JT (Jeros) tackle

[professor48]

Anybody use JT tackle? The company origin is an interesting story. I don't know about their present location, but back in the 1950s the company bought a closed elementary school in Brooklyn, NY, which became their factory. My father was a friend of the owners so we used to get all our fishing tackle for free. I never bought a rod or reel or hook or sinker until the 1970s. My father and I used to make our own sinkers each winter. We would get worn-out lead type from another one of his friends, who was a printer. We would melt the type in a cast-iron pot on my mother's kitchen stove. We'd then pour the molten lead into molds which had been preheated in her oven. Who knew from the dangers of lead fumes back in those days. My job was to clean the extra lead off the edges and in the center holes. We used to test new concepts for JT(Jeros) tackle before they went to manufacture. I was the first to use the "shock absorber" fluke rig, the one with a coil of leader inside some surgical tubing. We were also the first to test the fluke hook with the second, smaller hook up on the shank to better hook large fluke! In those days we could easily catch over 100 fluke a day and then go back for more the next day! My, how fishing has changed. Hy