Here are some thoughts from Tony Paino, who makes AA's plastic baits in Temecula and also handles the Optimum Baits line. Tony loves to fish plastic baits "on the slide," that premium production period when a boat slides to a stop after an albacore hookup or a successful chum circle.

Tony fishes his Dancin' Cat and the conventional paddle tails called swimbaits.

(Tony's Optimum Baits, like these, will also catch albacore on the slide, as Bill Roecker can testify.)

"You're throwing into the surge and the white water," says Tony. "What's important is that you match the hatch, by matching the size of the chum being thrown. Color is far less important, especially when it's gray or near dawn or dusk.

"Using bright colors for bright days and dark colors for dark ones is a good idea, and markings can make a difference, but the big factor on these early season albacore is size."