Five Days To Go
First, we would like to thank the Jersey Shore Surfcasters for putting on a great Surf Day event last Saturday. And thanks for all the customers, old and new, that stopped at our tables and supported the shop. It was a great day.
Next, shop news…
We got in some new stuff since our last report. We have had a lot of people asking if we carried Z-Man products. We can now answer yes. We brought in a limited amount of colors of the Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ. These paddletail swimbaits are made from a proprietary soft plastic called ElaZtech. ElaZtech is difficult to cut and extremely difficult to tear. I don’t want to go so far as to say “bluefish proof”, but the blues are going to have a tough time biting through these. We brought in 3 sizes, 4 inches, 5 inches and 7 inches. We even got the 4 inch model in the infamous color “Slam Shady.” The striped bass, bluefish and weakfish are going to love these. So will the fluke…
Not only did we bring in the DeiZel MinnowZ from Z-man, but we also brought in three of their jig heads to go with them. We got in the RedFish Eye and Striper Eye jig heads to go with the 4” and 5” DieZel Minnows respectively. And we brought in the TT HeadLockZ jig heads to go with the 5” and 7” DieZel MinnowZ. All Z-Man jig heads are molded on Mustad® UltraPoint® hooks. These jig heads will also work with other soft baits, such as Kettle Creek shads, S&S Savage Shads, Lunker City Fin-S Fish, Zoom Super Flukes, and even Gulp! Jerk Shads.
New in our topwater arsenal is a lure from Game On Lures. The X-Walk Topwater lure. A 2 oz, 6 inch spook lure with a nice rattle, the stiped bass and bluefish are going to go nuts for these.
We also brought in a new lure from Madd Mantis. They have a stickbait / glidebait fusion lure called the Quibble. If you slowly reel in this bait it will randomly wiggle and wander like a darter or glider. If you reel a bit faster the bait will wiggle to you like a lip bait. If you long pull it this bait will dive and dart. When you stop reeling the bait will hold it's position or slowly float up depending on the salinity of the water you are fishing. The flat sides help prevent this bait from rolling over when fished aggressively or when fished in strong currents. You are going to find this will be one of your more versatile lures.
For those of you who like to throw jigs (which should be all of you because they are very effective), we now have Fat Cow Jig Strips. We have the 5 inch split tail strips in 3 colors, blood red, white and chartreuse.
We restocked on Trailhead Tire Deflators. Get yours now before beach driving season kicks in fully.
We have worms! We are now stocking bloodworms. Get some and go warm up on some white perch. We will stock bloodworms, based on their availability, through April and maybe beyond.
We are putting together our plans for our annual “Spring Has Sprung” sale, occurring this year on Saturday, March 25th. While most details are still being worked out, we can tell you one secret. Scabelly and Big Rock Lures will be in the shop again. Mark your calendars.
As far as fishing report, we haven’t heard much. Scattered white perch reports from the bay, and no one that we know of have tried for bass on the oceanside. Bass in the back bay is still closed, opening on March 1st. Winter flounder in NJ also opens March 1st. Five days to go. If you need some reading between now and then, check out our spring primer “Get Ready For Opening Day Striped Bass in the NJ Backwaters” article.
Ray is very happy we got worms. He is driving around telling everyone. He may not be so happy about the end of report Ray updates starting up again…