We have a slightly increased quota for 2009 as many of you already know.  NJ’s 2009 summer flounder regulations have been announced and the new season will open on May 23 and close on September 4, with a six fish bag limit and a minimum size of 18″.

I am actually surprised by this.  I guess someone thought reducing the bag limit by two and going with the longest season will keep NJ within the quota.  I personally don’t know how that will happen when most of the data reports that unless the bag limit is reduced to between two and four fish it will not make a significant difference.  I sure hope they know what they are doing otherwise the state with the most relaxed summer flounder regulations may not be that way in 2010.  See you out there opening day!

Ready for anti-fouling paint.  I scuffed up the drive, washed it down once with water and once with solvent.  I will give it another quick washing with solvent prior to painting.  I would have liked to have sprayed the first coat tonight but with the paint arriving via UPS I figured it best to let the can warm up slowly back to room temperature before using it.

Just a reminder that on February 1, 2009 121.5 and 243 MHz rescue becons will no longer be monitored.

With several years of paint build up and with some starting to peel last season from an inexperience painter overspraying the traonsom shield onto the bottom paint I decided to refinish the outdrive.  I picked up my drive from Tommy this weekend.  He did an awesome job on it.  The pictures don’t do it justice but the finish is much better than on my new truck.  It looks so good I hate to scuff it up to put the anit-fouling paint on it.  Hopefully the Trilux clear is truely clear and the job Tommy did will shine through it.  I will post before and after pics later in the week after I get the anti-fouling paint on it.

Got some more work done on the boat.  All that is left that is holding up going in the water is changing out the bellows and gimbal bearing and installing the drive.   Well that, and the huge mess that needs to be cleaned up from the soda blasting of another boat in the marina.

This blasting company had the audacity of blaming the mess on their customer.  They claim that a part on the machine broke and their customer said the job has to be done.  First off I don’t care who the customer is, if I am a business owner and it is between pissing off a customer and creating a health and environmental issue as well as causing damage to other boats in the thousands I think I would stop work and deal with the unhappy customer rather than keep going and have a dozen unhappy people.

Anyway, the blasting company did finally stop by yesterday and said they would clean and polish the boats and would get the stains out.  I don’t have that much faith in them after seeing the work they have already done.  This mess has also already delayed our going in the water by two weeks and now the blasting company claims they  have another job next week they can’t put off.  I think I am going to have to insist they have it done or I will have it done and give them the bill.  I refuse to be put out by people with sub-standard work ethics and will not own up to their screw ups.  It took them three weeks to acknowledge the fact that they caused this mess and to return my calls.  And that is a whole other issue, this should be the marina’s problem not mine.  They seem to want to sit on the sidelines and not get involved.

Enough of ranting, I did get the conduit for the inverter installed and the deck hatch back in place and sealed.  I also cleaned and painted the transducers, installed zincs on the trim tabs and touched up the paint around the transom assembly.  Hopefully after next weekend I can go in the water…we will see.

NEVER!  Although it was a very uneventful weekend boating and fishing wise for me, I did squeak a little time in for my favorite pastime.  I had a work project that ran most of the weekend and yesterday so I did not get a chance to go down to the marina but then again work is work in today’s economy.

I did run over to the Edison Boat Show for an hour or so with a few friends.  It seemed more crowded and it also seemed that there were more boats than the AC Show.  There were also a lot of sold signs on the boats, not sure if it was truthful or marketing ploys.

I hope to on Thursday after work run down and pickup my wheels and on the way back some anti-fouling paint for the outdrive and transom assembly.  Then this weekend I should be able to get my deck sealed up, the drive and transom assembly painted and the drive maintenance done.  Once the deck seal dries, she can be detailed and splashed…we should be on track for the first week of March if everything goes as planned.

Once considered the minority of the voting demographic slowly hunters, trappers, fishermen and outdoorsmen are becoming the majority in NJ.  Anthony Mauro and the NJ Outdoor Alliance has a big hand in this transformation.  This was evident back during the Senatorial election defeating Sen. Karcher and Assemblyman Panter.  On the NJOA’s web site you can get information on all the hot legislative topics affecting outdoorsmen and women, which politicians are with or against us, find out where the NJOA will be next and purchase merchandise or donate to the NJOA to help protect our rights as outdoorsmen and women.

