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I have been using Tip-top Teak products for 20 years. Their cleaner, brightener and Oil/sealer. Always bought them in the largest containers they sold. Finished cleaning and brightening my deck and started oiling and found I could use some more to make it perfect. My marina, where I usually get it was out, so I asked them if they would order some more for me. That kind of a request is usually a 2-day turn around. Their supplier was out too. Went to another Marina who uses a completely different supplier...out. Went on line, found some place that had it on their on-line catalogue, went to order it...out of supply, no longer carry it. Googled the company, they seemed to have disappeared. Damned good products. Anybody hear if they've gone out of business? Walter

Have not heard anything on tip top products but star brite teak cleaner and brightner works good for me as does the 3m line. I know you have lots of teak on your model. I use toung oil on the interior and it holds up much longer than teak oil. Wish i had better news on your product my friend. good luck Troy 31Tiara"DRIFTER" Lafitte La

Walter,

I also use that product line. It has gotten really hard to find, you are right. I ordered a bunch of the powdered cleaner this spring, and hope it lasts a couple years. I have been hearing about change of ownership etc. now for over a year.

The phone number is 1-800-847-8671.

One of the challenges is that Kellogg doesn't carry them anymore, so mail order seems to be the only option in our area.

Good luck, and if I see any, I will grab extra for you.

Dug

Sorry Dug (for us)-Seems that phone number is disconnected. Walter

walterk what is it that you need the big bottle of crystal cleaner or the teak oil? i am sure i can get either just need a guide to the bass in montauk.anything over 30lbs is not to be had by me in fi inlet.

Bob-There seems to be cleaner on the shelves, but the Oil/sealer has pretty much disappeared. Gallon bottles are pretty much gone. If you get a gallon, bring it to the NE Rendezvous and I'll be glad to pay you. The Bass have not appeared at the point as of yet. The method of the past two years have been drifting live Porgies mostly around North Rips, Pollack Rip and the Elbow. The problem is the legality of the Porgies. Smaller ones are illegal, 10 1/2" on private boats and 11" on Charters. On the other hand Jimmy George, who has been taking more 40+ bass than most, has been slow trolling the Elbow with wire and his "secret" lure (which he now sells) which seems to be a big, painted Bunker Spoon. Unfortunately, trollers and drifters don't mix very well so at times it does get crazy. Walter

yes i can get a gallon of the tip top oil but i will refuse to take money,it is your bass wisdom i need.i heard about that crazy superspoon but i have a green and i have a crome one, can a color make that much differance??

bob
give it a couple more weeks for fi inlet, may be 3.
ill pm you if you would like some more tips

thank you charlie and yes sent a pm.the end of last year was the best i have ever had with elusive bass.i have a city fireman who works 3 days on and 4 off .he fishing for bass on those 4!!! he gave me scary instruction to put the bertram TWO feet off the rocks at democrat point.i was very tense,one good wave and i amm on the rocks well i back in with both engines running and he drop a sabiki rig right in front of the rocks (12') deep and up comes 3 big shad. a couple more drops to fill the live well.i am all eyes and ears this is all new to me.we go out the inlet west and he instructs me to use these huge treble hooks in the top of the nose -----don`t hurt the delicate 12" shad .well low and behold i realize big bass eat head first--huh???? nobody ever told me that before . two 30 pounders in 1 hour.i used clams,bunker,and troll the same area with wire and never pick up anything but blues and barely legal bass.i done nothing but offshore for years and missed out on some great inshore fishing------------or maybe they succumb to the 31 bertram!!!

Bob-I would think that if there were Shad or Bunker around, the silver would work well. If neither were around in any abundance, use the green. Troll slow (I use one engine) and troll against the tide. When the spoons are working properly, there's a steady throbbing on the line that shows in the rod tip dipping and rising at a steady pace as you go along. If the spoon picks up a weed, that will immediately stop...which is your signal to bring it in and let it out again. The normal formula is 10 ft of wire to 1 ft of depth, but strength of current and weight of lure often cause you to adjust that formula. I mark my lines with colored single strand telephone wire that I wrap somewhat like a double haywire I'd use in a shark wire leader. 4-5 turns sort of open, then 5-8 tight turns on either end. Makes a wider mark. Then hold a match or lighter under the mark for a minute or less. Helps adhere the mark to the wire. I find this works far better than tape marks that slip. If you have offset rod holders, use them to keep the tips further apart. When trolling 2 spoons, keep both at the same wire length so there's no tangling on turns. Walter

