Lane Kilian isn’t just a fisherman—he’s a storyteller, a videographer, and a full-time chaser of the next bite. From his early days fishing local ponds in Orange County to chasing Marlin off the Baja coast, Lane’s life revolves around the water, the mystery of what’s lurking below, and capturing every moment of the adventure. We caught up with him to talk fishing, filming, and the wild moments that keep him coming back.

 

The Word with Lane Kilian

 

How’s it going Lane? Where are you today?

Good man. I'm just at home in Fullerton, just chilling. I got some editing to do for the rest of the day. Other than that, I'm just hanging out.

The first thing we wanted to ask you is a little bit about your upbringing. How did you get into fishing?

So my dad would take me fishing when I was really young. He loved going up to the Eastern Sierra and catching the natural trout, so he would take me and do that. Eventually as I got older, my grandparents would babysit me in the summer and they would take me to the local ponds, and I would catch Bluegill. Most people would kind of migrate to the sport boats, and then, you know, it's just evolved into basically total-life consumption of fishing.

Growing up in Orange County, where would your family take you fishing?

We lived in Placentia for most of my life. So we were fishing places like Irvine Regional Park, Laguna Lake, Fullerton, and anytime I could get down to the beach, I was doing a lot of surf fishing. But yeah, the Orange County area is where it all started.

 

Speaking of sport boats, we saw you recently went down to Cedros Island in Central Baja with a crew. How was that trip?

It was absolutely unforgettable. I purposely went into that trip not having any expectations and it blew my mind. I caught a yellow tail on my first cast, so that instantly paid for the trip, I was just mentally going, WOW. I had brand new line on my reel and my line was dry so when I made that first cast (I purposefully did a short cast), I wanted to make sure to get my line wet, you know, to take everything step by step. Sure enough, on like the third or fourth crank I was bit.

What lure did you throw on your first cast?

It was a Kicker 25 light surface iron in the squid vicious color.

 

You mentioned that your dad would take you up to the to the creeks and the streams in the Eastern Sierra when you were a kid, which is clearly different from ocean fishing. What's your favorite type of fishing, and why?

My favorite type of fishing is Island fishing. I say that because I love catching calico bass. I love searching for giant bass, but I also love the bycatch. Sometimes you get a yellowtail to eat the swim bait or you drop it to the bottom. We've been catching a lot of sheep head lately on artificial lures, I just love the mystery. So I'd say Island fishing, because of the adventure and the mystery that comes with it.

 

Clearly, you're a West Coast guy. What drives you towards that West Coast style of fishing?

I really like the seasons we get on the West Coast. I think it's cool that during the summer we get bluefin, and this last summer me and one of my good friends went Marlin fishing. We actually were able to catch some Marlin. Then in the winter time, you know, we have a few months of the rock fish until that season closes. I'm sure there's options and seasons on the East Coast and in the Gulf, I'm just not as familiar. It's the wide variety of species you can target throughout the year here is just amazing.

 

Was that your first Marlin you landed?

Yeah! First ever, first time targeting them and first time catching them.

How big was it?

The day was actually kind of surreal because I went out there having no expectations. We landed three. We had opportunities at nine. We had nine different fish in the spread that we could see. I think we got six bites, and then we landed three. The biggest was around 160 LBS or something like that. It was insane. My buddy Drew that I went with caught the biggest one, and it was on a drop mackerel. I was driving the boat, and he grabbed that live mackerel and flipped it off the back. Sure enough, the thing just smoked it, and he was in for a ride on that one, for sure.

Catch and release?

Yeah, released for sure. I was tempted to keep one, but once you get that fish to the boat and grab the bill and you're holding on to it, and you're touching it and looking at it, and just like all I could think about was dude that is such a beautiful creature, you know? And we released all of them.

If you were going to go island fishing tomorrow, who would you call and where are you going?

I'm calling Randy and Sky from Kicker fishing. I'm calling some of the boys and we're going to the west end of San Clemente Island for sure.

 

You mentioned Calico fishing really excites you. We've talked to Randy about this before: it's not the biggest fish in the world, but there's this really unique experience with Calico fishing. What's your personal best Calico?

