Month: May 2017

Eye Strike Fishing

You may have noticed that we have changed our business name to Eye Strike Fishing.  We did this to better align our name with our products, and help with marketing, etc.  For our logo’s we turned to non other than the designer of the original Trout Trick packaging, Jay Fletcher.  He has won awards for that design, and I have long admired his Instagram account, which features his work.  It is simple, creative and just amazing.  We had a few discussions about what we were looking for and what he came back with was just perfect.  Hope you like it!

EYE-STRIKE-11 EYE_STRIKE-04EYE_STRIKE-15

So, first let’s do a report.  Once we got into May, the bait moved in with a vengeance and the artificial bite improved so much.  The fact that we had our first major trout spawn of the year didn’t hurt.  The trout were fattening up for the spawn and the bite was great!  Topwater has been strong in the usual spots as well.  I have been experimenting with our 1 oz Striper Eye jigs paired with a 6″ Z-Man SwimmerZ.  This combo is proportionate and a great mullet imitation.  I’ve been deep jigging this by dropping down to the bottom, anywhere from 25 to 40 feet, winding up a couple feet, and vertical jigging.  When you get a strike you will know it!  It feels like someone dropped a 10 lb weight on the end of your line.  What a blast!

IMG_20170504_155833_552

Here is a big redfish I caught this way.  I texted this pic to Daniel Nussbaum at Z-Man and he replied “Is that a flounder?”  It wasn’t till  I looked at the pics that I noticed the flounder it has just eaten sticking out of its mouth!  How cool is that?

This is something that is fun to try, and it has worked really well at the jetties, for example.  It’s a lot more fun than soaking bait.  I will say, please don’t fish for them unless you have a venting tool handy and have read up on how to do it.  OHero sells an inexpensive venting tool that I recommend.  You can purchase one here.  These fish are old and valuable and should be respected by handling properly, venting them (if needed) and reviving them long enough for them to kick away strongly.

IMG_20170504_081547_440

That particular day was notable for the trout as well.  The big girls were chewing and I had 5 over 20 inches that day (all released to spawn).

I recently took a crew fishing in our Summerville Saltwater Anglers May tournament.  It was one of those days where everything seemed to click and we did very well. We had many memorable things happen.

  • First, I was reeling in a small trout and noticed another larger trout chasing it.  I kept it in the water and the larger trout didn’t leave.  I told Ray to drop a lure down there.  He did, and instantly hooked up!  It was a good 3 inches longer than mine.  I have seen this with largemouth bass and even cobia but never trout.
  • Second, I went up a small creek on a whim, as I knew from the past that a lot of bait was in that creek.  We went all the way to the end until my Whaler was just about stuck (6″) and found a school of reds belly crawling around and feeding.  That’s always exciting to see!  One cast with a Trout Eye Finesse jig with a Pearl MinnowZ and I was hooked up to a 27″ red.  After that, we had them pretty spooked and did not get another.  A fly rod would have been deadly there.
  • Lastly, we all had nice trout and redfish sent in (we have a CPR format) so we needed flounder.  On our second stop by a dock, Ray hooks up with an 18 inch flounder instantly, Josh gets a 15 incher right behind him.  I went up front and made a few casts and put one of my own in (the smallest) the boat.  We swept the flounder category in a span of 10 minutes.  That was a great end to the day.

So, we have a number of new announcements to make.

  • We have added a new eye color to our jigs…Chartreuse.  This color was a suggestion by Capt Justin Carter.  We purchased a trial amount and fished them and sold a few.  They really work well!  So well, that we made them a new standard color option.  We will have them available in about a  week.
  • Announcing our newest product:  Eye Strike Weedless Jigs.  We have been working on them for about 6 months now, with various prototypes and trial and error.  We now feel that we have the best of the best.  These work great in spartina, turtle grass, across oyster rakes and fallen trees.  Ralph and I used them to place 4th in the Southern Redfish Cup in Charleston.  See our product page for more info.

IMG_20170511_125940_353

Eye Strike Weedless All Sizes Eye Strike Weedless 1-4 oz Rigged