FISHING COMPANY ON RISE, TRIPLING BUSINESS AFTER ROCKY START.

Byline: Keith Lair Staff Writer

One-thousand-pound black marlin and five-pound bonefish are in Douglas Nilsen's sights. The problem is the San Gabriel native and St. Francis High of La Canada graduate no longer has the site.

Nilsen, father Jack and twin brother David recently moved their Accurate Fishing Products and Accurate Grinding and Machine Corp. shop from L.A. to Corona. They went from 12,000 square feet to 30,000.

``Now we can concentrate on big reels, and next year we'll have a spinning reel,'' Douglas said.

In a dozen years, the fishing end of the business, which is renowned for its high-quality two-speed reels, has taken off.

``At first, we were just doing OK,'' he said. ``In the last couple of years, it has just taken off.''

The company began by manufacturing reel-conversion kits and gaffs. It made about $12,000 in its first year. With the introduction of its Platinum and Boss Magnum TwinDrag reels, the company reports that sales have increased by more than 320 percent.

Nilsen, who now lives in Huntington Beach, said the old plant could barely hold inventory for a few months. It caused delays in getting gear to anglers and prevented the company from designing new equipment.

And, he said, the new place can refortify Accurate's place in the angling market.

``We feel we have high-end products and when you deal with high-end products, you can develop a clientele that will stick with you,'' Nilsen said.

It also means it isn't quite a West Coast operation any more, either.

``We have a lot of interest from Florida and fishing around the world,'' Nilsen said.

Accurate's other company, a precision machine shop, designs aerospace parts. It originally was formed to make jet engine turbines.

Nilsen, a designer, began applying the company's aerospace know-how to fishing; the family has traditionally taken annual vacation fishing trips.

``After seeing how enthusiastically the ocean-fishing public responded to these precision- built reel components and, being avid anglers ourselves, we decided the next logical step was to build entire reels and make them the most technologically advanced models ever produced,'' Nilsen said.

The company's breakthrough was in its TwinDrag reels, which offer drag on both sides of the spool. Nilsen compares the reel to a car's brakes in which only one side works. The car would then skid in one direction.

``While both reels will apply the same 20 pounds of drag to a running fish, the ATD reel will accomplish this by applying only half the amount of side pressure to each side of the spool,'' he said. ``The single-drag reel, however, applies all of its drag tension to a single side of the reel spool, promoting heat buildup and uneven, jerky drag performance.''