CANYON TRIP ON THE DIABLO

As you read this, keep in mind Kevin has 100% Local Hooker Rods on his boat the Diablo...

Went out with returning customer Dan Coleman, his son Junior and some friends for a Canyon trip. Dan is a charter Captain himself. He runs a boat out of Oswego New York on lake Ontario. Strike King Charters. Dan had a successful sharking adventure with us back in July. So he immediately booked a Canyon trip after first mate Tim Folan talked up the adventure.

We headed out at 6 am on Saturday the 11th bound for Atlantis Canyon. We stopped at Menemsha on Marthas Vineyard to top off with fuel. Going out the water was a cool 63 degrees from the dock at Kingmans Marina till the Canyon edge where the water temp jumps to a balmy 75 degrees and cobalt blue.

Started trolling the east wall of Atlantis Canyon at about 12 pm. Got our first fish at about 2:30 pm a Mahi off a high flier. We circled back and trolled past the flier again and we had a wolf pack of Mahi Mahi attack our spread, boating one about 22 pounds.

With a few nice Mahi in the Boat and the sun going down, we grabbed a flier for the night. We started chunking and got our first runoff within minutes. There was squid around the the boat almost immediately. More Mahi Mahi taking our baits. Then a big ole Blue Shark showed up to harass us. Finally the blue dog took a bait. After a clean release he was demoralized and decided not to come back. Then some more Mahi, we then had 14 Mahis in the box, so we started releasing them. next to show up was Mr. Mako after a nice fight and a good jump we brought him boat side and let him go to grow bigger.

Then our deep drop Sword bait goes in a different direction. Tim jumps to attention and cranks the line up. We see the pitman sword light come up to the surface so we know we had something. Tim cranks and we get a visual, Swordfish!

In our excitement one of the other lines gets tangled up to the point where we could not reel the Sword fish. Only one choice at this point, cut the other line to get it out of the way. In the heat of the moment with a tangled mess, I cut the wrong line, the sword line was severed! With quick reaction Dan's son junior grabs the severed line and Junior and I hand line the Swordfish the rest of the way in. Pictures taken and high fives, we released the Sword.....Debt number 1 paid in full...

These fall nights are so long, but morning finally comes with new excitement. We get up on the troll before sunrise. At this point the wind started to crank up a little. The 1-3 foot seas that NOAA had forecasted were actually 3-7. We trolled west towards where we had heard some good reports. Not a touch for an hour. We crossed over in to 75 degree water and were heading for our numbers at a fast 8 knots.

Then at the Port side long rigger goes off. Bam, Our blue and silver Seabird Godfather lure Ma (www.seabirdtackle.com) gets taken! BLUE MARLIN on. He jumps about 10 times getting completely airborne multiple times. Dumping three quarters of the 50 wide Tiagra as we buckled Dan into a fighting stand up harness. Lines cleared and Dan locked in, I was in the tower, ready for battle. We backed down on the fish and helped Dan get line back. As I backed down the boat Dan gained line back, after a 25 minute of tug of war, we got the Marlin boat side. 8 feet and 300 pounds. All lit up she was. After many pictures, video and high fives the Marlin was dehooked and released healthy and vibrant. Dan was in tears of joy , as it was his dream to catch a Blue Marlin.....

We ended the trip on that note and headed for the barn. It was a long ride back as the seas were 4-7 from the North East. Well worth the long ride in when you catch up with couple of bills...... Check us out at: diablosportfishing.com

ON THE WATER MAGAZINE:

This was in the November issue of On The Water Magazine:

Local Hooker Rods Falmouth, Cape Cod (508) 548-121 www.localhookerrods.com

When you first set eyes on one of these rods, you might jump to the conclusion that something went horribly wrong in the building process. But spiral-wrapped rods are nothing new – they just never really caught on in the Northeast. The basic concept behind them is that the guides transfer the pressure caused by a fighting fish from above the rod blank to below. A conventional rod with guides placed on top of the rod blank has the tendency to want to twist left or right when it's under pressure. A spiral-wrapped rod, on the other hand, remains stable, and the angler doesn't have to use any pressure to keep the rod upright. This might not make much of a difference with light tackle, but when you're using heavy offshore reels, the angler ends up fighting the weight of the reel to keep it from twisting. I finally got the chance to fight a big fish with one of these rods, and I'm now a believer. On a trip to West Atlantis Canyon, I hooked into a 60-pound yellowfin tuna using a Local Hooker 30-pound-class acid-wrapped rod. Even with the relatively small 30-pound-class reel, I was able to stop the fish quickly, and the long, grueling process of winching in a tuna was relatively pain-free. All of the weight of the fish was transferred to the bottom of the rod, and it felt like I was able to get more leverage. The rod and reel held stable, and the fish came in quick. We had a double hook-up of fish of equal size (the other one hit a squid bar on a 50-pound-class reel with a conventional rod by another manufacturer). I had my fish in the boat about five minutes faster than the other angler, who was using heavier gear. Like I said, I'm now a believer.

