ONE of the most successful game fishing trolling lures now used in many parts of the world is Peter Pakula’s, Aussie made, Lumo Sprocket.
Even in the birth place of artificial teasers and lures, the Hawaiian Islands has seen the Lumo Sprocket put to the test on many of their charter boats and become very popular.
When you think about it, it’s a pretty amazing outcome that the Sprocket took off over there as it’s the only foreign lure that’s ever been sold in any of the Hawaiian tackle shops?
Usually, if it hasn’t been made in the USA mainland or by the locals in the Hawaiian Islands, it doesn’t get displayed, promoted or sold there.
Over the years I’ve been on a number of the charter boats out of Kona and seen these Sprockets getting used successfully on some awfully large blue marlin and big yellowfin tuna.
For many years now I have seen this great lure catch an amazing variety of game fish, including a variety of tuna, wahoo, barracuda and off course all three species of marlin, the black, blue and the stripey.
During my international travels chasing big blue marlin I’ve seen this lure pop up in some very unusual hot spots on the other side of the world.
One time I was surprise when I saw these lures been used on a couple of vessels in the Cape Verde Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off Africa.
There are some photos attached here from the Cape Verde Islands of a jumping 800-pound blue marlin showing Lumo Sprockets clearly visible hanging from their bodies.
One day in these distant islands I ventured out with the famous record breaking saltwater fly fisherman, Fouad Sahiaoui on his magnificent 50’ G&S Gladius and his crew were running a pattern of three hookless teaser lures.
One of them of coarse was a Lumo Sprocket and every time we raised a blue marlin the Sprocket was the one that got all the attention! It was like there was no other lure in the water?
Back home in Australian waters where the Lumo Sprocket was developed and produced many years ago, they have always been extremely popular and they have caught an awful lot of big game fish here too.
Even during the heavy tackle black marlin season off Cairns and Lizard Island this lure has turned out to be very productive as well.
It’s usually late in the heavy tackle season when the big blacks have moved away from the reef edge and out into the deep Coral Sea that the crews will switch over from using their natural baits to trolling lures to cover more ground.
When the first Lumo Sprockets were used on the Great Barrier Reef they immediately showed everyone just how good they were by attracting plenty of huge grander size black marlin as well as the odd large blue marlin.
The first grander black marlin taken on a Lumo Sprocket was way back in September 1997 when Captain Dean Beech running the Mauna Kea at the time boated a 1,185 – pounder.
Even though that fight was on heavy 130lb tackle it still took just over 2 hours to boat that big tough marlin! And that wasn’t the last big black for that particular season?
Also in 97, Captain Bobby Jones on the Ice Man was running a spread of lures one day late in the season and on the long left rigger the Lumo Sprocket was crashed by a grander black.
Jones always tags and releases all his marlin whether big or small and that one was estimated by all onboard and by my photos to be way over 1200-pounds.
The bite on lures that season wide of the reef edge was absolutely amazing and many of the large blacks hooked-up were on the Lumo Sprockets.
In early December that same year Jonesy released another grander plus animal and guess what was the lure was? Sure enough, it was a Lumo Sprocket on the long left rigger again!
Another Captain who liked to run Lumo Sprocket’s in the spread was the late Billy Bilson on the big Viking IV and quite often he would run two or even three of them in his spread at the same time.
In 97 Bilson caught two granders on the Lumo’s and the one he weighed that unfortunately came up in bad shape and died, went 1,133lbs on the mothership’s scales.
The other giant they hooked on the Viking and battled for over an hour was released in good condition and it was estimated to be way over the magic 1,000lb mark as well.
Also during that red-hot season in 97, Captain Dennis Brazaka Wallace was running the big Born Free vessel at the time and he got into the swing of things with the lures also while the bite was going off.
Brazaka released a grander amongst many other giants and the Lumo Sprocket was again the lure getting most of strikes from the big blacks.
In 2012, Captain Sharky Miles on the Kanahoee released an estimated 1.200-pounder on a Lumo Sprocket as well and the list of giants on this lure just kept going on and on?
Even during the past decade on the GBR this particular Pakula model lure with its unusual green coloured skirt is still the lure of choice with many of the charter boat fleet.
The same model Sprocket even took an estimated 900lb plus blue marlin for Captain Ross Finlayson one season on the vessel Top Shot.
Over the years we’ve also had a lot of success in NSW with the Lumo Sprocket as well on striped marlin and blacks. It also attracted the biggest blue marlin we ever released off Coffs Harbour that was estimated at around 800 to 850 – pounds.
There’s no doubt about it, this lure has been very successful for a very, very long time. It’s certainly worth having one in your spread every time you’re out trolling!
To find out more about Paula Lures, visit pakula.com.
