Born and raised in Daytona Beach, my love of fishing started early as I tagged along with my dad (Andy Moser) and my brother, Bill. Fishing was our thing, whether it be surf fishing or offshore fishing, I would totally pout if I didn’t get to go! Bill and I would catch sandfleas and catch live bait using a seine net in the surf (not illegal at the time) and then graduated to throwing our cast nets. Now both retired from our careers, we still love to go fishing and throwing our nets for the shrimp and mullet runs. But total retirement was not for me! I have always had a passion for fishing and art. The fate of these two things eventually turned into my dream retirement career: Just Hookin’ Fishing Jewelry!
On a slow day trolling offshore about 14 yrs ago with the girls, I made my youngest son, Kyle, a bracelet with a fishhook and some string we had on the boat. I gave it to him when I got home and the next thing I know, he posted it on this new social media site called “Instagram”. It got almost 400 likes in just a couple hours!
Kyle said “Mom, you need to make a bunch of these”! And so, it began! We started making bracelets for friends, and the more we made, the more they wanted them. We then recruited my sister Kathy to help keep up with the demand. Within a couple years we were sponsoring fishing tournaments such as Wounded Warriors, Fishstock Offshore, Inshore/Redfish tournaments, and doing local craft shows. We had so much great local support that kept us moving forward! You’ve gotta love our local fishing community, support local!
I started sketching new ideas for pendants and carving them into wax molds for casting. A client at one of the shows suggested we contact Frank Reubel Designs in Daytona Beach (https://reubeljewelry.com/) to help us with casting and production. They were a Godsend and took me under their wing. I learned so much from them and to this day thankfully they are my
amazing jewelry partners and extended family.
As we stepped up our designs and inventory, we started doing more craft shows and traveled all around Florida. We started having our jewelry featured for sale at several locations and it did well. During Covid, art shows were cancelled so we ramped up our online sales. That opened up a whole new world for us, literally. Thanks to our website and our Etsy Store, we now have customers nationally and worldwide and many of them have become friends and repeat customers. We are also members and a very proud sponsor of the Halifax Sport Fishing Club. This Club does some amazing things for our local community and if you love fishing, you should consider joining. (a shameless plug for a club we believe in!) Today locally you can find our merchandise at Off the Hook at Inlet Harbor, The Fishing Store (Outriggers), JB’s Fish Camp (Lagoon Adventures), Island Collection NSB, Cool Treats NSB, Surplus Unlimited, Tomoka Boat Club and Halifax Sport Fishing Club. You can also find us online at www.justhookin.com or on Etsy at JustHookinLLC.etsy.com
We are family run and would like to thank everyone who has helped us on this journey. I try to add at least one new design each year so keep an eye out for what’s next. A special thanks to our very valued customers and for helping supplement our fishing addiction. ;) When we are not working on jewelry we’re probably fishing. Hope to see you out there!
Catch ‘em up!
Mary Ann White
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