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The story of my Maria La Segunda swimming plug ...from Sardinia to Florida... Hi, sit down and grab a beer. A bit more than 10 years ago, long before I started fishing the surf, I found a lure on a northern rocky beach in Sardinia, Italy. I did not recognize this minnow style lure and the finish was a bit beat up from being washed up in the waves, rocks and sitting in the sun for a while. But on it's back I could still read La Segunda (S). Did not know if it was an italian, spanish or japanese lure. That was in 2009. I did not do any saltwater fishing at the time so I stuck it in my bag thinking I could put new hooks on it and use it for pike or musky over here in Canada. Fastforward to 2014, I was visiting my girlfriend's parents at their condo in Florida. During my stay I fished the beach with a 7' rod and got some sort of revelation that I really like fishing the surf even if I had no clue what I was doing for the most part. I fished at least 10 hours per day. The year after i tried an offshore charter, did not enjoy it. In 2016, I was prepared with a Penn Fierce II 6k matched up to a 11'6'' Rapala Magnum Baja travel surf rod but with very few lures, as it was very difficult for me to buy saltwater lures here and I did not know what to look for really. But I had my beached La Segunda lure with new trebles and was ready to conquer the surf. I casted it in the waves the best I could but could not get any distance, it seemed like I was aiming at the sky. I was dragging bottom, did not know how to read the beach... So anyway, during that stay, I had a chance to go offshore with a guy who had a 25' boat. On a clam day we headed out offshore for a good 15 miles an then just started trolling because we thought it could be a could area to fish (!). So I rigged up my 11'6'' surf rod with my La Segunda minnow and started trolling with 3 other cheap rods with cheap lures. My rod was the only one that had a chance to put a fish in the boat. It took 10-15 minutes for me to be startled by the line peeling off my reel and the drag screaming. I threw my sandwich in the bottom of the boat and grabbed my long inconvenient surf rod. It felt like I had no chance of bringing it in. It was my first proper fish on proper equipment and still felt like I had no idea what to do. I took us 35-45 minutes to get that fish in... At first I called it a barracuda, then a tuna, but I quickly recognize it from the fish chart. It was a 48'' King Mackerel. It had hit my recovered beached lure and that put a smile on my face. That summer, back in Quebec, I casted this lure in a pike infested lake and broke the bill from hitting the side of the boat... that was a sad moment. I shaved away the rest of the bill and turned it into a stick bait (see picture below). But I was not satisfied. I quickly check up the internet trying to find where I could buy a replacement for this Maria La Segunda 140mm sinking. The only place I found some was eBay and they were used, the lure is discontinued. I think Maria, the japanese lure company still exists. I first ordered two of the 115mm floating version because it had the same sardine pattern than the one I found. Then I ordered two more of the 140mm sinking version in a red head and bronze colors. It also exists in a 90mm version. You can still find these lures on this same site today. To me it looks like this lure is the predecessor of the Yo Zuri Mag Minnow, i resembles it very much. The Yo Zuri is more hi-tech for sure. And this lure has a weight transfer system so it does cast very well now that I know how to cast properly. So, you know this lure?