YAKING FOR STRIPERS

Hello Bob, Got out in my yak a couple of times with my new rod. I've been lucky enough to be on some great early season action with a few keepers. The rod is fantastic. Casts really well. I love how the bend is so pronounced near the tip with a stiff backbone. Easy to control and turn fish from the yak. Can't wait to put it through some more rigorous testing. It's my pride and joy of my arsenal, thanks again. Scott

ON 6/18 I received this note: Hello again Bob, I had to report in on my latest kayaking adventure. While fishing off Grape Island in Hingham Bay I landed my personal best Striper, 44" 28 lbs. The rod continues to amaze me. Thanks, Scott M. Stoughton MA

FISHING ACADEMY

Local Hooker Rods has been asked to co-host "THE FISHING ACADEMY", a live talk show in Boston. The show is on every Thursday from 7:00 - 8:00 PM on 1510 AM or can be streamed via "THE ZONE" Bostons sports station. Go to http://www.1510thezone.com/ --->LISTEN LIVE<--- We have featured RonZ of RonZ Baits. Captain Kevin Malone of the Diablo Sportfishing. This week we will feature Mike Hogan of Hogy Baits... The Fishing Academy is a non-profit group founded by John Hoffman to help introduce kids to the sport of fishing, specifically kids who may never have had the chance... It's all about helping kids and doing the right thing! Thank you John!!!!!

LOCAL HOOKER RODS IS A VERY PROUD SPONSOR OF THE FISHING ACADEMY!

GET BENT soon!!!

Bob Jenkins Owner of Local Hooker Rods

100 MILES SOUTH OF NANTUCKET = CANYONS...

We left the dock at 2:00 PM Sunday knowing it was going to be windy later in the evening. Cold too! But it's June and the water at the Canyons looked 68 - 72 degrees: perfect fishing temps! We made the decision to go. Maybe even have bragging rights to the first fish caught this year? We headed out: John, Tim, Kevin and I on John's boat, the "TUNANUT". Four hours later, at 6:00 PM we had 68 degree temps and we saw a very large pod of dolphins. We didn't have all our lines out and we had three (3) blunefin tuna hit us at once! A HAT-TRICK!!!! We were BENT!!!!! It happened SO fast, I didn't have time to set the drag on an 80 I was hooking up to the outrigger and the fish bird-nested it and broke the line! Things happen FAST on a boat! We landed the other two fish. One a 57" and one a bit smaller... We hooked up with a beautiful football a bit later. It's GREAT to see the footballs again! The fish are reproducing and growing! If we ALL do our part, we can fish and manage our fish for generations to come! IT CAN BE DONE!!! Later, around 2:30 we'd set up fresh squid and were drifting for swordfish. WHAM - It hit slowly at first. Then it realized it was hooked. We landed the fish (a 64" 160# beauty) about half an hour later... Then about an hour later we had a 63" tuna hit us! Five bluefin tuna and a swordfish! An amazing night at the CANYONS!!!!! GET BENT soon!!!

CAPE COD TIMES JUNE 18 2009

This appeared in the CAPE COD TIMES THURSDAY 6/18/2009:

By ROB CONERY June 18, 2009

Want to meet a local hooker?

Bob Jenkins grew up fishing Chatham. His boat is still moored there, in Ryder's Cove. But his business ventures took him far and wide.

An ex-Marine combat engineer, and real estate investor, he found himself doing video conferencing sales in New York. Until that day of days: He was giving a presentation to Lehman Brothers on the 39th floor of the World Trade Center when the first plane hit on Sept. 11, 2001.

"I looked up and saw people jumping and I said (forget) this." Jenkins got out in time and walked uptown, and he never looked back. He returned to Cape Cod and went fishing.

Three years ago, he decided to combine his business acumen with his love of fishing and launched a saltwater rod building concern.

