“The MTA/NJ is proud to be bringing boats back into the New Jersey Convention Center in Edison for this new and exciting boat show event” stated MTA/NJ President, Kersten Roehsler. “The New Jersey Boat Sale & Expo was modeled after our highly successful fall Jersey Shore Boat Sale & Expo held at the BlueClaws Stadium and will offer attendees a great opportunity to shop from New Jersey’s leading dealers and marine retailers.”

The show will feature something for every age and interest with boats on sale from the top dealers in the state as well as an expansive boater’s marketplace full of accessories and services, free seminars, activities for the little boaters and more. Show attendees will be able to board and shop a great lineup of boating’s most popular brands including:

AquaPatio; Avalon; Bayliner; Bennington Pontoons; Bentley Pontoons; Boston Whaler; Carolina Classic; Carolina Skiff; Chaparral; Clearwater; Cobalt; Cobia; Crownline; East Coast Skiffs; Formula; Four Winns; Glastron; Grady-White; Hampton Pontoons; Harris; Hobie Catamarans; Hobie Kayaks; Hurricane; Hydra-Sports; Jupiter; Kawasaki Jet Skis; Key West; Larson; Livingston; Mako; Maycraft; Monterey; Nautic Star; North Coast; Parker; Premier Pontoons; Pro-Line; Regal Sport Boats; Regulator; Rinker; Robalo; Sea Hunt; Sea Ray; Sea-Doo; Starcraft; Steiger Craft; Stingray; Striper; Sundance; Sweetwater; Sylvan; Tidewater; Triumph; Trophy; Yamaha Sport Boats & Wave Runners; and Yellowfin.

Attendees can also shop the Boater’s Marketplace and meet with vendors for all of their boating needs, enjoy a free seminar or grab a bite to eat or a drink in the Café.
“The show is centrally located for easy access from anywhere in the tri-state area, parking is free and the cost of admission is only $6.00,” stated MTA/NJ Executive Director, Melissa Danko. “New Jersey’s boating opportunities are endless and with the boating season just around the corner, there is no better place than the New Jersey Boat Sale & Expo to find just what you need to get out on the water and have fun!”

OTW coordinated the seminars for the event, and some of our finest contributors will be speaking,  Here is the seminar schedule below.

THURSDAY 2/23

3:30

Bunker Busting Spring Bass
Discuss the state of the Atlantic menhaden stocks, and learn some targeted snaggin’ strategies for hitting the trophies in 2012.

Jim Hutchinson – Recreational Fishing Alliance

 6:30

Inshore Threshers

Be prepared for when a big thresher sharks crashes a bass and bunker party this spring
Darren Dorris

FRIDAY 2/24

3:30

Safer Boating in the Port of NY and NJ

Learn the proper protocol when boating in the busiest harbor on the East Coast.
Ray Fusco – TheSafeHarbor.US

 6:30

Running a Small Boat for Inshore Pelagics

All you need to know from safety, gear, tackle, electronics, and strategies to find and catch bluefin, mahi and more pelagic gamefish within the range of your smaller craft.
Captain Jim Freda – Shore Catch Guide Service

SATURDAY 2/25

1:00

Trolling for Trophy Bass and Blues

Better techniques on the troll for targeting big stripers and bluefish.
Captain John Luchka – Long Run Fishing Charters

3:00
Dedicated Doormat Fishing
Strategies that forego catching catching throwbacks and small keeper fluke in order to improve your odds of landing a welcome-mat-sized summer flounder.
Captain Scott Newhall – Time Out Fishing Charters

5:00

Zero In On Fluke
Tactics for finding flatfish and putting more keepers in the box.
Captain Adam Nowalsky – Karen Ann II

7:00
Spear Fishing New Jerseys Reefs and Wrecks

The numerous shipwrecks along the New Jersey coast are great locations for collecting fish. Learn the basics for growing sport.
Rick Stamm – Atlantic Spear and SCUBA

SUNDAY 2/26

11:00

Spear Fishing New Jerseys Reefs and Wrecks

The numerous shipwrecks along the New Jersey coast are great locations for collecting fish. Learn the basics for growing sport.
Rick Stamm – Atlantic Spear and SCUBA

1:00

Trolling for Trophy Bass and Blues

Better techniques on the troll for targeting big stripers and bluefish.
Captain John Luchka – Long Run Fishing Charters

Quantum has stepped up their saltwater rod offerings in a big way with the new Blu Series. The rods are lightweight, have solid backbone and have a range of actions that will be perfect for everything from shallow-water bottom fishing to casting to stripers to deep-dropping jigs to cod. The rods are available in both spinning and conventional. The lighter rods felt like they’d be especially great for fluke fishing as they had the perfect blend of softness, to keep from tearing the hooks from a summer flounder’s fragile mouth, and guts to lift a stubborn doormat off the bottom.

