You will never find a commercially produced rod-and-reel combo or rubber tube jig in Murphy Royer’s Boat. This man is particular about his tackle, and either makes it or modifies store-bought stuff a lot.
Start with his jig poles.
He moved from B’n’M Bucks to Hi-Tech Panfish Special to building his own from Matrix AMF 907 Matrix graphite rod blanks sold by Mudhole Rod Building and Tackle Crafting.
He adds a 9-inch handle with a reel seat (also from Mudhole) to the butt end of each rod.
A Slater’s Pole Reel, made by Slater’s Jigs in Indianola, Miss., is mounted in the reel seat.
Everything else on the pole is modified.
Beginning with line placement, he doesn’t like his line on the outside of the pole, so at exactly 6 feet, 9 inches from the rod tip he drills a hole through the rod at a sharp angle, with the bit toward the rod tip. He then smoothens the edges of the hole with emery cloth.
He runs the line from the reel into the hole and up the rod and out its tip.
The tip of the rod is of his design, as well. It is a 1/8-inch stainless steel (not aluminum, which quickly develops grooves) pop rivet. He removes the pin from each rivet and mushrooms its tip. Super glue is used to attach the tips to the rods.
Fifteen-pound-test Seaguar fluorocarbon is Royer’s line of choice.
“I like its lack of memory,” he explained. “And when it does get curls, I just step on the jig with my foot and pull hard on the line to straighten it out.”
He makes his own jigs from scratch, although he admits a person can buy hair jigs that will catch fish.
As for tube jigs some fishermen like to use, Royer refuses to touch them.
“I don’t like their movement in the water,” he said.
He grinned broadly when asked about his corks.
“I make those, too,” Royer said. “When I couldn’t find natural jigging corks anymore, I tried synthetics but they broke too easily.”
So he bought a miniature belt sander and began shaping his own fishing corks from wine bottle corks. As for his source of wine bottle corks, he said it’s pretty easy to find ready supplies.
“Either drink a lot of wine or know someone who works in a restaurant,” Royer mugged.
He finishes each cork by brushing it with vinyl paint purchased from tackle supply companies.
Royer has begun selling most of his equipment, including finished, hand-made rod-and-reel rigs called “Jig Master by Murphy.”
Don’t look on the Internet for them, though: You will have to call (337-873-4443) to place your order. They are $160, ready-to-fish.
He even sells his hand-made natural corks for a buck apiece.
As for his jigs, well, they’re pretty much for his personal use only.
“I don’t sell them,” Royer said. “They are too much work and most people don’t want to pay the price.”
He relented after some more discussion, admitting that he sells a few to friends at $5 each.