i have four dedicated wire rods they are equiped with penn 113hsp loaded with monel on dacron backer marked every 50' .i use a spoon on one and a "snake" on another with usually a unbrella rig in the middle.the rods have carbide rings and made of straight fiberglass.i presume this is what needed to get that pulse as the spoon moves back and forth the problem is i just don`t have luck with these rigs after spending considerable amount of money on tackle.just like you mention in your post "troll against the tide"well i never ahere to this and that is what i mean by one on one observation from pro`s like you and charle.

Bob,
A spoon and a snake work best at different speeds unless you know how to tune your spoons. Early season green or white spoons. If bluefish are around stay with white.
Go with 2-3 rods with the same make up. The only wild card are the shad rigs. Always bigger is better with the rubber fish.
Down here the fish are already chewin on the hard stuff, there have been some livies around and they worked on Saturday with my dad and my son (I was stuck in the Bahamas catchin Hornets) but I believe it was an early luck of the draw versus the baitfish actually moving out of the bay.
Bob whenever you want if the boat is fishin jump on board. Looks like tommorow and Sunday right now.
Fish to 30lbs have been caught locally

jp thanks for the invide i will take you up on it later in the year when the big guys come a knocking.i have notice those sliding weights on the spoons but never knew how to adjust for changing conditions.i notice you didn`t mention silver,would`t that represent a bunker which always comes into fire island inlet early in the year actually directlly across the atlantic from you.have you ever trolled a diver? the plugs with the spoon in front that causes them to dive to 30'. generally speaking that is the depth along the beach going west from this inlet.30 to 40' is average.and in my limited experiance only the schoolies to 30" go for the unbrella rig perhaps it is my presentation. i have tryed red,white,tan,green tube without much luck.the imatation shad with the foil inside get riped apart from school blues.livelining was sucessful but you have to look al over for pools and the bertram don`t like 2' of water in the near dark!!!!

Silver or Chrome is flashy and a good way to get bluefish bites. The white, yellow and brown and white (don't be afraid to paint your own) still draw bites from the bass without all the extra flash that brings the bluefish pileing on.
I've fished the Stretch plugs only when I was on boats that couldn't get slow enough to pull spoons. The one nice thing about them was that you could pull them on mono. They are rated to swim at their depthat like 100 or 150 ft behind the boat so be sure to mark your mono accordingly if your gonna use them.
I still like the old school wire and spoons. Even if IGFA doesn't allow wire line.

Bunker spoons need to be trolled real slow for the best action and right on the bottom. I like to see a pattern of several side to side motions and then one good eratic move. Too fast and too far from the bottom all you will see are schoolies and blues.

The weights on some spoons can be adjusted to get them to swim correctly, but most of the time a little tweaking here and there is what is needed for that one spoon that won't swim right.

Colors, I use white and silver(SS). Out in the Raritan Bay, silver has its days, but on most white will out produce. I have played with a bunch of different colors and reflecting tapes, but the only takers where the novice fisherman.

Fishing 30-40 feet, I'd use a drail at the end of the wire going to a mono leader, I prefer a long leader, minimum of 10-15 feet with a bead chain connection between. Large guides to allow the bead chain up the pole are a must have for me.

I have played with downriggers to get into deeper water, as I like the break from wire line once in awhile. But never produced anything good on them with bunker spoons, although a nice 30" fish on lighter tackle is a real plus in my book.

Slow days I'll troll three poles, two horizontal, out the sides and a center rig with drail so I can make some turns without fouling the lines.

We also found that using a single hook in place of the trebles gave us better hookups, thats how we used to sell ours.

sim thats a good informative post i guess you pick up on my fault(to fast and to shallow produces blue and schoolies)now i have to look into removing the treble off the spoons and replace with single hook.
thank all three of you for sheding some light on the do`s and don`t of bass fishing from the pro`s