To receive all the latest information and news on what this great organization is doing, what the politicians and environmentalist are trying to slip past us and where they will be sign up for the NJOA Action Alerts.

Had a busy day today at the marina.  Tommy, Mark, Wayne, Mike, Chris, Eddie and Danny were down either working on their boats or checking in on them.  This weekend’s work was drilling a bunch of holes in the side of the hull and bulkheads for through hulls and electrical conduit.  Two new through hulls for the new bilge pump and fish box macerator as well as drilled and dry fit the conduit for my inverter project.

The wheels were delivered to the prop shop today, so hopefully they will be done and back by the end of the month.

All I really need to get done before going back in is to drill the last through hull for new foreword bilge pump, install the conduit for the inverter, seal my deck hatch and have Mark and Mike walk me through the bellows and gimbal bearing replacement.  Everything else on my list can be done while in the water.

I was hoping to just uncover her and wash her prior to launch but that has been complicated by staining from a soda blasting company that should not be allowed to work in the manner they do.  They did not really erect a tent, the blasting media and the bottom paint was not contained and ended up covering a very large portion of the marina as well as half a dozen or more boats.  Not to mention this was performed not even 10′ from the water’s edge let alone outside the 100′ buffer zone.  I tried to wash off the dust and dirt but after the surface mess was removed it revealed heavy staining that will need to be compounded out.  The owner of the boat that was blasted did not seam to care too much about the damage and mess caused by the labor that he hired.  I am not 100% sure right now how I will proceed but I don’t feel I should have to detail the boat myself or foot the bill to have someone else do it.  Prior to covering I washed and polished the hull sides…so I would not have to do it prior to launch.  She was also compounded in spring of 2008 so there should be no need to do it again in 2009.

I just finished updating all the old posts.  All the content from my old blog is now here and searchable.  I still have to finish, more like start importing all the old pictures and inserting them into the corresponding posts but at least the import stuff is here.

I got to the marina early to try and get some work done before we headed down to the boat show.  Apparently this soda blasting company had other plans for me.  I have never seen a blasting company setup such a large tent and then not contain the dust and debris that was blasted off the boat.  They were inconvenienced by me working on my own boat since I would not let them use MY swim platform as a workbench or portions of MY boat to tape down the tent for the boat they were working on.  Then while I was in the boat they moved my ladder and I then had no way to get down from the boat.  At this point I was pretty mad and by the way they were setting up I figured it was best to leave and not be present while they were working.

When we returned from the show the mess was appalling.   I am going to have a talk with the marina owners over it.  Despite my boat being completely covered there is a coating of bicarbonate and bottom paint on everything.  Not to mention the piles of it all over the yard.  I can’t imagine how these guys stay in business the way they work.

After leaving the marina we headed over to checkout the new West Marine Superstore on the way to the Parkway.  The new store is huge!  It is well stocked, at least now if you are working on the boat and need a part, unless it is an engine part they should have it in stock.  I hate patronizing the big box stores but on a Sunday afternoon there are not too many places to get parts these days.  The bridge like electronics display is pretty impressive, they also have a sound proof audio booth for testing out stereos, speakers and amps, a huge fishing section with tackle from back bay to offshore, a much bigger selection of wire, connectors, fuses and circuit breakers that will come in handy and pretty much every other department has been super-sized.

 We had heard that on Friday the boat show was very light in attendance and everyone we know that went was able to park in the convention center lot…big mistake.  It was closed and we hit tons of traffic getting to it and away from it.  So we made our way over to Bally’s to realize my is too tall to park there so around the block through the traffic and back to the Clarridge.  It was like driving through mid-town Manhattan at rush hour.

As rumored there were none of the bigger boats due to restrictions on the bridge, wires and the marina that was used in the past being closed.  With the limitation of being trailered in the largest that I saw was the 36 Bertram and the Cabo (not sure if it was the 35 or 36).

We did look at several of the outboard powered pilothouse style and express boats.  The new Parker is a beast, the cockpit is enormous but trying to fight a fish that takes you  around the transom would be impossible with those huge 350′s on the back.  I don’t think you would be able to swing a line around them with a 7′ rod.  The rocket launcher on the roof of the pilothouse I think Shaq would have a hard time reaching, standing on the gunwale would give you access to end two or three but after that you would need a ladder or have to stand on the livewell to reach them.