If Baker sounds like a familiar company, it’s probably because you’ve owned their Hookouot Tool at one time or another. I don’t know many fisherman who haven’t either bought this tool for themselves or received one as a gift. But what you may not have known is that Baker has a line of freshwater lures out as well, including jerkbaits, crankbaits, shads, poppers and topwater baits. The subsurface baits all suspend, making them excellent choices for finicky bass. You have to check out the ultra-realistic color patterns on these lures as well.

And lastly, not too far from the OTW booth was Peter Piper’s PA Pickles. This guy probably had the busiest booth at the show. People were lined up down the aisle to buy one of the large variety of pickle flavors. More than a few folks swung by the OTW booth breathing fire after wolfing down a batch of Garlic XXX Hot Peter Piper’s pickles.

If you missed the Philly Show, you’ll be able to see these vendors and more in Suffern, NY at the World Fishing and Outdoor Expo in one week. And as always, you’ll be able to renew, extend or begin your subscription to OTW. Do it for 2 years, and you’ll get a Hogy Lures Gift Pack valued at $30.

When I called his house to talk about Fish Doc lures, on a snowy day a little over a month later, I could hear the lathe spinning in the background as his wife went to get him.

Dick builds the plugs as a hobby and because he loves to do it. He has seven styles available for purchase on his website, his favorite of which is his 6-inch pencil popper. The late-fall push of sea herring onto Rhode Island beaches made his blue pencil popper a hot commodity in the RI surf.

But Dick is always tweaking old designs and tinkering with new ones. “When I make up a batch of new plugs, I give them to some friends and we take them to the beach to see how they swim. And if they don’t pan out…well, then I have some really pretty kindling.”

Dick also does some plug testing in his pool which he said sees more plugs swimming through it than people, much to the dismay of his better half.

The Fish Doc swimmers have a wobbling rolling action to them, which Dick finds to be integral to their success. Some surfcasters are wary of plugs with too much “roll,” fearing the see-sawing motion of the plug’s eyes will tip off fish that it’s an imposter. Dick doesn’t believe this is the case. “I want my plugs to swim like an injured baitfish. And how does an injured baitfish swim? On its side. So when that plug rolls and that eye tilts toward the bottom, it’s looking like an injured baitfish. One Dick’s friends has even been known to add a third eye to the bottom of his plugs to there is an eye facing the bottom at all times. “The bass key in on that eye. That’s what they hit.”

You can check out more Fish Doc lures and order some for yourself HERE

Every other Monday we’ll be featuring a Northeast local lure or rod maker on Fishing On The Job. Know a local company that should be included? Shoot me an email at jimmy@onthewater.com

Wet snow fell throughout the day, making the conditions less than comfortable.

My target was largemouth bass. I’ve never really done much fishing for largemouths in the winter, but from the sound of it, if you can find a concentration of them, the fishing can be pretty fast. (I would hear later on that the trout bite was phenomenal on Saturday in some of the stocked ponds.)

My target pond was relatively small, maybe 20 to 30 acres in size, and not very deep. Mushy weeds grew within 3 feet of the surface around almost the entire pond.

February Snow Day, Open Water Largemouth

On my third cast a healthy largemouth slurped up my Senko worm and got the day off to a good start.

The action continued pretty steady from there. When bass and pickerel proved to be a challenge, I rigged up a small Trout Magnet jig under a float and bailed nice-sized bluegills and yellow perch for a couple hours. I even caught a big golden shiner that, had I brought some large hooks with me, would have made an excellent live bait. At one point, a good-sized largemouth ate the tiny 1/64-ounce jig, but burrowed into the weeds on the ultra-light gear, and the hook eventually pulled.

