Striper Day 2016 is scheduled to take place exactly two weeks from today, so I figured it would be fitting to delve a little deeper about where, why, who and where.

I am going to repeat this few times in this blog post but all the show info is on show website, www.striperday.com

I think the first question and probably the one most difficult one to answer is why? Why in  the world do I need another thing on my plate? The answer is kind of simplistic but it’s true. We travel from New Jersey to Massachusetts each winter in search of surfcasters or to put it more accurately, shows where surfcasters gather.

The Surf Day in NJ is by far our favorite event to attend. It’s the only pure surf fishing show and the one we enjoy going to most. We get to hang out with readers, attend seminars and just spend a day talking nothing but surf fishing. Three day shows are very difficult to pull not only financially, but the time you need to allocate to them, that is why we don’t do that many. I think I can speak for everyone here when I say that we would love nothing more than to show up at a well attended surf fishing show in New York if somebody else would organize it. But I guess after years of waiting for that to happen, we decided to do it ourselves. Gathering from interest expressed on social media, it seems to me that this is something that is very much looked forward to, but we won’t know until that fateful day arrives.

Ok what is Striper Day ?

Striper Day will feature about 80 vendors of fishing equipment, from custom plug makers to rod builders,roof rack makers, tackle stores, apparel makers, authors, surf guides, custom bag makers, everyone associated with surf fishing will more or less be there. There is a long list on our website of all the vendors that are appearing in New York for the first time. Guys like Big Rock Lures, Flatlander bags, or Goo Goo plugs have never been to a show in New York before. In addition to them there will be few more local tackle stores, beach driving organizations and we will even have some kayak presence for those of you who likes to dabble in both.

What Else ?

Seminars….going all day long in two different rooms, from today’s best known speakers. Here is a complete seminar schedule. Again all this information is on show website at www.striperday.com

Striper Day Seminars

(subject to change)

Main Auditorium

9:15AM-10:15AM

Bill Wetzel

Montauk Spring Striper Strategies

10:30AM-12 PM

Crazy Alberto Knie

Everything You Need To Know About Trophy Stripers

12:30-1PM

Steven Gallant presents

“ HARD DAY’S NIGHT”

Short Surfcasting Film

1:15-2:30 PM

John Skinner

Versatility – The Key to Surfcasting Happiness

3-4 PM

Q& A With Donny Musso

moderated by Dave Anderson

Seminar Room 143

9:15-10AM

Ralph Votta

Working Tins In The Surf

10:15-11AM

Al Gags

Fishing Plastics In Heavy Current

11:30AM-12:15PM

DJ Muller

Learn How To Find Stripers In Various Locations

12:30-1:15PM

William “Doc” Muller

Strategy  For Picking A Right Lure For A Right Situation

1:30-2:15PM

Mike Hogan

Fishing With Plastic Baits

2:30-3:15

Elias Vaisberg

Everything you Ever Wanted To Know About Kayak Fishing

As you probably noticed there is a short surf fishing film presentation by Stephen Gallant. We are really look forward to this.

What else?

There will be an hourly free raffle, free to all with the admission ticket. The winning raffle numbers will be posted every hour on the board by the SJ table so stop by at your convenience and see if your number match. If they do,  pick up an hourly prize. You can do this at any point during the day.

In addition to the free raffle we are going to also feature a separate raffle for which you can purchase tickets at the show. All net proceeds of this raffle will be donated to Heros On the Water veterans organization that works with our veterans and helps them getting into the water and into fishing. We can’t think of more deserving people to receive these proceeds then veterans of our armed forces. Here are the prizes for the Main Raffle, like I mentioned before you can purchase these tickets to show. The drawing will take place at 4 PM the conclusion at the show, and the winners must be present to claim their prize.

Striper Day Raffle

All Net Proceeds To Benefit Heros on the Water

Grand Prize -Van Staal VSX Reel

2016 St Croix Legend Rod

Pelican 35qt Progear Elite Cooler

STORMR Jacket

Korkers K5 Boots

Two Blue Frog Bucktail Sets

Tactical Angler Lure Set

Where ?

Hofstra University Student center. Here are directions from show website at www.striperday.com

We will have signs up directing everyone to the building around Hempstead Tpke on that day. Best bet imho is to use the entrance across the street from Dunkin’ Donuts on Hempstead Turnpike. Parking is free and plentiful as school is out for college kids.