My biggest Calico is nine and a half pounds, and that was at night fishing the Long Beach break wall. That night I went with my dad, we had both worked that day, and we were exhausted, but we rallied and were like, we're going fishing. So you get a second wind, we get our energy drinks, and we go out there. At the time, my personal best was seven and three quarters or eight pounds, and I caught an eight and a half pounder that night. I was like, wow, no way. You know, I just beat my PB, then an hour later, I think it was around 10:45pm and this was in December, the same night I caught that nine and a half. In our little pin boat we had an aluminum 18-foot Bay runner, and no trolling motor. We were just in the right place, right time, I guess.

Did it feel that big when it hit or when you were fighting it? Was it pretty surprising when you saw it?

During that time we had a stretch to where I would go once or twice a week at night and fish the break wall. And every single night we would catch one that was over seven or seven on the dot. I think this was like the fourth or fifth night in a row and, yeah dude, I remember hooking it. Both of those fish bit super shallow, like anywhere from three to five feet of water, right in the rocks. And I don't know, like for me, when fish get that size, they just feel different. You know, if you hook a four or five pounder, they fight pretty hard. But when they get bigger, the bend in the rod is different, like the way they shake their head and use their body and their tail, it just feels different. And yeah, I would say both of them. I knew they're large.

 

Do you fish any tournaments at all? Fresh water or salt water?

Yeah, I used to fish the spotty bowl tournaments a couple years ago. Those are just spotty Bay bass tournaments. This year and last year, we fished SBS.

 

Any tournaments this year you're signed up for?

So the first round of SBS was in January, and we did that. Randy from Kicker and I are teammates this year. We did that one, and the next round is in February. I think the championships are in June, if we make it that far.

 

It seems like you've gotten really into kayak fishing & filming. What got you excited to film that kind of POV of your expeditions?

It's honestly a mixture of a lot of things. When I was young, I would always watch, you know, Radio Silence, Justin Reynolds. I was watching the old Evan solid videos, the Western Water stuff, and Aftco's videos. I really liked seeing the stories. I had a bunch of friends who would surf or go bodyboarding, and they would always film and I always enjoyed watching it back, because with fishing you remember a lot of things, but when you watch it back there's little bits and pieces of moments that you don't remember. I like having the memories captured. It’s also rewarding to create something that you're kind of proud of, that you can watch back and get people stoked. I also love to teach people how to fish and showing them what's possible, because I get a lot of comments asking questions. People say: “I didn't even know that was real, or I didn't know you could catch that kind of fish with that lure.” Yeah you know, it's a mixture of a lot of things.

Tell us a little fish campfire story. Any funny or scary moments out there? 

Actually yeah, I got one. I have a few, but off the top of my head, the first thing that comes to mind is from when I was offshore fishing in 2021, and we were off the east end of Catalina patty hopping. We were looking for whatever was there. There were some fish in the area at the time. But anyway, we pulled up to this one kelp, and I saw an Ore fish on the surface kelp. It was just kind of cruising. It had its little head on the surface. I ended up asking a bunch of people if they'd ever seen something like that before, and I haven't met anybody who's seen it. Those are the doomsday fish, the ones that wash up on the shore in Catalina, and they're 14 feet long. It was only, I don't know, maybe four feet long. But it was pretty epic. The ocean can always show you something new. No matter how many times you go, I feel like there's always something new to see.

What’s your favorite pair of Electric shades to fish in?

Road Glaciers. I love Road Glacier. I like the side cup reflectors. I like how they're not solid, and how they have holes in them, because I don't feel like I'm wearing goggles and I'm not only looking forward. I need peripheral vision, and having the little holes in them, you actually can see. For people who haven't tried them, or people who haven't worn them, you can get some form of peripheral vision through the holes in the side and they fit my look. They fit my head shape. But, yeah, those are my favorite shades.

 

Anything else going on?

Yeah, we got a lot of stuff happening. It's busy right now for us, our busiest time. We have new baits coming out with Kicker. We have a couple insane collaborations coming out. They're super exciting. Obviously PCS is right around the corner, so I’ll be there for that every single day, all day long. I'm super excited for that. That's one of my favorite times of year. I like connecting with everybody.