Hook-caught golden shiner. I wouldn't mind live-lining one of these guys this spring.

I was surprised the pickerel weren't more active. Only a couple tiny "slime darts" attacked my lures throughout the day.

No shortage of these guys -- some of which were passed along to a certain seafood chef with his own cookbook and a monthly column in OTW.

All in all, it was a very good day and lots of fun – but I wouldn’t complain if my next weekend off had some of that mild winter weather everyone’s been raving about.

One of many palm-sized winter 'gills.

“Boston Whaler is a storied boat brand, and Sea Tow is the top name in boater assistance,” said Jeff Vaughn, Boston Whaler’s vice president of sales, marketing and customer service. “Our customers use their Boston Whalers in practically all types of seas, sometimes encountering harsh conditions. Participation in Sea Tow’s Sea Care program allows Boston Whaler to provide even more confidence and peace of mind to its customers.”

“Sea Tow is so pleased to welcome Boston Whaler to our Sea Care program,” said Kristen Frohnhoefer, Sea Tow’s chief administrative officer. “Our expert Sea Tow captains and staff are standing by 24/7 and look forward to helping make the boating experience worry-free for new Boston Whaler owners. Working with the official Boston Whaler Owners Club allows us to extend a special offer on Sea Tow membership to ensure that all Boston Whaler owners can focus on enjoying their day on the water.”

Boston Whaler owners interested in learning more about Sea Tow membership, can contact Debbie Saulnier at debbie.saulnier@whaler.com. Owners of Boston Whaler 345 Conquest or 370 Outrage models should contact Doug Wolf at doug.wolf@whaler.com.

Our favorite find at the 2012 Fly Fishing Show wasn’t exactly fly-fishing related though.Tucked in a corner of the G. Loomis booth, behind the rows of high-performance fly rods, was the new Shimano Tranx, a massive low-profile baitcasting reel due to hit shelves March 1.

Here's a photo Shimano Pro-Staffer and OTW Contributor Roy Leyva took of the Tranx at the Worcester Sportsmans Show in Mid February. This gives you an idea of the size of this reel. Photo courtesy of Roy Leyva.

The concept of the reel came from muskie anglers looking for a heavy duty reel that had a high speed retrieve, could cast well and had the guts to handle the constant casting and retrieving of heavy lures and baits. Plus it would need to be able to tame big angry fish.

Introducing the Shimano Tranx

Anybody who’s ever used a big metal lip lure knows that gear-wise, fishing for muskies has the same demands of fishing for striped bass. In fact, add in the saltwater element and the fact that big stripers run in packs, and striper fishing may be even more demanding than muskie fishing. But the Tranx has already proved itself in saltwater, and with tougher game than stripers or muskies – tuna. The reel packs 25 pounds of drag pressure – plenty enough to tame the school-sized bluefin that were so abundant from south of Martha’s Vineyard to the Jersey Shore this past summer.

The Tranx comes in two models, the high-speed TRX500HG, which retrieves 43-inches of line per crank, and the low-speed TRX500PG, which retrieves 30-inches of line per crank. The reels will hold up to 270 yards of 65-pound PowerPro braid. Both sizes retail for $499.99.

The profile of the reel makes it very comfortable in the hand, and with the guts and drag of a heavy-duty conventional and the castability and retrieve ratio of a high-speed, low-profile baitcaster, the Tranx is bound to have a number of applications both inshore and offshore here in the Northeast.

A Conrad Sr. Plug made by Tagger. (Photo courtesy of Steve George)

That was all I needed to hear. I had to get one. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. Few plug builders make the Conrad, and the plugs sporadically available on eBay or the Buy-Sell-Trade forums on some fishing websites were either too “well-loved” or priced as collectibles. So I abandoned the hunt, figuring maybe down the road I’ll find one.

Just this month, as I was gathering info for a Local Luremakers post, I saw that RuRu Lures makes a Conrad. I contacted Billy Riker to talk about the company  and I brought up the Conrad, noting that not many builders seem to make them these days.