The Everglades was impressive as well.  The windows on the bridge are huge. 

The most impressive as far as interior space as well as layout was the 34 Whaler.  The cockpit was not the size of the Parker but large enough four to five anglers.  The Verado’s are much more compact than the Yamaha 350′s so fishing around them is quite a bit easier but still not my cup of tea.  The bridge was roomy but down below is where they have the competition beat.  The wasn’t another boat in the 34-36′ range that had the interior space of the Whaler.  The stairs leading down could be a bit tricking in snotty conditions.  My biggest concern with this rig would be the attitude at which she runs loaded.  If she tends to run bow high like a Henriques then visibility will probably be an issue.  But if that were fine and her handling good, this would be at the top of my list for a mid thirties outboard powered fishing boat.

The accessories section was not bad, a few vendors/manufacturers that I would have liked to have visited were not there.  I renewed my Sea\\Tow membership with Capt. Sean, got a warm welcome and gift bag from Michelle and was able to meet Capt. Kermit form Sea\\Tow Manasquan…hopefully the boat shows are the only times I run into Capt. Kermit.

There was a booth for ShamWow but Vince was no where to be found.  I am not sure if this was actually the real product or not.  It seemed like a knock-off to me.

I was hoping to maybe find a great deal on a auto Garmin GPS unit, I remember seeing them last year but did not find a single one. 

There was a booth that had some very interesting LED lights.  There were spreader lights, drop lights and some were hard-wired and others were rechargeable.  They referred you to the Consumer’s Marine booth for purchase but I did not feel like fighting the crowd around the booth.  I am gong to get one of the spreader lights and give it a shot though, it seemed pretty bright at the show.

The guy with the soft-side coolers with the ice under halogen lamps was of course there.  I might just have to get a small one to try them out.  A couple of years ago they were next to us in the JCAA booth and it really is amazing how well they retain ice.

PlasTeak was helpful.  I am considering replacing my carpets with a synthetic decking.  I did not realize how expensive that product is though.  For them to make the mats would be upward of a $1,000 for a very small area.  I think I am going to have to measure better and do the math and see if it really does come out to that much and also compare the cost to the DIY materials they offer.

 SeaSuckers were there.  I got to talk to John about the issues with mine and he is going to replace them under warranty, I just need to ship him out the suction cups and the vacuum pumps.  Will have to get on that later today.

All-in-all it was a pretty good show.  I would have liked to drool over some larger boats that I can’t afford but I think they managed to pack in a good amount despite the issues they had of getting the larger boats in.

I have been an XM subscriber for many years. It seems since the merger the service has gone down hill and fast. I now have no signal in places I never had a problem before, the commercial free music now has rambling idiots which are just as bad as commercials and the customer service when you call in is terrible. If I wanted to listen to Carol Miller, Denis Elsas, Cane, Bodhi, Jim Kerr, Meg Griffin, Eddie Trunk or any of the other NY area DJ’s I can listen to them for free on FM. And god forbid having to listen to Dusty Street ramble about nothing, I would rather watch paint dry while removing my finger nails with a pair of pliers.

I am not sure what the powers at be were thinking when they allowed the merger of the two companies eliminating competition. There is no one to switch to now just the same bad service by another name.

To top it off they are jacking up the pricing now and removing services. I think at this point I am going to cancel my subscriptions and buy an HD radio that also has some sort of portable drive for digital audio.

I just can’t imagine that dwindling customer service, rising prices and offering less features will keep customers that were used to something they are no longer getting.  What are you experiences with either service?

We know something is coming, whether it be the already mandated Federal Registry (Jan. 1, 2010), state registry or state saltwater license.  Delaware put one in place for 2008 and NY has one in the works.  There are some bills in legislature already that hopefully don’t pass the way they are structured.  I am for a state license.  Why would we want to send money to the Federal Government to be put in the general fund and never used for fishing?  I think Tom’s white paper is excellent and brings up a lot of very important points for the structuring of a saltwater license in NJ.  While most of the angling community is against a license, I don’t see a way around it.  If it is well thought out it very well could make things a lot better in the future.  One thing it could benefit is the traveling angler, if you fish Delaware Bay, NJ waters and Raritan Bay if NJ structures the license properly it would be reciprocal or honored in each neighboring state so you would not be required to purchase three licenses.  Despite the corruption and political bias in NJ I think a saltwater license can be structured to help the recreational angler if enough of us get behind the process to ensure it is tailored to our specifications and not the to the politicians liking.

