just sayin’…if you have few pennies left after Da Wife finished her shopping…:-)

Some news from our friends and supporters

Our friends at Fisherman’s Headquarters http://www.fishermansheadquarters.com/ in NJ have new $130 MAK angler Surf Bag in stock. Stop by the store if you are in the area

Our friends at LI Outdoorsman are having a special this weekend…

Starting today and ending at close of business on Monday when you buy any VAN STAAL reel in stock you’ll get mono backing and 150 yds of braid installed for FREE.
Lots of gear instock,rods,reels,lures,bags,etc.
FRESH Bunker,LIVE Eels,Clams,etc.
L.I.Outdoorsman
“For All Your Outdoor Needs”
434 Sunrise Hwy
Rockville Centre NY 11570
www.lioutdoorsman.com
516-678-5554

Our supporter Armand from RI Poppers has just sent a load of lures to Satwaters tackle in West Islip NY 

 www.​saltwaterstackle.​com/  If you are in the ares, stop by and say hi to Mike and crew. Give them our regards

And last but not least, Paulie’s Bait and Tackle Tournament in Montauk Point, NY is on tap for next weekend.

I hope all of you are having a great weekend with your families and remember those who gave their lives so we can live the American Dream.

God Bless our Troops

 Some of you know Richard Troxler from Noreast boards where he is a moderator. Some of you have read his posts or a story in the last year issue of the Surfcaster’s Journal Magazine.

Some of you were stunned by his ” Last Man Standing” masterpiece in the current issue of the Surfcaster’s Journal.

Some of you might even know that he possesses mad woodworking skills. Or that he is a top notch surfcaster.

He is a kind of surfcaster who likes to tinker with his stuff. Never satisfied with store bought bucktails he makes his own. We did this video about a year ago.

 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFxW9P6pD0s[/youtube]

All these things make Rich obviously a very interesting person to be around and fish with. But this is just a small part of who Richard Troxler is….

There is so much more to him

including this !!

🙂

 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GqlqOv_fKA[/youtube]

There is a  lot of talk about two piece rods today. In fact, I don’t remember ever hearing about them as much as I did in the  last year or two. Some even dare to compare them to one piece rods although they are predictably attacked fairly quickly by internet experts.

I personally won’t make any proclamations, one way or another. All I am going to tell you that after almost 20 years with fishing nothing but one piece rods from Lami I will be fishing with only two piece rods from St Croix this season. Lou has finished wrapping my Legend  blanks and I am kind of psyched about it…time will tell

One brand that is getting a lot of attention, besides St Croix,  is CTS. I had a pleasure of casting one in the parking lot at West End 2 on blustery April morning and all I could say way Holy !@$#% (although I took that out of the video footage).

Here is our Rod Guru Lou Caruso, sharing his thoughts on these rods.

You can contact Lou with any questions at http://louscustomrods.com/

And yes, Lou will build you a custom, St Croix, Lami or CTS rod. Dude builds great rods, regardless of who is manufacturing them.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND8enGbgFOk[/youtube]

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I hope you ladies and gents had a very productive weekend andthe  fishes cooperated.

It’s time to play…name that picture where you can win incredible prizes including a brand new Toyota Tundra courtesy of Tri-State…ok, we are kidding about a new truck but we are not kidding about giving you a chance to win this piece of fishing art, a fish catching machine, from our friend Larry Wentworth from Big Fish Bait Co

http://www.bigfishbaitco.com/customlures/index.php

Here is your chance to win this Big Fish Prey Swimmer.

.

.

.

How?

By guessing on which page is our esteemed editor Roger Martin’s  favorite picture located in the current issue of the Surfcaster’s Journal Magazine

. One guess per person please and good luck.

Here is the magazine for your convenience

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Here is an interesting phenomenon …surfcasters can’t wait till spring to wet their lines. That much we all know for sure. In New York, once bass show up in Little Neck Bay and bite becomes more or less predictable, place gets crowded in the hurry. Many of those who toiled in obscurity before bass showed up choose to find other places to wet the line as the crowds become too close for comfort

Manhasset harbor gets an influx of guys not wanting be crowded at Little Neck, plus they get accompanied by locals who are getting back into it after hibernating. They pick at small, barely legalish fish and those who fish at night see some respectable fish. But big fish, 20 pounds and up ? Most of the time they only see it, they rarely never catch it. Because many of those very early spring cows want no part of plugs or teasers. What they crave is bait, either freshest kind or live. The pluggers go home in frustration and come back with bigger rods, bigger reels and bigger lures…and incur same results .

