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salt lures
10/14/04
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Saltwater
Classics
(# 9 in a Series)
Jerry Ferrone:
Legendary Lure Designer
by Frank Pintauro – Photography by Ed Poore
door writer Vlad Evanoff, junior
member Al Ferrone, and luremaker
Charlie Russo.
Jerry Ferrone (1899-1952) was a
master craftsman and well connected with the surf crowd up and
down the East Coast. He originally
worked as a rigger in the shipyards
of New Jersey, and before that he
was a rigger and bridge painter for
the city of New York. This was
tough, hazardous work; so it was
not surprising that by the early
1930s Ferrone began to think about
earning a living in some other way.
He began to dabble in making various fishing products.
At first he just made tin squids
and custom rods out of his original
shop which was at 260 First Avenue.
Then he continued from his residence at 277 East 10th Street. But by
the end of World War II, Ferrone
moved his business to his workshop
Jerry Ferrone at Long Beach, NY with a nice catch of stripers, c. 1937.
A homemade, hand-carved plug is on the pole.
(Editor’s note: Jerry Ferrone
spelled his name with a final “e,” but
he marketed his lures and his business using the name “Ferron” without the final “e.” Hence you will see
both spellings in this article.)
I
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f you’re a striper fisherman,
chances are you’ve heard of
Red Top Tackle Shop in
Buzzard’s Bay, Massachusetts;
Murat’s Tackle Shop in Woonsocket,
Rhode Island; Kronuck’s Tackle
Shop in Montauk, New York; and
Ferrone’s Tackle Shop in New York
City. All were legendary striper
haunts; and, in fact, Red Top and
Kronuck’s are still in business today.
Ferrone’s shop was a hub of
activity for the early New York City
striper crowd, and many members
of the Gramercy Surf Anglers hung
out there — including noted out-
Belly stamp on a Ferron Flaptail.
Hunting & Fishing Collectibles Magazine
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Ferron Fishing Products location;
tackle shop in front, workshop in rear.
Al Ferrone behind the counter; famed
outdoor writer Vlad Evanoff near the
door. Shiny tin squids in the window
and Ferrone plugs hanging behind Al.
Jerry Ferrone fishing Jones Reef at Montauk
(Long Island), c. 1948.
Avenue, J.T. O’Connel in Providence,
Rhode Island, Red Top Tackle in
Cape Cod, and Edgartown Tackle on
Martha’s Vineyard. Dewey Sandsbury caught a 42-pound bass on the
Ferron 40 Special 3-ounce Jig and
won the Martha’s Vineyard Derby
and the $500 first prize. In those days
a 40-pound striped bass was something to brag about.
To keep up with the increasing
at 417 East 10th Street in order to
keep up with the volume of work
that was coming to him. Tin squids
were being cast, assembled and
shipped to dealers from New Jersey
to Maine.
Ferrone’s customers included
Capitol Tackle, Orchard Street Louie,
Herman’s, Abercrombie and Fitch,
Bill Costello’s Tackle Shop on 3rd
November-December, 2004
Surf Tackle Company Turntail; Jerry Ferrone design and Frank Romanek paint job.
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Unmarked glass-eyed Flaptail attributed to Jerry Ferrone.
Forty-two-pound
bass weighed in
at Clayt Hoyle’s
tackle shop in
Martha’s Vineyard.
Hoyle was one of
America’s pioneer
surf fishermen and
swore by Ferrone
jigs with a white
maribou dressing.
This fish was
caught on a Ferron
eel skin jig # 40 in
June of 1948.
Shark attack! Ferrone loved to fish in
Rhode Island, and this 1942 trip to
Narragansett featured a surprise guest!
Ferrone was friendly with RI surf crowd,
and I am certain that Jerry Sylvester and
he shared lure-making ideas.
demand on his time, Ferrone took
on fellow Gramercy Surf Angler
Frank Romanek as his partner in the
lure-making part of the business,
along with his son Al, who tied all
the feathers on the 7/0 hooks for his
squids. Al also did all the silk wrapping on the rods. Al specialized in
diamond, chevron, and checkerboard wrappings on South Bend
split bamboo blanks — and later, on
Conlon and Harnell glass rods.
Even in the late 1940s the Ferrone
shop’s work was so good that they
were selling surf rods for $125.