Admission is $15 with Children under 10 admitted free.…but that’s not all. First 500 attendees will receive a gift package from SJ and our sponsors

Time : 8:30 AM – 4 PM Tickets will be available at the door. No advanced ticket sales.

Attendees will receive a door package from Super Strike Custom Lures,Tactical Anglers, Hogy Lures, SPRO, Savage Gear & Surfcaster’s Journal

First 100: Zeno Hromin book, Super Strike lure, Tactical Angler clip pack

Next 100: Zeno Hromin book, SPRO bucktail, Hogy lure pack

Next 200: Zeno Hromin book, Savage lure pack,SPRO swivel pack

Next 100: Zeno Hromin book & Savage or Hogy lure pack

Door package total is valued over $15 000 for attendees.

For the full list of vendors , please visit www.striperday.com

I was promised that the cafeteria will be open at 8 30 for coffee and then later in the morning with additional food. Keeping my fingers crossed on this one. Cafeteria is located only few steps away from the show venue

That’s about it, that’s about all I can think about right now. We are looking forward to seeing you, we hope you enjoy your day hanging with us, catching few seminars and seeing what our vendors have to offer.

 If you are planing to attend Striper Day, please click on bellow link and let us know that you coming if you have an FB account.It helps us get an idea of who’s coming. More on the show this weekend

Striper Day Event Page on FB   (https://www.facebook.com/events/895814953800660/)

First I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Funny story…. I was just walking from my job and as I am walking through Kmart in Penn Station, I found about 10 jars of Uncle Josh pork rinds for about five bucks each and I grabbed them all. 

Why?

Because Uncle Josh as of next year is stopping production on the pork rind line that we so love. Not hundred percent sure why, it seems to me that they need specific type of pork rind to make those and its not economical. I was told they have enough in stock for this year but after the current stock runs out they will not be produced anymore. Which is kind of upsetting considering I don’t use anything but the 240S or 70 S Uncle Josh pork rinds. I guess we will have to make adjustments. Those Otter Tails that Dave Anderson has written about in the past issue of the magazine might be the best replacement option. I’m not suggesting you stock up, what I’m telling you that I am certainly doing it. This way I can at least push the date when I have to worry about this years in the future. It would not surprise me one bit if we find that someone has jumped into the space and try to re-create a similar product.

One of these days I’m going to write details exactly what happened to me in the last few weeks, part of the reason why I was kind of absent. I have had not only one but two major computer failures and I let’s just say a lot of stuff is gone. In fact this is the first blog I’m writing by using a dictation software. Not sure why it took me so long to do it, because if any of you guys know me well, you know that I can’t type for shit. Blog can take me hours to type with one finger. The dictation software does not speak Cringlish either…major bummer

But it’s Christmas time, and I don’t want dwell on the negatives. My family is good, my friends are good and from what I can see, a lot of our readers are still catching fish, which is awesome. I mean seriously balmy 70° on Christmas Eve? I don’t know about you if you’re working office but for a  construction guys, it’s awesome.

As I mentioned before I just returned from Costa Rica where I was invited to test new PENN Clash reels and bunch of other stuff. I will try to write a detailed blog about the experience and the products,  and  I  can’t wait to go back there again. This is my second trip to Costa Rica, the first one being with my buddy Ray. We  just bounced on the rocks for a week and had a great time. This time i spent few days on a boat with Patrick Sabile casting away at roosters and jacks. I will readily admit that I kind of enjoy being the only “ surf” guy on this trip. While everyone else was just happily trolling live bait I was at the bow casting my arm off. The good news is that the new PENN Clash is as good as advertised, new spider wire camo supposedly cannot be made fast enough for retail sales, and a really good news for those of you who love Sabile lures, they will be relaunching them next year at the price point that you really going to like. If I remember correctly instead of $35 dollars expect to pay about $19 for them. And they will come in more colors like mackerel , bunker, with reinforced hook hangers and more details on the lures. I think sometimes people forget that every line needs a refreshing every once in a while. Patrick told me he’s been making those lures for about 17 years now and since he partnered up with pure fishing, he now has an ability to make them more affordable and with better hardware..