Local Hooker was born.

"I've been fishing since I was a little kid. I love all aspects, the preparation, getting the gear together," Jenkins says. "And definitely the camaraderie with your buddies out on the water."

These are serious rods, built to turn big fish. They make a handful of models, from stout 5-foot, 6-inch offshore/tuna rigs, medium-action trolling rods to 10-foot spinning rods.

Hand-assembled by a master rod builder right here at home, a custom deflection test performed on each blank helps the builder locate the true spine and set the guides accordingly. This limits torsion – which keeps the rod from wanting to spin in your hands, or break – and helps keep the pressure on the fish and the fish on the line.

No two rods are the same. The guides are set according to the individual rod, not some template. All guides are under-wrapped and then double-over wrapped with quality Gudebrod thread and covered with a UV-embedded, slow-dry epoxy for long life.

And some of them have real striper skin inlaid on the handle, which looks very cool.

That attention to detail is exactly what you're not going get from a rod pumped out of some anonymous factory overseas.

Three years in and the rods have a growing reputation. Jenkins has doubled his sales every year. The rods are available in many Cape tackle shops and as far away as Connecticut and Maine. Check out localhookerrods.com.

So while Wiley fights the good fight, it's time to ask ...

What's going on? First of all, last Saturday's Cape Cod Salties Learn to Fish event was a lot of fun. Lou MacKeil showed people how to customize their plugs, Bill Cottle talked about fly-fishing, Joe O'Clair tied flies and there were good vibes to spare. But the biggest screams were for the hotly contested crab races that had the kids in an uproar, and may or may not have engendered some friendly wagering on the side. Good times.

1. Buzzards Bay/Cape Cod Canal – Big sea bass continue to be caught in Buzzards, including many 5-pounders. The Canal has become picky. I fished it Sunday and got skunked – couldn't find fish in a bag of Van de Kamps. "Still some fish in the Canal, but you've got to be a professional" said Red Top. Swimming plugs have been working, and eels at night.

2. Islands – The Vineyard has been solid. Chappaquiddick has been the best for shore fishermen. Dick's Bait said cast Ron-Z's, Bombers and Slug-Go's have been working around sunset. The boat crowd is doing well, but fish are middling; not much over about 28 inches. Nantucket is lights out. Hot spot of the week. "Best fishing I've seen out here since 1975," said Steve at the Nantucket Tackle Center. "If you can't catch a fish out here this week, it's time to take up golf." The bigger fish are off to the east and south of the island.

3. Cape Southside Beaches and Estuaries – Bishops is the place to be. Consistent bass fishing all this week, especially on live or chunked scup. Trolling has been effective, too. Dowses has scup and some schoolie bass. West Dennis Beach has had wild, athletic, cart-wheeling blues in the evenings. Some squid reported down toward Monomoy.

4. Nantucket Sound – Solid. Middle Ground has some keeper bass. Ditto Hedge Fence. And Colliers is still going strong with bottom fish.

5. The Great Backside Beach – Some bass were caught, and tuna were taken off Peaked Hill Bar.

6. Cape Cod Bay – Captain Jeff was out on There's A Will and hooked 35 bass, with eight keepers and only one bluefish. A nice ratio, I think you'll agree. Wire-line jigging was working over Billingsgate with bass up to about 39 inches and big blues – like, 17-pound 36-inch bruisers – testing tackle and angler alike. Tuna have been spotted and pursued from the Fingers to the southwest corner of Stellwagen. And chunking the channel in Barnstable Harbor has been effective.

Freshwater – Joe McNamara hooked a 4-pound largemouth on a shiner to take first place in the youth division at a tournament at Glen Charlie Pond, making him the three-time defending champion. His mom told me he caught his first bass at age 4. Elsewhere, Sheep's Pond in Brewster had some nice smallmouth this week.

Catch 'em up!

TRAVEL ROD

Bob,

Thanks again for making such a great product! I took your MSF700G1220SR3 7' 3pc travel rod with me to St.Vincent the Grenadines this past spring and slammed Greater Barracuda and School Yellowfin with it! In addition to running my own charter business I have also worked in the Fishing Tackle Retail industry for over 15yrs. During that time I have yet to encounter as reliable a travel rod. I plan on taking this one to Panama next winter to try on rooster fish.

Tight lines brother! Captain Jack Sprengel USCG Master Captain East Coast Charters, LLC 401-338-1752