Take a read and I think if you are on the fence or against a license you may rethink your position.

Federal Registry White Paper by: Tom Fote

OK, here is the skinny…tables below are minimum size, bag limit, season start – season end. The below information is take from the ‘Report by the Peer Review Panel for the Northeast Data Poor Stocks Working Group’. The complete document can be found by clicking here. NY is on page 50 and NJ on 52.

Not sure I really like any of them, i was really hoping for a slot limit on fluke, something like two fish at 14-16.5″ and two fish at 18-24″ and a trophy fish-one at over 24″. Whatever they decide we will comply, actually last year we made very few fluke trips. Due to several reasons, one the cold water temps early in the season, there were still good sized striped bass around and then when fluking was picking up we were running to the mud hole after bluefin tuna. Later in the season the sea bassing was hot so we really never dedicated more than about five trips to fluking.

2008 Regulations: 18” size limit, 8 fish possession limit, open season May 24 to September 7

Table A. 2009 NJ Summer Flounder Options that meet Board approved motion that at least 50% of the required reduction should come from a closed season. Seasons were calculated using the 1994 – 1998 Weibull distribution.

18.0 8 June 6 – Sept 7
18.0 6 June 1 – Sept 7
18.0 4 May 31 – Sept 7
18.0 8 May 23 – Sept 1
18.0 6 May 23 – Sept 4
18.0 4 May 23 – Sept 3

Table B. 2009 NJ Summer Flounder Options developed using adjusted percent reduction.

18.0 8 June 17 – Sept 7
18.0 6 June 13 – Sept 7
18.0 4 June 8 – Sept 7
18.0 8 May 23 – Aug 26
18.0 6 May 23 – Aug 28
18.0 4 May 23 – Aug 31
18.0 8 June 1 – Aug 29
18.0 6 May 30 – Aug 31
18.0 4 May 29 – Sept 2
18.5 8 May 9 – Oct 4

Table C. 2009 NJ Summer Flounder Options meeting the Board approved motion that at least 50% of the required reduction should come from a closed season and the Technical Committee recommendation that the closed season should come from the wave of highest harvest. Seasons were calculated using the 1994 – 1998 Weibull distribution.

18.0 8 May 23 – July 20 & Aug 3 – Sept 7
18.0 6 May 23 – July 20 & Aug 3 – Sept 7
18.0 8 May 20 – July 20 & Aug 3 – Sept 9
18.0 6 May 20 – July 20 & Aug 3 – Sept 12
18.0 8 May 15 – July 20 & Aug 3 – Sept 13
18.0 6 May 13 – July 20 & Aug 3 – Sept 16
18.0 8 May 23–Aug 2 & Aug 10-Sept 7
18.0 6 May 23–Aug 2 & Aug 10-Sept 7
18.0 4 May 23–Aug 2 & Aug 10-Sept 7
18.0 8 May 22–Aug 2 & Aug 10-Sept 9
18.0 6 May 19–Aug 2 & Aug 10-Sept 11
18.0 4 May 19–Aug 2 & Aug 10-Sept 11

NJ again requests to have a 1-day opening on Sunday, October 4, 2009; area specific to Island Beach State Park; for the annual Governor’s Surf Fishing Tournament.

Note: Other options may be developed after consultation with Summer Flounder Recreational Advisors and the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council. These options will be developed using the same methodology as above.

It is a really neat little piece of engineering.  The amount of drag and the capability of such a small reel, you really have to admire what the folks at Avet achieved with this one.  But how practical is it really?

I picked one up last season and was a little disappointed in the line capacity.  It states on the web site and the box 220 yards of 20#.  I have tried twice now to pack 65# or 50# braid on it and can barely get 200 yards on it.  Not because I don’t pack it tight, I have ruined a pair of leather work gloves both times, just about cutting through the fingers the line is packed so tight.  With either size of braid I should be able to get much more on there as the 65# is supposed to be about 16# mono.

