Andrus Jetty Caster: Andrus Lure Company Millville, NJ
When Rich Andrus started fishing Montauk at the tip of Long Island, most of the local surfcasters were market fishermen, selling their catches to supplement their income. None of the other fishermen wanted anything to do with me, Andrus said, until they saw me catching fish on the Jetty Caster. Then I had a lot of friends.
The Jetty Caster is a style of bucktail made by Rich for his company, Andrus Lures. Based in Millville, New Jersey, Rich has travelled throughout the Northeast sampling the fishing and looking for inspiration for new lures. It might surprise some surfcasters to learn that this favorite bucktail style for the surf originated as a lure for trolling on wire line.
The inspiration for the Jetty Caster came before a trip with Frank Sabatowski, captain of the charter boat, Junebug. Those well-versed in striper fishing lore will recognize this as the very same vessel aboard which Charlie Cinto landed a 73-pound state-record striped bass on Sow and Pigs Reef off Cuttyhunk Island in Massachusetts.
I was fishing out of Sakonnet Point with a captain, and we weren't catching anything, but I could see the boat Junebug catching fish after fish.
After that Rich began to charter the Junebug. One year, Frank asked me to bring some bucktail jigs because he ran out. So I made them, trying to make them close to the ones he'd been using on his boat. Those were the first of the Jetty Casters. Tipped with green pork rind and trolled on wire line, that style of jig that was how Frank caught a lot of his big fish. But he was secretive about it. When he pulled the lure over the side, he cupped it in his hand so the other boats wouldn?t be able to see what he was using.
The lure did eventually migrate to the surf. It took a while to catch on, Rich said. Surf guys would constantly hang it in the boulders under the light at Montauk. But then, we started fishing it the same way we fished them on wire line, keeping them moving. You had to start retrieving them as soon as they hit the water.
The extra hair tied into the Jetty Caster helped keep the lure over the rocks and off the bottom on retrieves slow enough to entice stripers. The hair also gave the lure more action as it pulsed through the water during the retrieve. In addition to the extra hair, the Jetty Caster has a rounded head and a strong Mustad hook.
The Jetty Caster has become the best seller in the Andrus line, displacing bluefish-specific lures like the Ponytail that previously held the top spot. The Ponytail is a very productive bluefish trolling lure, and thanks to the chain used to attach the hook, is resistant to the blues sharp teeth. Rich also makes other styles of bucktails, including another productive surfcasting style, the Rip Splitter. The Andrus Fluke Dart, an oversized shad dart with a bucktail skirt, is downright deadly on shallow-water flatfish when tipped with a strip of bait or scented artificial. Andrus also offers trolling lures like the Parachute Jig and Jigit Eel.
Rich went full time into selling lures on April 15, 1974. The first shop to carry Andrus Lures was Johnny's Tackle Shop on Main Street in Montauk. Johnny Kronuch, whose son now runs the shop, gave Rich some helpful, albeit gruff, advice. I went in there and handed Johnny one of my jigs, and he grabbed the hook, twisted it in his fingers and said, Need bigger hooks. This won't work here.
The hooks available on the Jetty Caster now are about as tough as they come. One of the most popular sizes, the 1-1/2 ounce model, has an 8/0 Mustad.
For colors, the Jetty Caster comes in white, black, yellow, chartreuse, and now, due to increasing demand, a maroon red. A lot of guys seem to want red jigs these days, Rich explained. Rich also offers the lures in two-color combos like orange/black and black/purple.
Though Montauk Point was the proving ground for the Jetty Caster, it works anywhere stripers swim. Jetty Casters are available in 1/2, 3/4, 1 1/4, 1/2, 2, 2 1/2 and 3-ounce sizes. The 1/2-ounce size is popular in backwater areas, while the other end of the spectrum, the 3-ounce is used in deeper water, heavy surf, or high winds. For an all around size, 1 1/2 ounces seems to be the sweet spot. For a relatively small lure, compared to some of the giant plugs and out-sized soft-plastic baits on the market, the Jetty Caster has accounted for an unbelievable number of large striped bass.
While trolling the Jetty Caster on wire line may have faded from the repertoire of most striper anglers, the jig's extra hair and action underwater has made it popular for three-way-rigging and fishing the deep, strong currents of eastern Long Island Sound.
In the surf, Rich has found the most success by keeping the jigs moving. One of the most popular and effective techniques for fishing the Jetty Caster is to swim the jig, retrieving the jig at a steady pace, breaking it up with the occasional twitch of the rod tip. With the extra hair slowing the rate of descent of the jig, anglers can fish them anywhere from just under the surface to just above the bottom just by varying how long they allow the jig to sink.
Where ever you fish them, tip the jigs with some manner of trailer. A Jetty Caster paired with a strip of Uncle Josh number 70 pork rind is tough to beat, but curly-tail grubs will work as well.
Andrus, now 72, surfcasts on Block Island for a week each fall, but does most of his fishing closer to his Millville, New Jersey home, including the Cape May Point jetties, where the smaller-size Jetty Casters are deadly on the local stripers.
Today, under the Montauk Light, you're likely to find a lot of friends tossing an Andrus Jetty Caster bucktail, because this simple, yet superb lure was, is and will continue to be one of the best striped bass catchers ever made.
Article Published in: On The Water, May 29 2012.
Originally Posted by jigfreak
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Cranky Old Bassturd.