And last but not least, the winner of the last weeks giveaway, a set of Charlie’s Graves Lures is Tony Politi. Congratulations Toni, you have 5 days to email us at info@surfcastersjournal.com with your shipping address.

Merry Christmas everyone.

On the personal note, If you are planing to attend Striper Day, please click on bellow link and let us know that you coming if you have an FB account.It helps us get an idea of who’s coming. More on the show this weekend

Striper Day Event Page on FB   (https://www.facebook.com/events/895814953800660/)

I am back from a  trip to a  very fishy place, more on that coming up as soon as I can get over the jet lag.

hope all of you are doing well and getting ready for Christmas with your families.

I heard that new Van Staal VR reels have started to ship and I realized when I got off the plane yesterday that we shot this a month ago, around Thanksgiving but forgot all about it.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/TimUZZidIYk[/youtube]

Here are some new videos from SJ and one from John Skinner

Vas Staal VSX Reels with Craig Cantelmo

[youtube]https://youtu.be/rzPJduXxTX8[/youtube]

Bill Wetzel on Split Ring pliers

[youtube]https://youtu.be/Jl4RQEj11VM[/youtube]

Lou Caruso on Rac A Rod roof racks

[youtube]https://youtu.be/d76nD4WWvOE[/youtube]

John Skinner on darters

[youtube]https://youtu.be/M2mWD1VWA5s[/youtube]

just a quick note, actually two of them

1) those pesky camo hats are back in stock in the online store

2) all orders placed monday through friday will be shipped on Saturday the 19th

carry on…and easy on eggnog

The winner of awesome Gary Soldati pike is Tom Ryan,  fishking548@msn.com. Congrats Ryan, you have 5 days to contact us at info@surfcastersjournal.com with your shipping address

Gary will be at Striper Day 2016 at Hofstra University so save the date.

As will be the man responsible for today’s giveaway, Mr Ralph Votta from West End Fishing Tackle

Today we are giving you change to win a  set of Charlie Graves Fishing Lures a real nice set every angler should have at least some in his bag.

West End Fishing Tackle Inc

J9+J7-D5 & Butterfish Pure Tin

Ralph will also be at the Striper Day , as a vendor and a seminar speaker (I sense a theme here). One of these days I am going to write just what happened to me last few weeks from multiple Mac crashes, losing my mind and all my files and yes, even an intervention of someone named Mr. Cook in Cupertino..story for another day I guess. I am still (very slowly) trying to get back on my feet.

Speaking of Striper Day, we have created an “event” on FB .Unfortunately , FB limits the number of people we can “invite” from our friends list so I asked you of you are thinking of attending to follow this link 

Striper Day Event Page on FB   (https://www.facebook.com/events/895814953800660/)

The Midnight Ramber

By John Papciak
And Now For Something Completely Different (The Fall harvest)
Most of us are basically dock rats and beach bums at heart.
We’d give away most of the money in our wallet to get some extra time on the water. And somehow, the idea of living off the land – or the sea in this case – has immense appeal. You can buy a dozen hard shells for under $6 in many places, but its so much more rewarding to bust your hump digging them up for yourself.
I guess it does bring up some interesting thoughts. If I never worked again, and lost my 401(k), I’d be in deep shit.  But because I know how to fish and clam, and I have the access and permits, I highly doubt I would ever go hungry.
But if I had a commercial permit, hey wait, I probably could cover my heating and electric.
Ok, ok, I won’t go there.
Anyway… The other thought is that I -think- I’m such a salt … but really… how much time do I really spend on the water? And then, what else am I really able to do out there besides the same old same old casting for bass?
Well, my old surfcasting buddy Mike really seems to be onto something here.
He still has his day job, but he more or less reorganized his life around maximizing his time on the water. Sure, he still runs the beaches and plugs the surf… but then he digs clams, put out traps, bucktails fluke, jigs seabass… among other things. Oh yeah, and then he dredges for scallops.
It’s that last part that really got my attention. Not sure why.
Maybe it’s that I really like to eat scallops. No wait, I also really like those cool shells. But there’s more. Scallop season is kind of special. Always early November in my neck of the woods. And each year I read how the local baymen are doing, and how the market prices are going up or down, based on the harvest. The fall harvest.
It almost feels like a tradition. I’ve spent upwards of $25 per pound for bay scallops. And if you’ve ever eaten fresh pan-seared bay scallops… on a cold November afternoon… with a premium draft beer… overlooking the water? No? Add it to your bucket list!
Anyway, Mike’s been at me many years now about trying for scallops. Each year he takes off the opening day of scallop season, and torments me with pictures of scallops coming up in the dredge.
Well, this year I finally agreed to give it a try.
I understand there are many ways to go after scallops. You can dive for them with a mask. You can use a clam rake, or something just like it. Or, if you are super serious, you can rig yourself up like a bayman and pull scallop dredges.
I guess I am not too worried here about giving away trade secrets. I highly doubt anyone here would do what Mike did – he watched the baymen, he found some videos on Youtube. He made his own dredges. And sure as shit, he eventually figured out exactly how they do it, or at least exactly how some of them do it.
So when the day came when I agreed to accompany Mike for a day of scalloping, I was essentially signing on to be a bayman for the day. I was his Gillie, or has he put it, his rent-a-bitch for that day.
So here’s a bit more of a day in the life…
I was told to arrive at the dock at 6am, just before first light. I was told to come in boots and slickers, and not to wear anything that I cared about getting ruined.