While Ferrone had primary
responsibility for the design of the
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Outstanding glass-eye Ferron Flaptail and box; a hard-to-find unit.
Flaptails, Poppers, Swing-Tails, and
underwater Swimmers that he and
Romanek produced, Romanek did
all the painting of the plugs in a loft
across the street from 417 East 10th
Street. They shared responsibility
for the assembly of lures which up
to that point in time Ferrone had
been making for his own use.
As I mentioned earlier, Romanek
was a fellow Gramercy Surf Angler;
he had been away in the Navy for
four years during World War II and
had been shelled quite a bit. He
came home a nervous wreck.
Ferrone felt the work would calm
him down, and over time it did.
Romanek’s painting was top notch
Hunting & Fishing Collectibles Magazine
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A sample of Ferron
tins and ringed eel
skin squids
featuring the
innovative
escutcheon pin
swing hook.
A box filled with Ferron
eel jigs from Ferrone’s
retail tackle shop at
271 E. 10th Street.
Ferron Poppers came in glass and painted-eye models.
and was rivaled only by fellow surf
angler, Charlie Russo.
By 1947 Ferrone opened his retail
Tackle Shop at 271 East 10th Street,
and in the rear of the store he maintained his workshops which were
busier than ever producing the tin
squids, custom surf rods, bait, outNovember-December, 2004
board motor and reel repairs, etc.
Taking advantage of being so close
to the Fulton Fish Market, Ferrone
also began specializing in selling eel
skins to fisherman and tackle shop
owners up and down the East
Coast.
At this point, stretched to the
Ferrone advertised in the Feb 1947 issue
of The Salt Water Sportsman right
before the National Sportsman’s Show at
the Grand Central Palace. In former years
freshwater plugs were featured; but at the
1947 Show saltwater plugs dominated as
dozens of different manufacturers put on
displays, and sportswriters noticed. This
was an historic, defining moment for the
“striper crowd.”
limit and because of some minor disagreements, Ferrone and Romanek
dissolved their partnership; and in
1948 the lure-making part of the
business was left to Romanek.
Ferrone had a large supply of his
lures — some stamped on the bottom, some not — which he took with
him and sold out of his store until he
exhausted his supply.
Meanwhile, Romanek went out
and got himself a partner named
Michael C. Krow and they established Surf Tackle Company which
stayed in business until February of
1950. They specialized in a mail
order business and advertised heavily in early issues of The Salt Water
Sportsman. Romanek designed and
manufactured the short-lived freshwater lure called the “Blimpy,” a
lure that I have never been able to
find. Krow was an avid surf fisherman and spent much of his spare
time fishing the Cape Cod Canal; he
died in September of 1984 in a tragic boating accident.
By 1950, with son Al off in the
Army and himself in poor health,
Ferrone shut down his business. He
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Belly shot of a Surf Tackle Co. – N.Y.C. Flaptail.
died two years later after five heart
attacks. Yet more than 50 years later,
his jigs with the patented improved
escutcheon pin swing hook and his
ringed eel skin squids are as popular as ever with striper experts up
and down the coast; and at least
once a year I find a fishing article in
a major sporting publication touting
their fish-catching ability. The late
Frank Woolner in a short story entitled “Encounter” in 1980 celebrated
the craftsmanship and lost art of the
Ferrone block tin squid. Collectors
around the New York-New Jersey
area scour garage sales in the hope
of finding them to use.
Ferrone fished all the hallowed
striper grounds on the East Coast
Phil Cappel shows off
his daughter and a load
of stripers taken on a
Ferron Flaptail off a
Long Beach jetty in
1947.
and rubbed shoulders with striper
legends like Bernie Calitri, Jerry
Sylvester, and Joe Tatori of Rhode
Island. These men also went on to
produce some of New England’s
finest surf plugs; but, in my estimation, it is Ferrone who is a true legend and one of the all-time greats.
From lure designer to lure innovator, to expert fisherman, to tackle
shop owner, to founding member of
the short-lived but famed Gramercy
Surf Anglers, Ferrone did it all and
was the linchpin for what was an
amazing lure revolution that happened right in the middle of New
York City.
(Readers wishing to contact
the writer may do so by calling
516-741-7044 or emailing —
[email protected])
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Hunting & Fishing Collectibles Magazine