Almost landed a nice omilu

I've been using the smaller MWs for a while and have had good success with them. Recently, I started casting the 3 oz. lures. The action on these lures are amazing and I have been consistently chased by big papios/uluas. Of all the lures I've tried, the MWs are by far the best when working lures at steep angles. Not to mention, Mark stands by his products and is a great guy to deal with.

A little while ago, I hooked up an omilu that I estimate to be a little over 10 lbs. on a black eye/black body/gold side 3 oz. MW. I fought the fish up to the rocks, but unfortunately, I lost it bringing it up. Below is a pic that my friend snapped with his phone during the fight. That omilu really bent the heck out of the rod!

Rig I was using: 8'6" Daiwa Saltiga Ulua Popper Rod heavy action rated for 60-80 lb. braid and 3.5-6 oz. lures
Shimano Stella 10000SW
65 lb Power Pro tied to 11 ft. 100 lb. Andes monofilament leader with FG knot
leader crimped to 1/0 swivel which is connected to the lure with a Owner split ring

Hi there,

Looks like you missed out on a very nice fish there.
Better luck next time.

How do you retrieve your lures?
Flat out fast? Rod tip high or low?

I personally retrieve as fast as I can, And the rod angle depends mostly of the time of the day.
In the dark, rod tip high to make as much splash as I can, and once the light is up, I lower the rod tip and try to keep the lure underwater.
But hey, its just me, and I am no expert, which is why I ask these questions, to try to learn...

Have a good day,
Pecheur

P.S: And yes you are right, MW is very pleasant to deal with.

Thanks for your tips. I'm going to try those out!

I'm no expert either, but I usually mix up the retrieve. For example, I retrieve quickly on the surface with the rod tip high and then slow it down, let the lure sink a bit with the tip low, jerk the rod, retrieve slow again, and then speed up. When targeting bigger fish like ulua, I like to keep the lure closer to the surface and the first thing I usually try regardless of my target, is a fast retrieve on the surface. That being said, a very slow sub-surface action produced hook ups from different types of species for me too. When I see a fish chasing usually I try to make the lure look a little more erratic and avoid letting the lure slow down.

theres always next time keep fishng man.