Friends of Ti Survival

 

This section will be reserved for other makers/companies that I personally have used and would recommend to anyone. If you end up contacting any of them, let them know you heard about them from me.

GEOFF’S JIGS

I came across Geoff’s Jigs through a fishing forum. Geoff makes excellent bucktail jigs. This is a one man show. He makes every bucktail jig from scratch. He pours his jigs himself and ties them himself. This is a guy who does things with care. Every jig I have gotten from him has been perfect, and I get a huge satisfaction knowing I am supporting a “MADE IN THE USA” product. I consider him a friend and a very knowledgeable fisherman.

My favorite jigs of his are the swivel jigs. These things cast a lot farther than standard bucktail jigs. I have caught a number of different species with these jigs and his boxing glove jigs and there have been times where others fishing beside me with other lures have caught nothing while these jigs produced time and time again. The following is a report I had posted in a forum after my first trip out with these jigs:

Got a chance to go fishing this past Friday night and Saturday morning. Headed out to the 10k islands. Plan was the same as usual, catch some mullet and try for some shark and snook at night.
Went out with my father in law, brother in law, wife and dog. Got out on the water around 5PM and we were able to fish for a couple of hours before the sun went down.

Evening started out BAD, I tied a Geoff yellow swivel jig and threw it near a log we had seen a big sheephead hanging out under when we came in. Jig gets hung up and I had to cut the line. Thought about swimming out to it, but the water was cold.

I decide to tie a white swivel jig and proceed to catch the biggest group of ladyfish I had ever seen. catch about 5 or 6, enough bait for the whole night.

Meanwhile everyone else is fishing with fresh live pilchards and no one catches a thing. I tie a swivel jig on my wife’s line and she manages to catch a nice jack. Then my father in law follows and catches a spanish mackerel.

I then hook on to a nice fish, thinking its a nice red, it turns out to be a small jewfish. Later on catch a few more lady fish and then a nice spanish mackerel.

Night sets in and everyone prepares for some shark/snook fishing. I tie on a black boxing glove jig. I catch a few more lady fish and then hook up to something big. It was either a really nice red or jack, or maybe another grouper, never saw the fish. It peeled line until I had to set the drag a little tighter then I felt comfortable and the hook pulled out.

Felt a little bummed after I lost that one. We continue fishing. We catch a few sharks and a nice snook on the cut bait. Then the fishing died down.

Everyone went to bed, I stayed up tossing the black jig for a while with three rods out with some mullet heads, but nothing was biting. We had seen a group of dolphins swim by right before the bite turned off, not sure if they were still around or what.

I joined everyone else for a quick cat nap before the sun rose. Then I was up again. This time, I tied a regular white jig with a red feather in the middle. Started to fish with no luck. I had what felt like a few lady fish swipe on the jig, but no hook ups. I start to walk around and find some new promising spots. Everyone else was packing up, getting ready to leave. Hear my wife cry out, ” don’t go too far!”

I then make what would have been my last cast.

I’m fishing with 10lb power pro tossing about a 1/2 oz jig, so I can fling it quite a distance. I toss the jig as far as I can parallel to the shore. I give the jig a few yanks and see a really nice boil, almost too far to see what it is. All I feel is dead weight at first, then the tail comes up. Its a nice red.

The area I was fishing was an oyster bar and I had hooked the fish in somewhat deeper water. But there was really shallow water between me and the fish. I knew the fish could snap the line on the oysters if it swam any deeper and got a bad angle on me. But luckily. It ran parallel to shore and I was able to walk out to it. It put up a very memorable fight and it tried its hardest to shake that jig loose, but it was hooked good.

Here are some pictures:

If there is something you hear from people who use Geoff’s Jigs is that these seem to catch fish when nothing else will.

I recently experienced this when we went out again to the 10,000 islands and caught a mess of sea trout and redfish while others using popping corks with live shrimp caught nothing. These jigs work, plain and simple.

I have also used his jigs to catch freshwater fish as well, like this peacock bass:

If you would like to contact Geoff about some jigs his website is www.geoffsjigs.com

CHUDDY BEAR LEATHER

I contacted Chuck about some sheaths I wanted made for my two Busse knives. I wanted to be able to carry a fire piston and exo tube on the same sheath with my knives. Chuck is a very talented man and executed what I wanted like a true artist. Here are some pictures of the sheaths he made for me.

He can be contacted through his site www.chuddybearleather.com for pricing on sheaths for my products, Busse, and other knives.

MR.TITANIUM

I have found very useful and interesting information on his site. Specifically, here, where he explains how anodizing works.