I was really hoping to use it on a Shimano Trevala jigging rod as a workhorse, multi-tasking rod, jigging for tuna, tiles, striped bass and deep water wreck fishing (offshore sea bass, cod and pollock).  With its limited capacity I think I am going to end up putting it onto a Shimano Tescata or a Lamiglas Tri-Flex 7040 and get either a Shimano Tyrnos 16 2 speed or an Avet LX 2 speed or HX (only comes in 2 speed).

What are your thoughts?  I am curious to see what everyone else has been using the SX 2 speed for.

I went to SHBC for MFC and then did some PM and repairs.  It’s a new year and I need to get back to doing what I said I would…posting at least weekly.  This week was pretty uneventful, I have heard a few reports of good blackfishing in 90-120′ of water and some rumors of cod and pollack in the same depths.  I have also heard that mackerel are within 15 miles from the beach.

Tommy and I ran down to Barnegat to see Joe at Sun Harbor Bay Club, I needed to get door prizes for the Manasquan Fishing Club meetings and also to visit since I have not been down there in a while.  We will have some really great prizes over hte next six months thanks to Joe and his generosity to the Manasquan Fishing Club.

As for the boat I removed all the sealant around my deck hatch for the fuel tank due to it leaking late in the season.  That effort was three fold, I also plan on installing a conduit through that hold for some wiring and also installing a fuel vent whistler to prevent fuel spills while filling up.

I had planned on giving the bilge its annual cleaning and doing some rust busting but it was a bit cold for that and the marina bathroom was winterized so I had no access to hot water for rinsing the bilge out with.  I guess I will have to bring the turkey fryer next time to heat up some water.

With one of the harshest winters in a long time taking hold in our area  many are getting cabin fever and going stir crazy earlier than normal.  I have seen many questions lately about rod building and tackle craft.  It is no secret that if I can make it I fish it.  I love making my own bucktail jigs as well as other lures and rigs.  There is definitely a huge amount of pride that goes with catching fish with tackle that you have made and rigged yourself.  This will be the first in a multi-part series of articles on creating your own jigs and lures.  For now I am going to go over some of the basics of getting started and as I start molding and tying again I will take a lot of pictures and videos to help you get started or to give you some new ideas.  For the sake of this article I am going to assume most readers are new to rolling their own and start with the basics.

First you will need some basic safety equipment depending on what you will be working with.  I have safety goggles, dust masks, heavy cotton apron, heavy leather gloves, light leather gloves, flame proof mat and keep a fire extinguisher handy as well.  As always, when working with lead work outdoors if possible and position yourself upwind from your work, if it is not possible to work outdoors make sure you have adequate ventilation.

I get my jig making supplies from Sun Harbor Bay Club, most of it is special order but comes in within a few days usually.  Depending on how involved in lure making you want to get you will need some or all of the items below, I will go into detail on each later:

• Supply of lead
• Melting pot
• Ladle
• Molds
• Hooks
• Wire eyes
• Powder paint
• Stick on eyes
• Deer hair
• Synthetic hair
• Polar Flash
• Flashabou
• Danville fine mono thread
• Hard as Hull head Cement
• Tiemco ceramic bobbin
• Tiemco scissors
• Tiemco spinning hackle pliers
• Martelli long reach whip finisher
• Dyna King fly tying vise
• HMH Tube Tool
• Small bench vise
• Vise Grips

Of course you will need lead.  It can be in the form of tire weights from the junk yard (I tend not to use these, more detail later), old lead plumbing pipes, or you can buy it from many retailers and on e-bay in ingots of various sizes.  Make sure you lead is clean before putting it into the melting pot.  Tire weights tend not to be, have a horrible smell when melted and smoke a lot.  Tire weights are also considered hard lead which is not desirable for molding or casting jigs, you can get away with it for sinkers but they will be slightly lighter than their stamped weight.  Usee extra caution with old pipes, if there is any moisture inside it will create a rocket effect and shoot any debris inside the pipe out as it is heated during melting.

