For early season fluke, seabass and weakfish, Jersey anglers have discovered jigging can pay big dividends and rattles are where it's at!

By Bob Misak

"Uncle Stan" figures it out...

With the introduction of the jig head first and then the bucktail some million years ago (well, maybe not back that far) were standard patterns like the lead head and plain white bucktail with white or chartreuse feathers on it. Today, these "go-to" jigs of old still work when other stuff seemingly doesn't. But as years passed...and this is no secret...all types of plugs, bucktails and plastics were introduced to the market. Each has its place along our coast, and each has been field tested (or we hope they have) to ensure that they do the trick when it comes to catching either hungry or finicky fish.

It seemed that over the years, few had thought of rattling in big fish, much like a hunter rattles in a trophy buck during early fall. A choice few had figured out that the fresh water scene, particularly largemouth bass, had responded very, very nicely to rattle jigs fished on bottom, especially when getting them to hit rattles during the picky spawn period in June. Again, only a few such as record holder Greg Myerson had it figured out, and his multi-colored rattle sinkers fly off the shelves as fast they go up there today. But alas, the S & S Bucktail is born, a bucktail equipped with a rattle, thought up and self-marketed by Stan Gola, a bucktail madman and the brains behind this remarkable new offering to the fishing world.

A little "Rattle in the Saddle"!

So the S & S Rattling Bucktail is born and with that, the concept of bringing fish in with sound as well as motion and sight, a brilliant idea by a thinker of angling...and Stan Gola didn't falter. These bucktails could, and would work a bit better in dirty water, the rattle of course being the kicker attractant. Stan came up with some bright colors, some less loud colors and all with a "rattle to their roll". These lures did very well over the bait store shelves in the northeast the past few years. The reason? Simple...they catch fish.

Stan started out with some bigger stuff, and in the ocean it proved deadly. Rattle bucktails were rarely fished, and if so, most had to dig into the fresh water stash to do it (and those hooks are just not equipped for big water salt angling). Stan's stuff has good strong hooks and virtually every color of the rainbow, depending on one's preference. And the rigs have what I and every other fluke or weakie fisherman look for... that touch of greenish Mylar, which Stan says isn't even called green. But we'll let that be Stan's secret. At any rate, S & S has bucktails in virtually every store in central Jersey and Stan is quickly expanding north and south, with merchandise on stores in other states. Stan's S&S Bucktails sell because they work.

Stan Gola from S&S Bucktails with a nice sea bass taken on...what else...an S&S wide eye bucktail!

Behold the light weight wide eye...

S & S's newest item...one that Stan and his team of color experts worked on for some time is the wide eye...our featured bucktail of the month. The wide eye has an inverted eye rather than a rounded one and comes in sizes from three-eighths up to three-quarter ounce, with Stan knocking it out of the park on the color scheme.

The Mantis shrimp and the spot in three-eighths are surely going to be a must for the early fluke run when shrimp are on the diet of bigger fluke. A must for any inshore guy to up his game, and one of my personal favorites for fluke and weakfish is the spot with its light brown feathers. This one is looking especially deadly!

Last month the S&S line was featured in a seminar at Creekside Outfitters in Waretown. Stan focused on his newest rattling bucktails and offered some bucktail tips to the anglers in attendance. You can find the wide eye in the smaller as well as the bigger sizes in Liza and Bill's shop right there in Waretown. You can also get these sweet, rattling little beauties all over...and if you don't have a few in your arsenal as the weakfish invade...shame on you! Go now, and find those wide eyes, and load up. You'll find a new product that is deadly for fluke, weakfish, bass and other species. You'll find that once you fish with the S & S family of quality "bucktailing" products by Stanley Gola, you'll never fish another bucktail. We welcome Stan and his company S & S Bucktails to the Fishinjersey.com family and we wish him much luck with his new products. Uncle Stan seems to have it figured out, and his bottom bouncers are a cut above the rest. Good luck and great fishing.

S &S Bucktails new wide eye lightweight bucktails are a must for the weakfish and early fluke season.