Month: March 2018

Project ReSpeck Update

As of 30-March-2018 we are at $5,605 toward our goal of $25,000.

We met with the Charleston Coastal Anglers club last night and had a presentation by Waddell Mariculture, showing what they do and how they will use the money.  Did you know that their operating budget only covers 9 months of operation?  The rest is dependent upon donations and grants.

The CCA had a vote and they decided to help our cause and we can’t wait to see what they come up with.  Some of the things we heard were very exciting.

We also have had a number of companies donate in-kind, through products.  We are trying to decide how to go about setting up a raffle or silent auction for them.

Lastly, Vapor Apparel approached us about wanting to help.  We decided to create a Project ReSpeck performance shirt with the logo on front.  They will be available in 2 or 3 weeks and 100% of the proceeds will go to the fund!  Big thanks to Vapor Apparel!

Project ReSpeck Performance Shirt thanks to Vapor Apparel!

We still have our special Project ReSpeck jigs for sale on our store for a $20 donation.  100% of your donation goes straight to the fund, so if you donate $20, then $20 is donated.  We give you the jigs for free.

Project ReSpeck TroutEye Jigs

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SSWA March Tournament

This past weekend was the first members tournament for Summerville Saltwater Anglers.  I had the pleasure of “guiding” two of my favorite people – my neighbors son Josh – a student at USC, and avid fly angler – and Grant.  Some of you might remember Grant, who last time I took him in the salt had a grand slam including a club record striper.  The kid can fish!

At the crack of dawn I walked out to prep the boat and was met by tree branches swaying in the wind…okay…that was not in the forecast!  The strong wind made it difficult to fish artificials, because it limited the locations we could target that were somewhat sheltered.  Most productive areas were almost unfishable due to a lot of bow in the line and the inability to get the lure down in the strike zone.  Why are tournament days always a struggle?

That’s okay, because we started the day the right way, with a Hardees Chicken Biscuit.  That was the day maker for Josh, so it didn’t really matter what we did from then on 🙂

We made frequent moves trying to find a bite and picked at a few fish here and there.  Once the tide started out, we found a decent trout bite and in a 30 min span we each had trout to measure over 17″.  That was fun.  Josh had the hot hand early on, and Grant was wondering what was going on…  Then Josh let him in on the secret weapon.  A 1/4 trout eye jig and the “rat tail”, aka a StreakZ 375 in Ralphs Shad color.  The next few minutes were a blur, as Grant put 1, 2, 3 upgrades on the deck.  It was great!  

The glow eye and mood ring swimmin trout trick was a good choice
Josh with an early trout – later to be upgraded

Grant is kind of a flounder whisperer.  He was saying that every time we have gone together he has caught at least one.  Well, didn’t he put the only flounder of the day in the boat yet again…streak intact!   I’d bet that it will score in the tourney too.  

Josh with one of his upgraded trout
That’s a little better!

We had a brief respite from the wind while it clocked around to the NNE, then it turned on again like a turbo fan!  Time put her on the trailer boys…

Having fun

Another fun day with the future of our sport, Josh and Grant.  

Back to the Salt

Ralph and I had separate trips back to the salt recently, and we were both pleasantly surprised with the results.  Bait fish have yet to show up in numbers, I think delayed a bit by the last few weeks of relatively colder weather.  All we observed was lots of glass minnows around.  Not surprisingly, smaller profiles far out performed everything else, with the ol’ mainstay that Ralph made famous – the StreakZ 3.75 in Ralph’s Shad color – being the best performer.  

Ralph’s business associates enjoying a day on the Wando
Hell of a nice trout for a northeast fisherman!

I had a lot of luck with that profile as well, but also had very good success with a Swimmin’ Trout Trick in Mood Ring color.  It’s a similar size and profile and the color is money in that clear water of the Wando river.  And when I say clear, I mean CLEAR.  It won’t be that way much longer – when the water starts to warm and the algae starts to grow again.  But for now, its working real good.

21″ trout, released

So, in separate trips we each had similar results.  Inshore slams, plus 20 +/- trout (!) from around 10″ up to 21″.  Very encouraging!  Speaking from personal experience, all the trout I caught, except for one, were snakes.  In other words, very skinny.  Mark my words, but the next two to three months will be a very aggressive bite with the trout, as they fatten up for the spawn.  I truly believe it is still very important to release all these fish, at least until late summer, so that they can have a very successful spawn.   Let’s let these fish rebound as fast as possible so we can all get back to and enjoy the world class trout fishery we have had the last few years.

As a reminder, try to handle your trout as little as possible so that their slime coating remains.  We gently pinch them behind the head and only handle them there.  Please wet your hands before handling them and also use a rubber net.  Of course, dropping them in the boat does them no good!   It’s the little things that will really make a difference whether your fish lives after release.

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Check out this documentary “The Million Dollar Idea” about the invention and origin of the Z-Man Chatter Bait.  The inventor was Ron Davis, Sr and we are friends with Ron Davis, Jr who built a business around the product.  It’s a great story and very inspirational.  

http://www.20ftdeep.com/the-million-dollar-idea/

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Stay tuned over the next month or so as we will have a number of new product announcements that we are really excited about!

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In the mean time, don’t forget that our store is the only place you can purchase our jigs in bulk at discounts up to 40% off of retail pricing.  We thank you for your business!

Sweet Water Adventures

The wind machine (and king tides) has been relentless for the past few weeks.  That hasn’t kept us off the water, however.  Instead, we have been taking advantage of a little freshwater pond fishing recently – using Eye Strike jigs and Z-Man ElaZtech, of course.  We have been field testing a line of new products that we are not quite yet ready to reveal, however, they are working pretty damn good!  

Ralph with a nice bass on ultralight tackle
This might be my new personal best. Caught on one of our weedless jigs.

If you aren’t tuned in to the comings and goings of freshwater fish, the bass are about to bed and we are seeing evidence of it, with lots of buck bass being caught in the shallows.  The next few weeks should really turn on the bass.  However, the name of the game right now is Crappie.  The bite has been really good, and a great offering is a 1/8 oz TroutEye Finesse jig rigged with a Z-Man Slim SwimZ.  It makes a great minnow imitation and of course the big eye seals the deal.  The crappie are hammering it.

Marc with a “by-catch” LMB when looking for Crappie!
Eye for an Eye. 1/8 oz TroutEye Finesse and Slim SwimZ

We had the pleasant opportunity to spend a day with Marc Descenes of VIP Adventures.  Marc manages a series of sand pit ponds in the general vicinity of 17A south of Summerville.  He has been doing this for 20+ years and he has about 6 ponds available for annual membership to a select few, and a few more that he only guides on.  It’s a great opportunity for someone to be guided to a bass of a lifetime.  Look him up if interested.

A few slab crappie

Our goal was crappie, and crappie we got.  Slab crappie.  They are an awful lot of fun to catch on ultra light tackle. 

Fried whole, doesn’t get much better than that.

And, it doesn’t get much better on the table!

Remember, ALL predators strike the eye, saltwater, and FRESH.  Give em a try.

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We have some new swag available on our store.  

Performance shirt in Light Blue
Performance shirt in White
Navy Tee, really soft and comfortable!