Product Review from Fishing Reports Now

New fishing products come ....

New fishing products go.

Except when they come and stay.

Then you know you’ve got a winner.

Tony Maja’s Custom Bunker Spoons
and E-Z Outrooders, introduced to the market several years ago, have gained
a strong foothold in striped bass fishing.

Anglers can find them at practically
all the major tackle shops, read
about them in magazines such as Saltwater Sportsman and see them
in the TV fishing shows.

They were the “buzz” when introduced, and are more so now.

We recently talked with Tony, whose real name is Tony Arcabascio,
and asked him how the business was going.

“It’s going great,” he said. “The response has been great.”

The products from Maja--an acronym for his wife Marie, son Anthony, daughter Jeanine and himself, Anthony Sr., and also the name of his boat, the Maja--are currently sold at shops from Cape Cod to the
Mid Atlantic, the range of striped bass.

They’re also sold in Florida, the Bahamas, California, Washington, and Hawaii and are being

introduced to new areas.

Why did they become so popular?

“It sounds silly, but they work,” Tony said.

The spoons imitate wounded baitfish,
unlike standard spoons that look like bait
that's swimming.

The spoons are also less temperamental, easier to troll than traditional designs,
an article in the October issue of Saltwater Sportsman said.

Although Tony originally made the spoons from aluminum, they’re now made from
heavy stainless steel to sink deeper.

The out-rodders, rod holders used for trolling, are unique because they’re hinged, allowing the holder to be lifted to the upright position to remove the rod after hook-up.

That’s convenient and safer, keeping
the angler from leaning over the side
of a moving boat to remove the pole,
unlike with other out-rodders.

Of course, the out-rodders can be used for any kind of trolling, not only for striped bass.

Tony, who retired to Bayville near Barnegat Bay after living on Staten Island, has been making his own bunker spoons for 40 years.

One day he watched a striped bass pounce on a wounded bunker among a load of the batifish schooling in the ocean.

A light bulb went off, he said, and he began making his spoons to imitate a wounded baitfish.

After his tackle was perfected, he introduced it to major tackle shops in the heart of striped-bass-trolling areas. The shops included Sea Isle Custom Rod Builders on Long Island, Michael’s Bait & Tackle on Staten Island, The Tackle Box in Hazlet and The Reel Seat in Brielle.

The products took off, and a distributor now spreads them to new areas.

Tony currently fields a couple of dozen phone calls and e-mails a day from the public, asking about the products, he said.

“Not bad for a retired guy, huh?” he asked.

Looks like his products are here to stay.