Alternative to Uncle Josh?

[Zeeter]

Has anyone found an alternative to Uncle Josh's pork trailers? eBay is about dried up by now and I haven't seen any stores with lingering stock in over a year.

 

Plastic just doesn't do it for me. Maybe it's a confidence thing as I always had success with pork.

[MN Fisher]

Uncle Josh was the only one producing the thick pork-rind trailers. They stopped production due to supply issues from the slaughter houses...farms now producing 'lean' pigs. That was back in 2015. What's out there is it...no more new supplies.

 

There have been a couple articles about making your own...but again the problem is finding the right type of fatty hide to do so.

 

The era of the thick pork-rind is gone...it's nothing but flat trailers now.

 

https://www.onthewater.com/after-93-years-uncle-josh-to-stop-producing-pork-rinds

[Zeeter]

1 minute ago, MN Fisher said:

Uncle Josh was the only one producing the thick pork-rind trailers. They stopped production due to supply issues from the slaughter houses...farms now producing 'lean' pigs. That was back in 2015. What's out there is it...no more new supplies.

  

There have been a couple articles about making your own...but again the problem is finding the right type of fatty hide to do so.

  

The era of the thick pork-rind is gone...it's nothing but flat trailers now.

 

https://www.onthewater.com/after-93-years-uncle-josh-to-stop-producing-pork-rinds

Yeah I know they stopped making them due to pork prices. I'm just wondering why nobody else has stepped in to make them. I've tried to make some myself but they're not quite the same.

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, Zeeter said:

Yeah I know they stopped making them due to pork prices. I'm just wondering why nobody else has stepped in to make them. I've tried to make some myself but they're not quite the same.

It wasn't the prices...from the article I linked.

 

"The issue, explained a company representative, is that Uncle Josh has been unable to get the quality fatback they need to produce durable pork baits."

 

 

[Zeeter]

1 minute ago, MN Fisher said:

It wasn't the prices...from the article I linked.

 

"The issue, explained a company representative, is that Uncle Josh has been unable to get the quality fatback they need to produce durable pork baits."

  

 

That was the company line to make people believe it was that they didn't want to put out an inferior product. In reality they didn't want to pay for the higher quality pork.

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, Zeeter said:

In reality they didn't want to pay for the higher quality pork.

See, that makes no sense. It was their best-seller for decades. You don't think the customers (us) wouldn't pay a bit more to still have it available? The insane prices on E-Bay prove that people are willing to pay a premium. If it was cost of materials that Uncle Josh flinched at, don't you think they'd re-start production knowing that people would pay enough to recoup the costs and still make a profit?

[A-Jay]

I do not know of a duplicate product or a company with plans to offer one.

Pork ruled for a long time.

However,  IMO, those days are gone.  There are litterally hundreds of products readily available that catch big bass but lack the, let's call them, challenging, characteristics involved with pork trailer.  

 Give it up man. 

Come over to the dark side....

A-Jay 

[WRB]

I posted a how to make pork rind thread somewhere on this site a few years ago, messy and takes a few weeks but not difficult.

Live meat butcher shops will sell you good pork backs.

Tom

[scaleface]

I use to use the heck out of them .First was the eel . Then I started using the  frogs and Spring Lizards . The frogs were the best .

[GReb]

I think I still have a container of them somewhere from long ago. Who knows if they are still good

[punch]

A lot of the pork fans have moved over to the leather baits. www.leatherbaits.fish

[Zeeter]

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

See, that makes no sense. It was their best-seller for decades. You don't think the customers (us) wouldn't pay a bit more to still have it available? The insane prices on E-Bay prove that people are willing to pay a premium. If it was cost of materials that Uncle Josh flinched at, don't you think they'd re-start production knowing that people would pay enough to recoup the costs and still make a profit?

All I know is that if they wanted the less lean products they could have gotten them. Not all farmers went in the lean direction. I would certainly have paid a couple dollars more for them. Four out of my best five fish came from a jig and pig.

[Todd2]

There used to be a place down around KY lake that made them. Don't remember the name, they left a sample packet under my windshield wipers at the boat ramp. That's been some time ago though. I'm clinging to a few bottles of Uncle Josh in Brown/Orange. My black ones are long gone.

[WRB]

The difference between a good pork rind jig trailer and a poor one is floatation and suttle movements. Leather sinks although the Leather Baits claims otherwise, look at the product at the bottom of the tank, they don't float! 

I am not trying to promote pork rind trailers and realize they are history and not going make pork trailers for anyone but myself. 

Tom

[IgotWood]

Check out Otter Tails. They come is all kinds of shapes, sizes, and colors. They are literally bullet proof. And you can leave them on a bait forever and they won’t dry up on you. They’re actually a fabric material coated with soft plastic. They’re so tough that even toothy bluefish can’t chew them apart. I like to put two curly tails facing apart on a jig of a chatterbait. They come scented too. They are a bit of an investment initially, but you’ll never have to rebuy them because they literally last forever. There are other baits like this out there by several manufacturers. This just happened to be the only one I have used. 

[Choporoz]

On 5/22/2019 at 7:24 PM, punch said:

A lot of the pork fans have moved over to the leather baits. www.leatherbaits.fish

Just saw those today on tw...was wondering if anyone here was using them.  Looks impressive.

 

[the reel ess]

If soft plastics are good enough for every pro, they're good enough. Time to come into the 90's.

[Will Wetline]

On 5/28/2019 at 4:03 PM, Choporoz said:

Just saw those today on tw...was wondering if anyone here was using them.  Looks impressive.

 

I bought a pack of these last season, cut one in half and, with difficulty, stuck it on the end of a 1/8 oz. ball head bear hair jig. I didn't like how it looked in the water - the leather hardly moved - but the smallmouth in the picture below and two of its friends liked it just fine.

 

 

I've also tried a high-tech fabric, PVA (Polyvinyl Alcohol), which is marketed as an alternative to chamois and is called "the Absorber." Its primary market is auto enthusiasts but www.Cleantools.net recommends it for drying your wet dog or yourself after exercising. Anyway, I cut this stuff to shape and hung it on the back of a football jig.

 

 

It looked great in the water and this largemouth liked it,

 

 

but the casting distance was noticeably reduced. 

 

I will trim this design down for next season (I'm throwing plastics now, mainly ElaZtech) but do think the PVA material is worth further experimentation.

 

 

 

[Munkin]

On ‎5‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 6:25 PM, Zeeter said:

Has anyone found an alternative to Uncle Josh's pork trailers? eBay is about dried up by now and I haven't seen any stores with lingering stock in over a year.

 

Plastic just doesn't do it for me. Maybe it's a confidence thing as I always had success with pork.

I think I have a few jars laying around if interested?

 

Allen