Anyway, this has been my observation over the years. I will never forget calling my buddy who lives in the area at midnight one night after landing numerous fish over 20 pounds…on April 15!

He came ,he plugged and next night for the first time in his life, after 30 years of only plugging he bought bunker. …..

But this is not bait over plugs, not at all. That is the subject that is about as interesting to talk about as it is to  watch the paint dry.

Here is what puzzles me Continue reading →

The decade past……

Montauk sand beaches at dawn and dusk, big pencil and tins equal big fish. After so many years of  poor springs, after bunker boats have stopped harassing bunker, NJ beaches light up every spring for now seven or eight consecutive years. Spring storms , mainly with east winds bring big bass around Montauk Point in the June. Big fish catches in places like Cuttyhunk, Cape Cod Canal and Cuttyhunk in spring into the summer months

Fast forward to 2010

Spring 2010…insane bunker blitzes on the beaches of NJ. Boaters in NY get a shot at these fish latter in the spring. Cape Cod Canal explodes with mackerel being slaughtered by hungry stripers….

2011

Spring run in NJ is on. Rockaway boaters  are killing big bass on bunker spoons. The Delaware anglers are seeing the most insane blitzes anyone can remember. From our friend and popular author Eric Burnley :” Indian River Inlet in Delaware is in the middle of the hottest rockfish bite in memory.  The fish are coming in during flood tides and eating everything in sight.  Very few are under 28 inches and the largest to date has been 37 pounds.  Tsunami shads, white bucktails with a white worm or eels have been the most popular baits.  On Saturday from 4:00 to 9:00 PM every man, woman and child had a limit and released many more.  Sunday evening was almost as good and more were caught on Monday morning.

The surf is still a slow pick with cut bunker the most productive offering.  A few fish to 30 pounds have been caught from the beach.”

Where am I going with this? You should be able to figure this out unless you bought hundred of tins and are waiting for the fall run. I know many anglers who wouldn’t even bother fishing in the spring at all in the past. Summer too. Around Labor day, they would get their gear ready and they would catch lots of big fish. To them , spring fishery was too difficult. Too much fishing at night, too many hours away from bed, too many days of looking like zombie at work.

But even they are coming around realizing that their shot at big fish is right now, not in the fall.

The game has changed…the spring was always a great time to catch a slob but the difference is that fall run is rapidly becoming a second fiddle to spring run. I’ve seen bad falls, and I’ve seen great fall fishing and my feelings has always been based on patterns.

A pattern is a pattern till it’s broken. Then is not a pattern any more. Montauk sand hot fishing around July 4^th weekend is a busted pattern. For few years all you needed was a long cast and someone to put you up on the spot. Not that easy any more.

Fall peanut bunker was a pattern till peanut bunker disappeared. Now we have a sand eel patterns for few years in the row. That pattern is unbroken.

If you want a lot of fish and big crowds, by all mean wait for the fall. If you want a slob, your time is coming up soon and in many places its already here. If you want the crowds and big fish today… head to NJ…or Cape Cod Canal

who knows, this could be you

We have bunch of new videos for you coming up. Some clips from our winter seminar series, Rod Guru talking about new CTS blanks in the parking lot of West End 2 while freezing his butt off, a video on St Croix custom built Legend rod I am still working on, Roger is talking about using Casting Eggs and more….now if there was only about 60 hours in the day so I could get all the stuff done that I have lined up on my plate.

First up is Line Stretcher Tackle ….I, like many of you, was totally wrong about this lure. Heck, I don’t know if there ever was a lure which was more misunderstood then Surface Tension. Most guys look at it and say it’s a bluefish lure or something that can be cast long distance when cast is needed…but then you realize you have to sloooooow down your retrieve and wonderful thing will happen.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhVgL6xsz5I[/youtube]

Get familiar with issue #7…nice giveaway coming up for those who know what to look for 🙂
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today we have a video blog, courtesy of Evan , the maker of Lure Tubes Tackle System at http://luretubes.com/

Here is his new video showing functionality and many uses of his Lure Tube System

Make sure you watch it because there is going to be a test 🙂

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_ecedQ2Mw0&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

And to make it really cool, after you watch the video we will give one of you a chance to win this Lure Tube and a cool Lure Tube hat. Shipped to your casa by Surfcaster’s Journal and courtesy  of the Lure Tubes Tackle System

Because you are worth it 🙂