a few more days, I guess because we
didn’t want to believe what we saw wasn’t a fluke before ditching the stinger we’d used and caught fish off of forever.

That first time was when we had a big school of big tunas coming in on top, hell-bent up the wake. It was tide change
time and the fish were racing each toward us and our lures when the lead fish attacked the stinger lure, got hooked up and
we watched it take off to the right, with the rest of the school speeding off with him! I didn’t make the logical connection
on that one, but what happened was so clear and easy to see that it stuck in my mind like a jagged piece of glass.

Hoping that what happened with those tuna wasn’t a common thing, I quit driving for the next few days and just stood up
in the tower, looking at the long lure and behind it. And damned if it didn’t happen again! And again! When the stinger
shortstopped a pod of a dozen lit up striped marlin (they are school fish and multiples are common if you know what
you’re doing), I yanked it and we quit fishing with the damned thing. As it has been with a few other things that I had
done for years and thought were good, but it turned out weren’t, I got a sick thinking about all of the times that this had
happened in the past and on a slow day that one stinger fish had cost us the kind of multiple bites that we all fish for and
that as a charter captain, I counted on to catch four-to-six anglers a bunch of fish during a nine hour day.

Bear in mind that the fish only see the water – not the boat or sky above. My “sky lab”. A priceless classroom!

No one will ever convince me that stingers are worth a damn and that they don’t cost you a lot of fish, especially tunas
and smaller billfish; I have seen it with my own two eyes, over and over again. And what follows still convinces me that
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