His fiberglass center console was transformed into a working boat. It was filthy. Three dredges were stacked in the front, and one of the sides of the boat was covered in wood, held in place with a vice – protection needed when pulling up the dredges (more on that later).
It was a 15 minute run through Shinnecock Bay to his favorite scallop spot. This was all well marked off on his electronics.
Scallops are found where there is eel grass (at least our scallops liked eel grass). They seem to be more abundant and available on a high incoming tide, and where the depth of about 5-6 feet.
Please don’t ask me why this is so.
To be honest, it make no sense to me how a bivalve could be so much more “available” during a certain stage of the tide, and in a certain depth of water. But we did enough tows in various spots at various depths to convince even me that this all really does matter.

Then there’s the dredges themselves. Mike pulls three of them in a row. That’s right, three, and only on one side of the boat. That means dredge number one goes by, then a second later here comes dredge number two over the same spot, and then dredge number three.
Are you still with me?

Why three dredges going over the same spot? Why not spread them out and cover more bottom? Apparently a bayman would go hungry thinking that way.
No, you pull them in line, single file.

And which dredge is most likely to have the scallops? The first? The middle? Maybe an equal distribution in all three?
I’ll leave you guessing on that one, though I never did get a good explanation for that one either. But here again, we did pull after pull, and sure enough, 90% of the scallops were found in that one dredge.
Anyway, this all sounds very basic, but minute details about depth, tide, amount of eel grass, and alignment of dredges can mean all the difference between two scallops or 40 scallops after a 12 minute pull.
Oh, by the way, this is WORK. A full dredge is well over 50 pounds. The first few pulls are not so bad. It’s pull number 30, 31 and 32 when you finally realize just how much you’ll be needing extra strength Advil that night. And the dredge feels so much heavier after a few pulls with nothing but rocks and weed.
But the fish gods (um, the scallop gods) did finally smile upon us on this cold wet November morning. We finally did fill up to our limit (that’s the good part) …which meant we would be shucking for the next two hours back at the dock (that’s the not so good part).

We all went home happy, smelling like that mud in the bay, but with containers of fresh bay scallops. And while it would have been a hell of a lot easier to buy them – even at $25 per pound – I did agree to go out the following week, to do it all over again.
These will taste so much better than anything I’ll get at the store anyway.

Ok guys, I wont bore you to death with my sob story that my iMac crashed, got fixed on Saturday and promptly crashed again on Sunday. Its a holiday season so lets stick to GOOD NEWS and positive vibe. (Please Apple call me…lol)

SJTV Episode #3 is up for your viewing pleasure. Log into your account and then click on SJTV “Current issue”

Enjoy

[youtube]https://youtu.be/cK2XiWH0ZsE[/youtube]

ps..this is a note for blog readers only. If you need some SJ gear, a lot of the shirts in the online store are 50% OFF this week, just in case our blog readers need a thing or two for the holidays, you know, from me to me kind of deal. Thats all I am going to say about that

carry on

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving with your families. I had all intentions of running the beaches again this morning (burning gas would be more accurate description) but the head cold  knocked me out. I am not yet convinced that is over for few reason. One, we haven’t really seen the really small bass make appearance, the “end of the year” class that usually signals the end is near. There is shitload f bunker in the area and now is joined by herring. The water temps are still on the high side for this time of the year.

