Odd Tube Lure

[nelz]

Hi Neiz,
I just saw this old post and thought I'd weigh in. I believe it is a plastic version of a "turkey bone lure". That was a trolling lure made from a turkey leg bone that was used for bluefish going as far back as sailing catboats that used to troll bluefish for market in the 19th century.

Thanks John. So it's designed to be trolled as is then, no eelskin? I would guess maybe an egg weight would be needed though.

[nelz]

Must have bigger Stripers on the east coast then we do on the left coast, that mono leader looks like 100 pound test or more.

Yeah, they get real big. My first big fish was a 34lb striper off a NY beach, that's just a middle-weight for those parts. Made my little Penn 712 scream real good though!

[Cuttyhunker]

This is my dad's eelskin rigging box, he fished Cuttyhunk for stripers in the 50's, moved there and was a guide from the early 60's for 20 years.  The tackle was all home made the rigid tube was much shorter than the first one pictured.  They cut down copper or PVC to about an inch drilled across it, then took an old style bead swivel, drilled thru the center of the bead and ran a brass pin thru the tube then the swivel in the center and out the other side of the tube.
Back in the day they were fished dead slow with wire or lead-line, the boats then were running the straight sixes and some had converted to a manual spork advance so they could retard the timing to a few hundred rpm.  You pumped the rod slow, lift til you felt the skin pop like a parachute filled up, then drop the tip for a swirling swimming action as the rig fell.  The boys kept the rigs in covered bean pots filled with brine in the back corner of the cockpits.

[Finest Kind]

Thank you for that description Cuttyhunker! I had only seen a few lead or brass commercially made heads. Your knowledge and description is definitive. It's good to know how the real Cuttyhunk guides made them. I am going to make some rigs up when I trap some big eels. I like fishing with vintage tackle, at least the reels and lures. The rods and line, not so much! This is my best so far this season, 43 lbs on a Surfmaster.
John

[Cuttyhunker]

John,
The surfcasters fished dead rigged eels at night off the beaches with the similar slow retrieve. Nice striper