Campo Las Encantadas 10/24/2016. Loooong w/pic. How else? - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

Mahigeer · 11-08-2016, 05:49 PM

Background info.

When I read an article in a book called Pier fishing in California, 2nd addition, written by my friend Ken Jones, I had to give it a try.

Apparently back in sixties there were so much barracuda around Los Angeles beaches that the tackle shops ran out of lures for barracuda.
An idea was born to use a “church key” can opener as lure. With the use of split ring/s a hook was installed and shape of the key
allowed for swimming action. The silver color was a plus as well.

Side note: Before the advent of pull tabs on beverage (especially beer) cans, a tool with a triangle shape sharp beak at one end was used to puncture a triangle opening in the can. The other side was for bottle cap opening.
The name church key was a reference to monks in Europe that had their beer stock locked in storage rooms and a key was required to get access to the beer.

1-The first fish that I caught with the lure.

2-Caught this needle fish while trolling.

John M was kind enough to take this picture when my camera battery was depleted. It turns out that not only he had heard of this lure, he actually had used it.

11-08-2016, 05:49 PM	#1
Mahigeer Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 1,871	Background info. When I read an article in a book called Pier fishing in California, 2nd addition, written by my friend Ken Jones, I had to give it a try. Apparently back in sixties there were so much barracuda around Los Angeles beaches that the tackle shops ran out of lures for barracuda. An idea was born to use a “church key” can opener as lure. With the use of split ring/s a hook was installed and shape of the key allowed for swimming action. The silver color was a plus as well. Side note: Before the advent of pull tabs on beverage (especially beer) cans, a tool with a triangle shape sharp beak at one end was used to puncture a triangle opening in the can. The other side was for bottle cap opening. The name church key was a reference to monks in Europe that had their beer stock locked in storage rooms and a key was required to get access to the beer. 1-The first fish that I caught with the lure. 2-Caught this needle fish while trolling. John M was kind enough to take this picture when my camera battery was depleted. It turns out that not only he had heard of this lure, he actually had used it.