Some Conrad Jr. plugs made by modern-day plugbuilders, BC Plugs (top two), RuRu Lures (middle two), Surf Asylum Lures (bottom two). (Photo Courtesy of Steve George)

“They’re very much a niche plug,” Billy said, “and most guys don’t have many spots they can fish them.” Conrads are made of maple – a dense wood – have weight added and have a nearly central line tie. All of these elements make for a plug that gets deep fast. “Within the first couple cranks, the plug is down three feet,” Riker said. “A Conrad can dive as much as eight to ten feet.”

There aren’t a great number of surfcasting locations where this water is accessible, though the tips of jetties, inlets and deeper coves are all potentially good Conrad spots.

4 original Danny Pichney Conrad Jrs. (top four), and a Beachmaster Conrad Jr. (bottom). (Photo Courtesy of Steve George)

I dug up more info about the Conrad on Russ Comeau’s Bassdozer.com. The Conrad was originally made by Danny Pichney, who had a request from a surfcaster named Conrad Malicoat on Cape Cod for a heavy plug that could reach the “Second Rip” off Provincetown. Russ writes that a super slow retrieve allows the lure to get deep and perform a rolling sweep. The plug caught plenty of bass back in the day, and likely still does for the anglers who pack this classic plug style in their plug bags.

UPDATE 2/13/12

After posting this, Steve Musso of Super Strike lures dropped me a message with a link to a thread on Surfrats.com, that tells a different history of the Conrad Plug. As it turns out, Conrad Malicoat was  actually the innovator his namesake plug style. Conrad modified an Atom 40 plug by flattening the nose and making some adjustments to the weighting to get the plug to dig deeper. One night an angler found one of these plugs on the beach and took it Danny Pichney who reproduced the lure. For more info on the Conrad’s history, check out the thread on Surfrats HERE.

At the Tackle Direct booth, we had a chance to check out the new Sting-o G-Rod Series jigging rods. You might be familiar with the Sting-o PBJ jigs. These are some of the best metal jigs we’ve fished, and their incredible flutter on the fall make them deadly on black sea bass, cod, pollock, stripers, blues, bluefin tuna and even haddock.

The rods had a great feel, a very comfortable grip and some serious backbone. Check out this video of testing the rods:

And though it might be hard to believe after seeing the unholy bend the tests put into the G-Rods, these rods are all two piece.

Also at the Tackle Direct booth, was a new-to-the-market foul weather jacket from STORMR. As a part of the Henderson Sports Group, STORMR jackets brought some of the benefits of a wetsuit and adapted them to fishing from land or from a boat.

Like a wetsuit, the stitches on the jacket are glued and covered with a liquid tape, making the jacket totally wind proof and waterproof. The jackets are made of neoprene, and are light, warm, waterproof and comfortable. They allow excellent freedom of movement and look like they’ll be a great top for both the boat and the surf.

We also had the chance to check out the brand new DJR6500 Spinning Reel from Canyon Reels. This offshore spinning reel packs 66 pounds of drag pressure, has a sealed body and drag, and a very affordable price point.

I heard about Run-Off jigs from OTW contributor Chris Shoplock, the Fishing Department Manager at Harry’s Army Navy in Robbinsville, NJ,  who mentioned them as the hot fluke lure week after week during phone calls for the OTW Fishing Forecast. I’d never heard of them before, but when I did a quick search, I turned up the website of Captain Pete Meyers. Pete owns the Run Off Charters, fishing out of City Island, NY on his 25-foot Parker.

From his experience on the water, Pete began crafting his own line of lures in the Run Off Lure Company. Pete specializes in jigs and spoons, making a wide variety from big Norwegian-style jigs for cod to smaller jigging spoons for fluke and sea bass. One of the more popular styles is the Run-Off Fish Head Jig which comes has a large reflective eye and a spinnerbait blade for extra flutter and flash.

The Run-Off Fish Head Jigs have a unique fluttering action on the drop.

Some of the swing-hook fluke jigs are also very popular and very effective for these flatfish while tipped with Berkley Gulp or bait. I especially liked the “shrimp-style” fluke jigs when I fished them this summer.

Tipped with bait or Berkley Gulp the Run-Off Shrimp and Squid jigs are deadly effective on on keeper fluke.

Check out the Run Off jigs yourself at www.runofflures.com.

In the comments section below, tell us why you fish the Striper Cup, whatever the reason, and we’ll enter everyone who participates into a raffle for a pair of Costa Del Mar polarized fishing sunglasses.