Next you will need some molds.  They can be as simple as bank sinkers or they can be ball jigs, bucktail jigs, weighted trebles and even butterfly jigs.   All of my molds are from Do-It Molds.  Below are the molds that I have:

• Snag Weight Mold 8/0
• Trolling Lure (Sea Witch head)
• Flutter Lure 7 & 9 oz (butterfly style jig)
• Spire Point Jig (All sizes, my personal favorite)
• Bank Sinker (various sizes)
• Trolling Drail (various sizes)

These molds pretty much cover most of our needs from the rivers and bays, to inshore and offshore fishing.  It can be a big investment if you were to buy them all at once, I have purchased a couple each year and was given a few of the sinker molds by guys no longer interested in rolling their own.  You could also buddy up with a few guys to split costs or look into joining a local fishing club.  Many clubs have annual sinker parties and the best part is the members all bring in some lead and the clubs usually have the molds so it only costs a few bucks for hooks and you are all set.

For any of the molds you will need a melting pot and ladle.  I would shy away from the bottom pour pots.  Unless you have very clean and pure lead they are problematic and clog.  Also if you are pouring anything over three to four ounces they usually don’t pour fast enough.  For smaller projects I use an old  ten pound pot on a hinge and for larger work I use a fifty pound pot on a propane burner.

Preparing your molds.  I have found that it is best to smoke the mold, or position the mold cavities just above a candle’s flame.  A thin coat of black carbon soot will form which will help the flow of molten lead into the cavities and also make it easier to remove the cast lead.  Once that is done you need to heat the mold prior to making a production run of whatever it is you are going to mold.  I simply sit the mold over the pot for a few minutes.  If I am making bucktail jigs or anything else that requires hooks, through wires or wire eyes I then mold a few without any hardware to ensure the mold is hot enough and I get a good even pour.  Then I add the hardware and begin my production run.  When making your pours make sure to have enough in the ladle to fill the cavity completely in one continuous even pour.  If you do not, the jig will come out wrinkled and could break apart at the seams.  You don’t want the molds to get too hot, there is no race-take your time and be safe, lead does not cool quickly, especially when on skin.

No matter if you are molding sinkers, snag weights, bucktail jigs or any other lure do not remove the sprue right away.  Give it a chance to cool a little and you get a much cleaner break.  When removing the sprue you want to grab it and rock it back and forth, with pliers if that makes it easier.  Rocking it until it breaks will give you a much cleaner edge than using a pair of cutting pliers or shears.

It may be tempting to dip jigs into the powder paint right after they have come out of the mold, I have tried this several times but have found that it is better to let the jigs fully cool first.  In most cases you will need to remove the sprue (the sprue can be saved and remelted), you will probably also want to use a coarse file to smooth out where the sprue broke off from.  This will ensure a smooth even coat of the powder paint.

For any jig or lure that needs to be painted I separate the sizes and styles by colors, that way I can dip all jigs for that color in one batch.  I use a standard propane torch to heat the jigs from a second or two to a minute depending on size.  The smaller jigs (up to three ounces) only need a few seconds, you don’t want them too hot or the paint will bubble.  Then you swish the jig side to side into the powder paint and remove immediately.  You only need a very thin coat of powder to cover the jig.  You may need to setup some sort of rack for allowing the jigs to dry.  I made a three tier rack out of oak that works very well.  The powder paint needs to be kept loose and fluffy, I will dip from one to three or four jigs depending on size and then put the cap back on the jar and shake it up to loosen up the powder before continuing.  You can then bake the jigs at 350 degrees for 15 minutes to harden the paint even more.  I usually skip this step since I tend to fish a lot of structure and either lose the jig before its paint is chipped or toothy critters remove the hair. 

Once you have all your jigs painted up and have allowed them to cool they can be dressed.  Dressing can be as simple as applying stick-on eyes or as elaborate as painting scales, gills and adding bucktail, synthetic hair and a touch of flash.  No matter how simple or elaborate I always add eyes to the jig if it has eye sockets.  I don’t just peel and stick, I apply a small amount of head cement to the eye socket first and then apply the eye.  This insures it stays put after being bounced off rocks, mussel beds or numerous strikes from fish.  It is also much easier to apply the eyes first on bucktail jigs, that way you don’t have any hair in your way.

Before I put a jig in the vise to be dressed, I sharpen the hook.  Once sharpened I coat the surface of the point and anywhere that was filled with a red Sharpie marker.  This serves two purposes.  One, to easily identify that the hook was already sharpened and two to protect the hook from rusting.  When you sharpen a tinned hook you are removing the duratin finish that protects the hook, the marker applies a thin coat of ink that will protect it while in your box.