All that being said, I know 99% of the population would sign up for 60 degrees and sunny and calm on a black Friday but we don’t do what 99% of other people do. We could really use a weather event to maybe stir some stuff up. But don’t tell that to guys in some parts of NJ who have been on a solid bite or guys in Rockaway’s, I don’t think they want any changes right now. So although the End might be near, I am not ready to declare that it is. And in few weeks the catchers and pitchers will report for spring training and we’ll start driving our wives crazy all over again
The winner of last week Salt Life shades giveaway is Kevlyo2014@gmail.com. Congrats , you got 5 days to contact us at info@surfcastersjournal.com with your shipping address.
Today’s giveaway is  a courtesy of Gary Soldati from Big Water Lures. Probably the most in-demand giant pike ever used in the surf. I mean this is the work of art even down to the long flag.

Good luck and get out there and have fun

Gary will be attending SJ  Striper Day at Hofstra U on January 09, 2016. You can get all the info on the show website at www.striperday.com

Interesting morning today to say the least. First of all, I had company over till 3 AM and getting up in the morning after few beers was……errr, challenging?

Yeah, lets call it that

By the time I got on the beach, all my boys were already in the water. Or at least I assumed they were because they were NOT returning texts. I kind of knew approximate area where they were but I was going to go waaaaay west BUT why are they not returning calls? They might be into fish?

I did find them 20 minutes later and about a hundred other guys lined up throwing bunker snags. At first i just watched, wishing I did not left my main camera home. Then I’ve seen few fish in 20b range came up so I ran to the water with my waterproof Lumix to take a shot of a guy unhooking a nice fish only to find that battery was 100% dead.

Not my day to be a cameraman I guess

So I suited up and cast a snag and cast and snag and cast and snag……except I could not snag a bunker if my life depended on it. Proficient at this, I am not. Finally after what it seem like an hour of casting I put a snag into one…now what? I kind of knew what am I supposed to do but I never practiced snag and drop before.just not my thing but these fish wanted no part of plugs.

Kind of reminded me of chunking but with live bait instead. I was petrified if I got a fish I might gut hook the darn thing, being a virgin at this.

Two minutes later I felt line come tight, I dropped the tip and set the hook.

And here is a result. The new VS VR proto did a splendid job if I might say as I know many of you will wonder…and the Century Noreaster too. Love that rod (thanks Lou for recommendation)

Included a little over/under and assist from Silver Fox. Good friends are hard to find. Hug yours today.

I am putting this video just for the readers of the blog. Its not listed on youtube so don’t share it. I figured you guys deserve a little treat[youtube]https://youtu.be/ysAeRBNcRes[/youtube]

BTW

For next few days SJ Moon Girl shirts in SJ Online Store are 30%OFF..Reg $23, now only $16 shipping included, while supplies last

Grim Reaper REG $30 On Sale 50% OFF $15 shipping included, while supplies last

As some of you know, Van Staal is coming out with new reel in few weeks, I believe sometimes mid December will be in stores. I was lent a testing model for about a week to play with. Wish it was earlier in the season but it is what it is. I wont give you a review after a week of fishing, would like to put it underwater and in few different situations before I do that so that will have to wait till next year. As you guys know, unlike many other publication, we actually insist on real world testing before we open our mouths. All I am going to tell you is this, it felt like the lightest , most refined reel I ever fished with, not very VS like…..But yet, at same time it felt very much like a VS.And yes, even I will be able to service this reel …

Craig will fill you in on all the features in the video and if you got some more questions, feel free to post a comment and i’ll ask those who know.…I can see a line forming in front of the tackle shop now

Here is your video

[youtube]https://youtu.be/2Tehjx2SCRs[/youtube]

oh yeah, I wonder why this crazy goat has his feet in the air? you will find that out soon 

although I don’t know how soon. Last night my 27IMac that is only few months old went poof..and never got power again. it took a lot of stuff with it and let see if Apple can hopefully bring it back to life otherwise the introduction of new videos might have to take a break for awhile