After 14 years of avid fly-fishing, John Torok decided he could design a better fishing reel. But he needed a good machinist to turn his designs into reality.

He knew he had found the right partner when he had to wait for him to return from a Montana fly-fishing trip.

Torok, a Ramona resident, and partner Danny Ashcraft of Vista are now ready for a September launch of their premium fly-fishing reels at the Denver Fly-Fishing Retailer World Trade Expo 2005.

The duo formed Hatch Outdoors last year and have unveiled their line of reels on their Web site at www.hatchoutdoors.com. Customers can order a catalog online.

"We have a lot of interest from the industry, and we hope the 4,000 retailers at the show will be anxious to buy our reels," said Torok, president of Hatch Outdoors, which is based in Vista.

Torok described himself as "a fly-fishing fanatic" who loves both freshwater and saltwater fly-fishing.

"I've gone through a lot of reels, and I started tinkering to design the perfect reel," Torok said.

A chance meeting with a friend who designs golf clubs led Torok to Ashcraft at a time when Torok was considering a career change.

"I thought I could build a better mousetrap, but I just needed a good machinist," he said.

Torok and Ashcraft now have a line of four reel designs in 5-6 and 7-8 weights that they will release at the show. By the end of the year, they plan to have 3-4 and 9-11 weights also available. Reels will retail for $385 to $700.

"We also plan to release a collector's edition every year at the annual show," Torok said.

The partners selected the company name of Hatch Outdoors because the hatch is the essence of fly-fishing.

"We were quite surprised when the patent attorney told us the name was available," Torok said.

The Hatch Outdoors reels are a new design from "the ground up," said Torok. He began with a new clutch design and then eliminated corrosion points by a one-piece machining process.

"We took no shortcuts, and these reels don't look like any others out there," said Torok.

Hodges fishing

Bass anglers are already beginning to see the improvements to fishing at Lake Hodges, now that it has water.

The lake was just a puddle before this winter's rains dumped enough water to spill over the dam and provide outstanding habitat for the bass spawn.

Bass hunters say things have improved at the lake, and they predict even better fishing in the next two years as improving lake structure accelerates bass production.

John Curry of Anaheim got a hint this week of what things will be like in coming seasons with a catch of 12 to 15 bass, the largest weighing in at 4 pounds, 2 ounces. Curry said he used Senko Soft Jerkbait in 20 feet of water.

Lake Hodges is open on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from sunrise to sunset through October.

Surf fishing

The hot croaker bite of the past few weeks seems to have cooled somewhat, but decent fishing for spotfin croaker has been reported at and near Oceanside's Buccaneer Beach, according to Hugh Cobb at Pacific Coast Bait & Tackle in Oceanside.

Cobb said that most anglers believe the "red tide" at local beaches is affecting fishing, but many fish are still being taken.

The 7-pound, 4-ounce spotfin taken early in June by Brian Dorman of Fallbrook was big enough to win the $100 first prize in Pacific Coast Bait & Tackle's croaker derby. Canuto Padilla of Vista took second and Dorman's son Mike was third.

Corbina catches have been reported from time to time for several weeks, but a sustained bite has not materialized.

Ernie Cowan is the outdoors writer for the North County Times. If you have an outdoor story of interest, contact him at (760) 518-8050 or ernie@packtrain.com.