There are many fly tying vises on the market, you can get an inexpensive, clamping vise for under $30 or you can get a professional rotary vise for upward of $400.  I have several for different styles of flies and jigs that I tie.  I have a basic vise, the Dyna King Kingfisher that I keep in my tying bag for traveling use.  For everyday use and when creating several dozen flies or jigs at a time I prefer a rotary vise and use the Dyna King Barracuda.  And for tying tube flies the HMH Tube Tool.

The mighty bucktail jig, it can be as simple as plain white, or contain many colors and a touch of flash.  Either way it can be used to catch just about every species that swims in our oceans.  I personally have caught striped bass, summer flounder, bluefish, weakfish, sea bass, mahi mahi, bonito, false albacore and various species of trash fish with the jigs I have made.  Less is more, or so I have been told by many accomplished fly tyers.  I have taken this adage from fly tying to my bucktail tying.  Basically I make only a handful of patters for everyday use in sizes from one ounce to six ounces.  All white, yellow, white and green chartreuse (my favorite and go to combo), chartreuse, white and red and magic bus (yellow, black and white).  Don’t get me wrong, I do also make black back and blue back with white bellies to simulate herring for striped bass as well as blue, green and white to mimic a bay anchovy for smaller jigs.  But with time becoming harder to come by I stick to my basic four-white, yellow, chartreuse and chartreuse and white, with the latter two my go to baits.

Before tying any fibers to the jig I first wrap all the way across the collar with thread, this gives the next wraps that will hold fibers something to bite into and prevent the thread from spinning on the painted collar.  Back to the less is more…when I tie my bucktails I tie the hair so that there is basically no overlapping but each hair right next to its neighbor.  This creates a thin fan of fibers all the way around the jig.  The spire point jigs have a flared collar and once you are done wrapping hair and build up the body with repeated wraps around the collar the hair flares out.  This gives the jig an amazing presentation in the water.  Once the hair is flared you can add a half dozen or so strands of polar flash or flashabou down each side, so as to mimic a lateral line like on a spearing.  Once all the fibers are in place wrap back and forth across the body twice and then finish with a whip finish.

Like the painting I will do a run of similar pattered jigs all at once, I find it easier than reaching all over for different colors and materials.  Once I have several dozen tied I then apply head cement to the wrappings, one to two coats is sufficient.  Again I am fishing around structure and with toothy critters, the jigs are usually lost before they fall apart.  Also be careful applying head cement to the thread wraps, especially if you used powder paint, most cements will make the finish run if you get it on the body of the jig.

Now that you are all stocked up with sinkers, snags and jigs we just need a break in the weather so you can go and test out your new creations.  As the winter and spring progresses I will take some pictures and video to show the entire process and show some more advanced dressings and paintings of jigs and lures.  It can be a very enjoyable and rewarding hobby, as long as you stay safe and are cautious handling molten and hot lead.  If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me or post comments to this article.

My new site is live and just about finished.  I have a few more past posts to upload and then re-add all the pictures within the posts. 

There is also a special format for mobile devices which strips down some of the content and reformats it so it is easily read from a phone, PDA or other mobile device.  Pictures  and galleries are still available through the mobile version as are the links and resources of the site.

I hope you enjoy the new format.

I have not read the document yet but thought many would be interested in it.  One thing I did pick out of it is that if you posses an HMS permit you are exempt from filing with the registry.

I personally hope NJ instates a saltwater license.  I know many are against it due to the corruption in this state but if the money stays in NJ no matter where it goes it is far better than it going to the federal government to never be seen again.   The fish and wildlife funds are closely monitored due to matching funds and other funds that come from the federal government, so it is very difficult for the Governor and other officials to dip into it or  to divert the funds elsewhere.  It has been tried in the past and stopped by the feds or the matching funds were to be revoked, in the two cases that I know of where this was attempted the state decided to comply.

NMFS Saltwater Angler Registry Final Ruling

NMFS Saltwater Angler Registry Final Rule Fact Sheet

Hope everyone has a healthy, safe and prosperous New Year. I have been thinking about making some big changes to my blog for some time now. I have finally gone ahead and started the design and coding of the new site. It should be done in a few days…can’t wait to finish it.