This is not a personal attack on anybody. It's just a cautionary statement to the angling public to be on the lookout for some fake baits. Let the buyer beware. Rob, thanks for leaving this up and running, I think the public has a right to be informed on this.

Following are three links to pics I posted on Moment of Fame. It could be just as easily Moment of Shame for somebody.

This first one shows a comparison of the packaging. The green label on the top of the box is the fake. The real one has the label in the middle and pictures of Jerry and some of his catches. They even used the same font to print their labels.

http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshots/MomentOfFame/l90338.jpg

This one is a picture of the fake. The hooks on both baits in the pictures are tucked in behind the bait to prop it up, Notice the attempt to score the fins, just a few deep scratches, also there's no detail on the face of the bait other than a red line for a gill plate. The hooks appear to be rather small and not the same quality as the ones Jerry uses.

http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshots/MomentOfFame/l90339.jpg

Here is a picture of a real, honest to God, Jerry Rago Generic Trout, painted in a similar pattern. It's painted in a similar color pattern but with more detail including a scale pattern. The other obvious differences are the detail on the way the fins are prepared to make them appear more lifelike, and the carved detail on the face of the bait. Note the carved gill plates, as well as the detail around the mouth. These hooks are also tucked in behind the bait to prop it up, 4X stong trebles.

http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshots/MomentOfFame/l90340.jpg

Thankyou Steve for the post. That's good info for potential buyers of Jerry's baits, and pretty appalling! I don't think I've ever heard of another case where people were counterfeiting swimbaits. What's next, you go to New York and instead of Coach purses, people are trying to hawk fake Generic Trouts on the street? haha. But seriously, this is clearly an indication of how sought after Jerry's hardbaits are in Japan. Hopefully this info will keep buyers from getting duped into buying a fake.

Rob: Counterfeit Cuban cigars are found everywhere, even in Cuba. Caveat emptor! But the real ones are as 'purty' as Jerry's baits but they taste a LOT better:9

Dan

"Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less"

Deo Vindice

Hey Rob, when I tired to view the pics of the fake and original baits nothing was there. Is there something wrong or am I not doing something right?

The server or site they were posted on(Moment of fame) is going out of buisness and shutting down. That's probably the reason.

Trev-

Yeah it's what Trever said, Moment of Fame is down. Steve if you want to re-post them, you can use the attachment feature on this site to do it. The instructions are here:

http://www.calfishing.com/help/posting_pictures.html